Assignment 1

I have been working with an elementary school in the southwest portion of Albuquerque. This school is fairly new and so there are a good amount of resources such as a class set of ukuleles, a Promethean board, and a class set of drums. My CT has only been teaching for a few years and uses MLT. He teaches first through fifth grade but I have only been able to observe his first, second, and fifth grade classes. My role in the classroom thus far has been to observe or to participate in the activities with the children. In the future I will teach one activity per class.

My CT comes from a percussion background and so rhythmic activities are easier for him to plan and execute than tonal activities. His students are all very good at echoing rhythm patterns, however they struggle with tonal activities, even singing resting tone. Even the fifth-graders have difficulty singing resting tone. To help his students, the CT sometimes sings in his falsetto but more often finds a student who is successfully singing to model the correct pitch for the rest of the class.

My CT’s typical schedule is as follows:

• 3rd grade 9:00-9:55

• 4th grade 10:05-11:00

• 5th grade 11:10-12:05

• Lunch and prep period 12:05-1:30

• 2nd grade 1:30-2:25

• 1st grade 2:35-3:30

He is also the specials team leader so he runs the meetings for these teachers. Outside of this full-time teaching job he also participates in the community. He is the drum tech for a nearby high school’s marching band, teaches percussion lessons before school, holds a percussion club once a week after school, and runs percussion sectionals for the Albuquerque Youth Symphony several times a week.

While this extremely busy schedule would be difficult for most, this teacher finds that staying busy keeps him from becoming complacent as a teacher and musician. By Friday he feels a little worn down, however he has found some tips to keep himself going. Firstly, he started out this job with only a six minute passing period. Over the last few years he has advocated for and received a 10 minute break between classes so that he has adequate time to re-center and prepare for the next class. Another thing he finds helpful is having a commute to his job. He is able to use time in the car to decompress so that he does not take the stress of work home.

Having such a tight schedule can also make it difficult to plan lessons. He usually plans activities in advance, but there are times when he is plans the last few activities 10 minutes before his students come into class. To remain prepared he has developed some strategies. Firstly, he uses much of the same repertoire and activities throughout all grade levels, changing the difficulty of the activity to fit the needs and abilities of each grade and individual class. Secondly, he starts his teaching week on Tuesdays, meaning that he starts teaching new material on Tuesdays and Mondays are a continuation of the material from the previous week. This allows him to ease into each work week rather than starting the new lesson plans on Monday, right after a weekend. Using the tools mentioned above, he is able to remain energetic and create an authentic connection with his students.