Experience 2

This week the middle school choir, band, and orchestra went on a recruitment tour to several elementary schools. I went on a similar tour when I was in middle school myself, so it was interesting to be on the educator’s side of a recruitment tour. I got to be a fly on the wall as my CT organized all of the details that go into this tour.

It took months to prepare for and organize this field trip. My CT had to coordinate with music teachers and administrators at the elementary and middle schools last semester. Due to budget constraints the band, choir, and orchestra teachers decided to put all of the students on one bus. This meant that the teachers had to be very particular about which students they chose to bring. The advanced band and orchestra ensembles were small enough that they could bring all of their members, however the choir program was large enough that my CT could not take an entire choir. Instead, she chose select eighth-graders from all of the choirs to go on the field trip. The instrumental teachers also had to coordinate with parents to transport the larger instruments in trucks and SUVs because there was not enough room on the bus.

My CT had to put together a schedule for the day, get the field trip approved, reserve and pay for a bus, coordinate with the other teachers, pass out and collect permission forms, collect medical information from the nurse, notify a local restaurant that they would be getting a bus load of customers for lunch, and bring an emergency backpack with first aid supplies and feminine hygiene products just in case. She also had to be creative with how to advertise the choral program. Because she was not able to bring one group, she did not have her singers perform for the elementary schoolers. Rather, she taught the elementary schoolers a few rote songs with motions and had her singers model and help the elementary schoolers. These rote songs were intended to be catchy so that the fifth graders would get them stuck in their heads and be motivated to join choir.

My biggest takeaway from this field trip is that every aspect of teaching is a mixture of preparedness and improvisation. Both inside and outside of the classroom it is important to prepare all of the little things, but one must also adapt in the moment. For example, the orchestra teacher ended up being sick so the band teacher had to tune and conduct the orchestra, manage the students, talk about the instruments, and answer questions about orchestra without prior notice. The bus was also in the wrong place so my CT had to make a few phone calls before the bus picked up the middle schoolers at the correct location. This put the field trip behind schedule, but thankfully there were some buffer times scheduled so the itinerary was not completely messed up.

Going on this field trip was very eye-opening. Many of the classes I have taken in college have helped me to tackle the day-to-day aspects of sequencing and delivering instruction. However, there is so much more involved in being an educator such as collaboration, planning, budgeting, and recruiting. I now feel that I am more aware of and prepared for the behind-the-scenes and non-teaching details that come with being an educator.

 

Experience 1

The first few weeks of student teaching have been both exciting and challenging. The middle schoolers I work with daily are enthusiastic about music but are also emotional and chatty. You can see their faces light up when you remember their name, at times they request to rehearse a specific piece or warm-up that they love, and sometimes students are distracted and zone out rather than participate.

A few days ago I was teaching a new rote song about cookies as part of warm ups. The song was catchy and had cumulative motions that corresponded to specific words each time the song was repeated. When the activity was over and it was time for students to practice sight reading, several students continued to sing or hum the cookie song I had just taught them as they ruffled through their binders to take out their sight-reading sheets. The next day during warm-ups, several students requested to sing the cookie song again. I was excited to see them enjoying the music, getting it stuck in their heads, and wanting to sing it over and over again.

However, I have also had a few challenging experiences this week. The students often fall into side conversations and I frequently find myself saying “Put a bubble in your mouth,” “If you can hear me clap once,” “Face the front of the room,”  “Not everyone is participating, I guess we have to do it again,” or I recognize the students who are following directions until everyone is giving me their attention.

At other times students refuse to participate because they are so overwhelmed that they have trouble focusing. In one instance, I noticed a student in the back row crying. I sat next to her and asked her how she was doing. I found out that her Grandpa suffers from dementia. Her family members avoid the topic because they are just as overwhelmed as she is, and she feels nervous expressing her feelings and emotions to others at school. After speaking with her, she acted as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders and began singing again. Rather than reprimanding her for not participating, I had taken the time to listen and I she could tell that she felt valued and heard.

I have begun to experience the trials and rewards of teaching. At times I am exhausted after trying to refocus talkative adolescents, but at other times I smile at the funny words these students say or at their enthusiasm to learn something new. I am excited to see you what else the world of teaching has in store.