12/3

Mrs. D went with the show choir on a trip today, but I joined them in the morning for a rehearsal.  Many things are coming together, and we even did some work on my selection (which they're not yet performing) and I was able to address fancy things like articulation and attack.  That was nice.

The rest of the day was filled with guitar quizzes.  I did consciously choose to approach them in a way that allowed the students a lot of socializing time.  This allowed me to observe who can control themselves when given some freedom and who can't.  Well, I learned confirmed that the entirety (save one) of the last class of the day cannot handle themselves.  The substitute that joined me today and I had an interesting discussion about the teams in this school before these kids arrived, and I warned her that this group sees music class as a recess.  I ended up giving a detention to a girl who REALLY needs one.

Regarding the one exception to rowdiness in that class: this girl confuses me.  She's the goth type, and I've never given it much of a thought until today.  I see her sit in class and methodically drape her hair to shade her face from the world as it dangles from her slouched head and neck (I've also seen her write dark poetry (that needs work, but seems like a nice outlet) on the back of papers that are handed in).  Sometimes she participates in discussion; once she was insightful, but since then her thoughts have been tepid.  Today, during our one-on-one guitar quiz, she seemed, perhaps, depressed, but it was extremely hard to distinguish possible mental anguish from simple lower-functioning capacity of applying knowledge than I expected (she could barely understand that a melody I wanted her to play had more than three notes in it).  I'll ask Mrs. D tomorrow what she thinks; I can't figure out if I should be worried or if I should just roll my eyes.