On my own.....

Yesterday I was at another school again. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and had several opportunities to observe behavior. It is very interesting to watch how different teachers approach behavior problems, especially since we have so little training about it in our methods courses. Overall, it seems that having a set procedure and staying with it is the most beneficial thing toward controlling behavior. If the students know what is expected of them, the students are less likely to act out. However, you must be absolutely consistent in your procedure in order to avoid confusion.

In the school I visited yesterday, each class lined up and sang a “welcome song.” This seemed to really get them in the “mood” for music, as well as warming their voices up. If behavior gets out of control, there were several techniques the teacher used to redirect the class. One of the most effective strategies was simply to lower her voice and slow down her speech until the class focused. There were one or two students who seemed to get it right away, and they would usually help the other students bring their attention back to the front of the room. She also used more traditional strategies such as clapping a pattern, or saying “Excuse me!” or “you are being rude.” Some of the other phrases she used were “____ please join us,” “follow my feet” (when the entire class stopped listening, she tapped her feet in a pattern), “but I said raise your hands….” “I’m waiting for listeners,” and to quietly talk with an individual while the rest of the class is on a specific task.

Today, I was alone with the students for the entire day. My cooperating teacher was at in in-service, so there was a substitute, however I was in charge for every class. The morning generally went well. I had difficulty with the iPods, so I ended up playing the piece we were working with on the piano. I really had difficulty seeing what the students were doing when trying to concentrate on playing the right pitches. I was incredibly glad the sub was there to assist with behavior while I plunked the melody and some harmony. Even though these songs are simple, you have to read chord changes with the melody, which is something I have not done to any extent for several years. I have begun practicing doing this again, but it is coming back slower than I would wish.

Before lunch, it was interesting to see how well-behaved most of the students are. I honestly thought behavior would be a bigger issue because of the absence of the cooperating teacher, however since I had already been established as a teacher they generally respected me. I did have difficulty with a few individual students, however with the help of the substitute we were able to generally control those behavior issues.

After lunch, I had 5^th grade. I definitely had more trouble with behavior, however with the assistance of the sub, things ended up going fairly smoothly. The next hour, however, was…. Interesting. Two classes showed up because one “forgot” what time they were at and one of the classes had parents coming in at 2. Instead of telling them “no music this week,” I decided to double up and have 2^nd and 3^rd grade together. I had a total of 49 students in my small classroom. Needless to say, it was a little chaotic, however we were able to accomplish several goals. They were all singing, and they all played rhythms and beat with rhythm sticks and egg shakers. While it was definitely more difficult to control, I felt that it was more important for the students to actually have their music time this week, rather than missing out. With all of the things that are in the curriculum, we really do not have time to miss even one day of music.

The last class of the day was Kindergarten. Wow, were they rambunctious. I tried to have them move around a lot, which seemed to help quite a bit. Especially with Kindergarten, students really need to keep moving. There is one particular student that had quite a bit of difficulty today, and it was difficult to stop him from disrupting the class. It is so sad about some of these students: they really need help, and they are not yet getting it. I’m not necessarily talking about medication, but severe ADD or ADHD students would greatly benefit from a para-pro, or even therapy. I know this is a controversial issue, but having those students disrupt the class is difficult, and consequently they have trouble making friends because they do act so differently.

Let's Play the Recorder

While it seems like there are several specific things I need to work on when teaching, I have noticed myself improving, even in the short time that I have been in the classroom. Today was only my third official day, and only the second day at my main school. I have to say, I was incredibly apprehensive about teaching younger students, but I love teaching kindergarten. They are so much fun. One of the students even gave me a hug today. It definitely made me smile.


Today, we had 2 5th, 1 4th, 1 3rd, 1 2nd, and 2 kindergarten classes. I continued my clarinet demonstration for all of them, and am still learning a lot about how to address different classes. One student reminded me yesterday that Squidward plays the clarinet, and I've started bringing that into my lesson. It seems to be a really good way to incorporate pop culture with the short lesson I'm teaching. With the older grades the students seem to know more about instruments, so I am able to ask questions such as "What kind of instrument is this?" and I can hold up my reed and someone can identify it. In all honesty, while there is some tweaking for each grade, the same lesson can be taught. It seems to all come down to the questions you pose. For older grades critical thinking questions are key, while in lower grades simpler questions are better.

As I mentioned earlier, it seems that the thing I need to work on most is how I phrase things. For example, it is better to say "Let's do this" instead of "Can we do this." By using the first phrase, it does not leave room for students to say "no." In order to discourage talking, "Raise your hand" works better than "Who know." The second tends to invite students to talk, while the first gives them a direct direction on how to behave. Also, positive enformecment is key. "I like how many of you are..." is better than giving them orders.

12 Drummers Drumming

Today, I had the opportunity to visit and teach at a different elementary school in my district. Since my cooperating teacher is only part time (.8), he currently does not teach on Tuesdays. Until my middle school placement gets figured out, I will be observing and teaching at other schools around the district.

In the morning, we had 2 kindergarten classes and one 3rd grade class while in the afternoon we had one 3rd grade, one 1st grade and one kindergarten. I taught my clarinet lesson to all of the classes. It was awesome to be able to improve upon yesterday. Last night, I wrote up a simple lesson plan based upon what worked and what did not, and even thought it was super simple, it was incredibly beneficial to have a plan to work from for every class. I began with talking about what the clarinet is made from, and how they keys and tone holes work (very basically). I then talked about the reed, and had the students feel their throats as they sang. This helped the students understand how the vibrations of the reed worked to make sound. I then played a little bit, and brought out the bass clarinet. I had the students compare and contrast the Bb clarinet and bass clarinet. The students predicted whether it would sound lower or higher and I played the same piece on bass. The 3rd grade students asked intelligent questions while the kindergarten students simply wanted me to play more.

After I taught, the students returned to their normal lessons. The kindergartners played a call and response game. This was a great way to individually assess students without hearing them individually. The entire class would face the back wall and 3-4 students would sit behind the class. Then the class would sing the "call," and 2-3 students would sing the "response." Then the class would identify the students that sang. This is a great way to both get students to listen closely as well as a great way to assess students singing skills.

The 3rd grade classes had a drumming circle today. They were a little rowdy, but they really seemed to enjoy drumming. There were 2 rules, and they were put to rhythms (Ex: Watch out, watch out, watch out for your neigh-bor). One really awesome thing the teacher and students did was foot conducting. The teacher stood in the middle of the circle and the students played in tempo when she walked. Then several students had the opportunity to "food conduct." They generally had trouble keeping a steady tempo, but since they were just beginning drumming, I was told that they would be working on tempo next week. She really just wanted to get the kids playing.

Overall, I had a lot of fun today. I was really able to tweak my lesson plan so that is more appropriate, and I was able to streamline it so that students don't disengage. I am hoping that the more I teach, the less I will need time to tweak lesson plans.

First official day!

Today was my first official day of student teaching! We had one 5th grade, 2 4th grade, 2 1st grade, and 1 2nd grade. I am going to go through the day by grade level.

5th Grade
The students are getting ready to sing at a cluster concert on Thursday. The students are not required to be there, however they are strongly encouraged to attend. All of the 5th graders in the district are going to be singing "When You Believe" from The Prince of Egypt. The students are also learning recorder. One interesting technique was having the students practice silently on their chin. It gave the students a chance to take a break and write in note names. He also gave them a chance to check notes and fingerings with a partner.

4th Grade (x2)
The students are beginning unit 4 in their books, which focuses on songs that have to do with emotions. The fourth graders sang a couple songs ("Happiness" from the musical You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"). Throughout the lesson, the students were asked several critical thinking questions, such as "What does a musical have?" (it's a play with music, they have costumes, sets, props, etc.) and "How is this song happy? (Rhythm, melody, words, etc.). The answers the students were able to come up with were impressive. It is important to give the students time to answer. While this may seem to interrupt the flow of class, students need time to think and express their ideas. The teacher also began a list of terms on the whiteboard for the students. The terms were subjects that came up in class that they have not necessairly discussed before such as "Musical, touring, pitch, etc." The terms were not necessairly musical terms, however they all had to do with the content of the lesson.

First Grade (x2)
It seems like movement is really key with students. There were 2 first grade classes, and each had their difficulties. In the first class, there was a student with Cerebral Palsy. It was amazing to see how well all of the students interacted with her. The students played a game that included partnering up, as well as turning in a circle with their partner, and quite a few students wanted to partner with the girl with CP, as well as being very helpful in helping the student complete the moves that went with the song. There was a full time para-pro with the student, which helped with classroom management.
In the second 1st grade class, there was a specific student who seemed to have a lot of problems. He will be having a psych evaluation soon, and my cooperating teacher expressed to me that he has run out of ideas with disciplining this student. It seems that you really have to pick your battles, especially when dealing with elementary school students. This student was disruptive, however the other students in the class have become used to this student disruptive, and are able to ignore him.

I think the most interesting thing I noticed throughout the day was how different grades required different balances of time. There has to be a variety of teacher-driven, student led interactions, student movement, and discussion. The variety of activities has to increase at younger levels, simply because the students cannot concentrate for long periods of time. You really have to keep younger students moving, as well. The more the move, the better behaved they are.

One thing I have to work on is how I phrase instructions. Instead of saying "can we?" my cooperating teacher suggested saying something such as "Lets do this," or "Please do this." This show respect for the students, but does not give them a chance to say "no, we can't do that." While this may be more evident with middle school students, this is something I will have to work on.

First Test

Today was my second day at the elementary school. They had their holiday assembly, which I helped with. I then had the opportunity to help with classes the rest of the day.

The assembly went incredibly smoothly. Even though the microphones did not work, students were still able to hear everything, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. The teachers did a special version of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" with each grade level doing two of the days. The students really enjoyed this, as well as loving the entire assembly.

After the assembly was done, school still continued as usual. The first class I was able to see was third grade. For today, they combined with a kindergarten class. It was interesting to see how well both grades behaved when combined. The older students took charge of the younger students while the younger students seemed to love being paired with an older student.

In the afternoon, my cooperating teacher stepped into the other room for a moment, and while I was waiting, the next class arrived. Since I was there, I began teaching, and when my cooperating teacher arrived, he signaled for me to keep teaching. I ended up teaching all afternoon (all 1st grade classes).

The most important thing I learned today was that pacing is essential in an elementary school classroom. You have to keep students engaged at all times. I was honestly tired when I was done teaching three classes. Even if you can't remember student's names at all times, it is also important to remember to provide compliments more often than reprimands.

On the first day....

Hi everyone! As I prepare to student teach, I began to think about the best way to chronicle my adventures. I will not be sharing where my placement is, simply for the sake of anonymity. I am looking forward to this journey.

Today I had the opportunity to visit my elementary school placement. While I am not officially beginning student teaching until January 9th, my cooperating teacher invited me to come in this week (I do not have school, but they continue until December 23rd!). I was able to attend a half day, since I am working quite a bit this week. I sat in on 3 classes, and had a blast.

The first class was 5th grade. The students are playing recorders, preparing for a collage concert and getting ready for a school assembly on Thursday! The class began with recorders, and it was.... interesting. Since so much needed to be accomplished today, it seemed like it was pushed aside, however some kids did really well. There were also students who couldn't figure out which hand went on top, but oh well. I'm sure this will be addressed later, and if not, I am sure I will be able to help when school resumes in January.

The week the students get back in January, there is a collage concert featuring several middle school bands, orchestras and choirs. There is also an opportunity for all of the 5th graders across the district to sing "When You Believe." Today, the students ran through this piece a few times, then we moved on to the holiday concert! Thursday, the entire school will assemble and holiday songs will be sung by students from the music classes. The songs cover a variety of holidays including Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Eid. There are also a couple "Winter Songs."

The students seemed to be having a lot of fun singing these songs. While it does take away from the "curriculum," my cooperating teacher explained to me why he does this. It keeps the students singing, and learning through singing. They have only worked on the songs for about a week, so the turnaround time is fairly quick. While these songs are "fun," they also teach about singing in different languages, and other skills the students will need in the future. It also helps control unruly classes the week before winter break (and the day before Christmas Eve.)

Today in class, I mostly observed, but I did have the opportunity to teach. The students are singing "Jolly Old St Nicholas" with accompanying gestures. I learned the gestures quickly and was promptly put in front of the class to lead them. The next class period, I actually ran them through the song on my own. It was scary, but exciting to begin teaching (even a small lesson) the first day in school.

I have the opportunity to return to the school Thursday, where I will be there all day. I'll get the chance to help with the assembly, and I'll get to sing with the students! There are two solos in the pieces, and my cooperating teacher asked me to sing them so he can focus on playing piano. It'll be fun.

I am very much looking forward to this next semester. I still do not have my secondary placement yet, so that makes me nervous, however things will fall where they will.

Once school resumes I will have more posting opportunities, however I may post over winter break if I read anything or learn anything exciting. I'll have more on Thursday!