Some things I've learned

I've obviously learned a lot so far (and still have a lot more to learn), but I would like to share two important things I've learned so far.

The first is the importance of not doing everything yourself. I first realized this when I was trying to organize Monopoly money for a proofreading project. I was prepared to count it all out myself and get the elastics around the piles and spend a lot of time on it. My PSIII teacher mentor Kathy was like, "Just give 5 kids each a pile and tell them to give X number of each to every student." DUH. Why didn't I think of that? Since then, I have been using the students for all sorts of things, like handing out books, pulling down the projector screen (also because I am bad at it), and handing out dry erase boards/markers/shammies.

The second thing I've learned is the importance (or benefit) of letting the students "make a piece their own". How you do this is letting them give input into how it is performed. For example, my grade 4s sang Yellow Submarine in the assembly a couple of weeks ago. I had some fabric water waving above them, and the boys were echoing the girls at one part. Some suggestions of theirs that we incorporated included the front two rows swaying one direction and the back to rows swaying the other direction. We did that during the chorus. It looked great! They also suggested that we have the rest of the school join us in the last chorus. Great idea! We did it, and they really got a sense of ownership and contribution. It made them really want to participate.

With my grade 5s, we are singing In Flanders Fields on Novebmer 10. We learned the song, and then came up with ideas. They came up with this: boys sing the first verse while girls hum quietly, then girls sing the second verse while boys hum quietly, then everybody sings the chorus. Then I decided that it would be cool here to have a few students talk about what they know about war, or their families in war or something. I left it up to them to write a few sentences in their own time, come find me and then we'll incorporate it at Monday's rehearsal. So that's what's happening. And then verse 3 and the last chorus are by everybody. They just seem to be more passionate and interested in it this way, which is great for classroom management and learning! Of course, effective learning pretty much goes hand in hand with good classroom management. So... I'll continue striving for that.

Exciting

We have been writing short stories lately, and we had discussed adverbs and adjectives (as well as similes, powerful verbs, and "show don't tell" when describing how someone is feeling). We had done some exercises to help students learn what adverbs and adjectives were, but more importantly, to know when to use them. (Adverbs describe how you do an action. Adjectives describe a person/place/thing.) In one game, I would say, "Point to a tall person!" or "Walk slowly!" and they would point to a tall person or walk slowly, then I would ask, "Adverb or adjective?" And they would look at their list of adverbs/adjectives to see what it was, then tell me.

One of my students went up to help the other teacher today by erasing the board. However, he began to walk VERY slowly back to the desk. One of my students that tries hard but struggles came over to me and whispered, "John is walking dramatically," then walked back to his desk. He was demonstrating his knowledge to me, and I thought it was hilarious. I walked over to him and asked, "Adverb or adjective?" and he looked at the list, thought about it a second, and said, "Adverb." I high-fived him.

Excerpt from a letter I wrote to my university consultant

I just wanted to share a little something interesting about this week. The last two weeks, I had half the class (15 students in grade 4, 13 in grade 5) play xylophones while the other half stayed on the risers and vocalized something related to the playing (FCFCCCFC or 1+2+3+4). It worked alright, but I really had trouble keeping them INTERESTED. It was bugging me. This week, I made a little more room at the xylophones and had everyone come down and sit with a partner. Their job was to help their partner if they needed help. THIS WORKED AMAZINGLY. My grade 5s were almost ALL helping their partners and it made their playing so much better! My grade 4s were a little crazier but it still went well. Then today, I added an embellishment to the song (to be played on high xylophones or glockenspiel but everyone was learning it on any size xylophone). The partner thing again worked great. Also, it was simpler than the ostinato part, so they learned it quickly. My grade 4s had time to play the ostinato, sing and have the embellishment over top, and it sounded great! (Until some of the ostinato players got a little ahead, but that didn't happen right away.) Anyway. It was just hilarious and fun. And the students are so cute with the way they want to help put away instruments after class. I think I will publish this to my blog. (There are probably 2 people who read it.)

Day One

Today (Monday) was my first day teaching in a small town outside Lethbridge. I actually really LIKE the teaching part. It's the planning and thinking up ideas on my own part that I don't like. I am really lost as to where the heck I'm going this whole term and I know that I have to think about it and decide for myself. It's easier when I'm just following somebody else's plans!

Everyone in my Language Arts class has a MacBook. Except for me! My students are using macs and I don't have one! The school doesn't issue them out to PS3 students either, and I must admit... that isn't helpful.

I have a desk in my language arts classroom. It's the one I spend more time in, and it's a little quieter than the music room, so I spend more of my SPARE time in there too. As you can see, it's an awesome old school desk, with a spot for an inkwell (or computer cord, I suppose). Oh, you can't see the inkwell hole. It's covered by something on my desk. Also awesome is the globe. I put it there to make my desk look teachery. I think it worked.

Performing in the school

I'm so cool.

Every morning, this school has a class called "Advisor" and the teachers can kind of do whatever they want. One morning, I played a silly rock-paper-scizzors tournament with the kids. Every Thursday is snack day for my TA's class. Every _____day is a physical day. Every Friday is some sort of performance in the foyer for the whole school.

The kids seemed pretty stoked on it. I don't know what it is really about it, although a live performer in your school IS pretty cool.

The principal also decided to ask me WHILE I was up there if I wanted to work on some music with some kids. Then he announced that we were going to do some sort of American Idol (why not Canadian Idol) thing in about a month. Like WHOAH. That's a big thing.

Afterward, some of the kids in my choir came up and said they enjoyed it. That was nice. Especially after what happened in choir the other day.

A girl who is learning "I'm Yours" came up and asked if I could help her out with learning the entrances and exits for it. She is taking voice lessons from the main choir teacher. Maybe *I* should take lessons from him. I need some voice lessons. I've pretty much maxed out my ability to teach myself, and I KNOW I have some bad habits. ARGH.

The first day I decided I might not actually want to be a teacher

I am teaching grade 6 Band and grade 8 Choir right now. Grade 6 Choir makes me want to be a teacher. The kids pretty much pay attention and try to do what you ask. They understand that you're trying to make a better musician out of them. They get that.

Grade 8 choir makes me want to have genetically altered children that skip adolescence. After class today, I went to my TA's office, put my head down on the desk, and I cried. He followed me in, closed the door, and sat silently for a while. Then he just talked until I was ready to respond. He told me what I did well and where I went wrong.

I had been working on the chattiness because the kids were very talkative. He suggested that I nip the talking in the butt by calling them on it immediately and separating those who needed to be. He said I did that well today. I thought so too. The first half of the class was fine. He also told me that they were probably taking advantage of me with bathroom and drink breaks, so don't let them, because they have 5 minutes before class to go get water and go pee. So when one of the boys asked if he could go to the bathroom, I said no. I explained why. He just kept asking, repeatedly, throughout the class. I kept saying no. A girl came up to me and said, "____ needs to go to the bathroom but she's afraid to ask." I said, "I can't let her go or I have to let _____ go." Then another wanted to go. I was like, "You guys don't need to go to the bathroom NOW. You can wait." Finally, with FIVE minutes left of class, I let the boy go, then I had to let the girl go, and then I DIDN'T let the other girl go. Which meant that she was SUPER pissed with me after class and I tried talking to her but it just didn't go anywhere. I felt like a jerk, because I understood that she felt frustrated that I would let someone else go who was just pissing me off, but because she didn't pester me, I didn't let her go. Anyway. My TA said that letting them DISCUSS the bathroom issue was bad. Just say NO, explain it ONCE, and then move on.

So I cried. It was kind of embarrassing. But hey, I'm smiling in this picture. Why? Well, the room is empty. JOKES! Sort of.