Student Teaching, Supplemental

Yeah, I'm that nerdy.

Had my second observation today. It went, on the whole, extremely well. And I received two huge compliments from my advisor that I think put much of my nerves and worries at rest.

The first was, "I can't remember the last time I put classroom management as a positive for a student teacher." Now I know that is most likely an exaggeration, as I feel like I could do better. I often times don't do my best at incorporating those 'awesome high five!' moments into my beginner classes as I could, and I understand that those moments are extremely important for beginners. I think there is nothing better than seeing victory and success in a sixth graders eyes when you let them know they've been awesome! I need much more of that in my classroom management, to balance out the discipline. In my own assessment at least.

That said, the above compliment from my advisor really pleased me. I was worried that I was doing poorly in classroom management, as I find the kids overly chatty, and not necessarily in the good ways. Knowing that I'm not straying too far off the mark, or rather am meeting it, definitely brought me some encouragement.

Second compliment? Paraphrased, "I could take a camera and videotape your beginner baritone class, and use it as an example of how to run a beginner brass class with the night class students." Now, my baritone playing notwithstanding, I owe that one largely both to the advisor in question (who has been an amazing teacher, whom I often think is incredibly under appreciated at WTAMU), and one of my cooperating teachers, Mr. Lesley Zorn. Mr. Zorn has truly been just that, a cooperating teacher, who is just as willing to demonstrate instructional techniques as he is to hand me the reigns of the class and allow me to get my feet wet. All the while, he has been helpful, honest but kind, and very supportive of me, and I can't thank him enough for that.

My experiences this semester have only reinforced my belief that the CHS Band truly has something special going for it: One of the most incredible staffs I've ever seen. The fact that I'm allowed to student teach with them is nothing short of a privilege. I could only be so lucky as to be a part of such a good program going forward.

CHS Soaring Pride Band 2010

Our 2010 UIL performance of our show entitled 'Rituals' including the March from Symphonic Metamorphosis and Danse Bacchanale. It was probably the kids best performance of the year, and we still have two weeks to improve before the ZIA Marching Festival on October 30th! We're expecting great things from these kids!

Picture Day

We had picture day at the Jr. High today, taking a picture of the bands for the yearbook. We lined up tallest to shortest, as you always do for pictures, which of course lead to the inevitable constant height comparisons. I was teasing/encouraging one of my shortest students that, "You never know, he could end up being seven feet tall! Sometimes its the shortest ones that grow the most!" I asked him how tall his parents are, just out of curiosity, and he told me about his mom (5'3") and his dad (over 6'), to which I said, "Yup, that seals the deal, you'll be at least 6'5"!"

I kind of backed out of the conversation and just continued to monitor at that point, but I heard him go on, "At least that what my mom tells me, I've never actually met my dad."

It just about broke my heart. (Yeah, that happens a lot with my students.)

That's the strongest argument for more male teachers in public schools than any other I know.

The One Handed Triangle

Was perusing Lone Star Percussion for a new pad and some sticks when I saw an add for this little beauty. The tone isn't wonderful, so I think it'll be restricted to latin music largely, but it's certainly a fascinating leap forward in percussion equipment. It's funny to think that a three hundred year old instrument can suddenly have such a huge leap forward technologically.

Perhaps what's more fascinating is the fact that we are still watching percussion instruments evolve before our very eyes. It's really only been a well developed musical field in Western music for around sixty years now, and it is rapidly changing as it attempts to come into its own. There is an immense amount of innovation in the field of percussion, from the composition, to the fundamentals of how to play the instruments, even what the instruments themselves should look, play, and sound like. It's really a fascinating thing to be alive for, and very exciting on a day to day basis.



I will say, the thing looks kind of delicate to me, depending on what kind of plastic shell it has. I hope I can get my hands on one during TMEA in February, to take for a test ride if nothing else. Very exciting and interesting!