Grad gifts and Job interview

It has been a busy week...

Yesterday, I had an interview for a long-term substitute position in a middle school chorus class.  The chorus teacher is out on maternity leave for six weeks.  I arrived at the school and sat down with the AP.  She asked all the expected questions: tell me about yourself, what are your strengths/weaknesses, how do you motivate students, and classroom management skills.  Normal stuff.

Then, it got interesting.  The AP says to me, "Well let me tell you tell you about ABC Middle...I saw on your resume that you went to Blue High School.  Well the demographic there is very different than here.  Over there it's majority caucasian...over here our minority is caucasion.  Our students are mostly black and hispanic.  The poverty level is high.  Some of our students don't even have phones.  Some don't speak english."  Translation: You went to a white school (keep in mind that I am black and so was she), and you student taught at a rich white school, so this is a different playground than what you are used to.  

She continued with, "We are the only school is WOW County that did not make accreditation this year.  We failed in math and so our teachers are working really hard this year to get scores up.  So anyway you can incorporate math into the music class would be great."   

Then she showed me the chorus room.  It vaguely resembles the "dungeon" from that show "Boston Public".  The room was tiny with tile floors, and no windows.  Definitely not like any chorus room I'd ever been in.  As we headed back to the office, the bell rang and students poured into the halls.  They were big...LOUD and big.  And of course, we couldn't make it back without the AP (who was tiny and gray by the way), yelling in this huge voice "AY! NO RUNNING! THAT'S NOT HOW WE BEHAVE!"

At the end of the interview, she asked me, "So does this seem like something you would be interested in?"  (Isn't the point of an interview to see if I'm right for the job?) Needless to say, I am in no position to decline a job offer, and any experience is good right now.  So, I told her that I was interested, and she did offer me the position.  What I gathered is that I am going to have to go in there and take no prisoners.  

I've also been getting grad gifts in the mail.  Instead of traditional gifts, I set up an Amazon wishlist with teacher resource books and other things that I wanted, and wrote the link on the back of my announcements.  Yesterday I opened one package and in it was a book titled, Crowd Control: Classroom Management and Effective Teaching for Chorus, Band and Orchestra.  Great book so far.  Highly recommended.  It's short and sweet, with lots of tips.  Some stuff I already knew, and some things that I will definitely consider.  

That's all...Graduation tomorrow!

Next stop...Graduation!

So, Friday was my last day of student teaching!  And it was a GREAT day!  The students had their double rehearsal with the accompanist.  I was so proud of how mature they were and how good they sounded.  They are more than prepared for their concert tomorrow night.  

I am conducting four pieces in the concert tomorrow night, and I am really please with how successful they have been on each piece.  But I am most proud of the 6th graders.  They worked so hard and they sound wonderful!

I went in this morning to rehearse with the students, after getting a TB test and a flu shot...and I had to leave early because I started feeling really ill.  I've never had a reaction to a flu shot before so it was really odd, and even now, I'm still a little woozy.  Not to mention my arm is extremely sore.  

This week is pretty busy for me.  Middle School concert tomorrow night.  Elementary winter program Wednesday night. Long term Sub interview Thursday.  Senior Brunch and then dinner with my family Friday night.  And last but NEVER least...GRADUATION ON SATURDAY!

Life is SO good right now. [:)]

Her lady is here! Be good!

Today was such a good day!!!

My university supervisor came to observe me today, and she came to one of the 8th grade choruses.  Now my 8th graders are wonderful and talented, but this bunch is extremely chatty, and sometimes difficult to keep on task.  Well, my cooperating teacher briefly and nonchalantly mentioned to them yesterday that I might have an observer and that it would be nice if they were supportive.  

Well, they came in today and saw that my supervisor was visiting, and BOY did they put on their halos!  I didn't say a word, they walked in, saw she was there, and started whispering, "Miss S's lady is here guys!  We need to go sit down!"  I was so touched and amazed at how well they worked and stayed on task.  There is no bigger compliment than that kind of respect and cooperation from a group.  So I picked up a bag of treats to give them tomorrow, because they were troopers!  

My lovely little 6th graders were just as entertaining as always today.  I have been teaching them the names of the notes on the treble and bass clef, and they were freaked out at first, but after 4 lessons, and a very cool SmartBoard review, they knew their stuff.  And an overwhelming majority of them got 100% on the test, so I couldn't be happier.

I can't help but think how blessed I am to be having such a great student teaching experience.  Great clinical faculty, great students, wonderful supervisor.  I really hope that one day when I have my own classroom, I am just as lucky.  

Student Teaching

I have completed my first 7-week student teaching experience and I am into my fourth week at my second experience.

Music educators are certified K-12, so we complete two student teaching internships in one semester.  One in elementary school, and one in middle or high school.  

I did my elementary experience first and it was amazing.  I had a wonderful cooperating teacher, a 32-year veteran.  She was an amazing resource, and I learned so much.  I left there feeling like I could walk into my own classroom the next day!  It was a bit overwhelming somedays, especially when you are teaching full lessons to each grade level.  And the lesson plans were non-stop...I was writing lesson plans in my sleep!!!  I did manage to avoid getting H1N1, and any other illness for that matter.  

I did however, catch a case of bronchitis during my first week at my second placement which is in a middle school Chorus class.  (The school was crawling with cases of H1N1, but I had gotten the shot so I was covered!) 

Aside from that, it has been awesome so far.  I'm going into my fourth week.  The kids are really enthused, and I am having a great time teaching theory and rehearsing music.  It's actually helped me sharpen my accompanying skills!  We are working on the winter concert, and I am super excited because I am guest conducting one piece for each grade!!!

That's all for now!