12/15

I sort of bombarded Theory today with a fair amount of major/minor key identification within written music and then ended the class with something completely contrary to the guidelines I introduced; a twelve-tone piece by Webern!  They're treating the approach of my departure like most students treat the approach of the holiday break, even blatantly saying things like, "You're about to leave, don't bother trying to teach us new stuff!"  I have been anyway, but tomorrow won't be heavy material and Friday will just be a fun listen-to-music day.

General Music went really well.  A modified schedule today placed the crazy fury-inducing class first.  I set up the chairs in an outward-facing circle and put a sticky note on each desk (I'm kind of proud of this idea).  If they spoke once without permission, I would remove the sticky note.  If they spoke again and did not have a sticky note on their desk, they would receive a detention.  It turns out I was so clear with them that I didn't have to take away even a single sticky note.  Mrs. D was very happy about these results, as well.  I was even able to extend the effect to other classes by telling them about what made me mad and what I did about it, letting them know that I was still prone to boiling over.  They behaved, too.  Tomorrow, my last day with them, should be fun.

I think I get the difference now between being cruel and being authoritative.  With certain students, respect for the teacher is earned by demonstration of authority, and after that point is when it's most wise to let them learn to like the teacher too.  I don't yet have a perfect understanding of how to reconcile this with my other idealistic ideas about promoting self-regulation and mutual respect, but I've made a big step.

We held my final evaluation meeting today.  I turned in everything that I needed to turn in, received letters of recommendation, and was told that I'm being given a 4 in student teaching.  :)


Wie Bin Ich Froh (Anton Webern) - Christiane Oelze & Eric Schneider

11/17

I was very glad to have Mrs. D back today for choir, as a pianist and consultant.

After Theory, Mrs. D pointed out to me that one student has been getting more disrespectful toward me.  I hadn't noticed, which seems like a pretty disappointing oversight of mine considering the mere five students in the class.

Have you ever tried to explain ledger lines to a 12-year old with a learning disability?  How about 28 at once?  Such a feat isn't rocket science...it's harder.

Hourglass Nebula

I forgot to mention a great teaching moment from yesterday.  We have many posters up in our room, and one of them is of the hourglass nebula.  It came up in conversation and the students asked me what a nebula is.  Well, I explained it, as well as answered other tangential questions, and managed to keep the conversation under five minutes while still getting their minds spinning.  I love those moments.

I can't seem to find a previously blogged explanation of a significant part of my educational philosophy as it relates to moments like that (Edit: Found it, 9/1).  I find it extremely valuable for students to see their teacher as more than a container of knowledge on one subject, but instead as a more complete person who knows about other things, too.  The best manifestation of this is when I'm able to connect something from another subject to music, but times when I get to briefly teach them about something completely unrelated are still very satisfying.


The Boxer - Carbon Leaf

8/31

I had the students in Theory walk up to the whiteboard to complete review exercises of basic rhythm and not names, I think they enjoyed the activity.  I really enjoyed one moment when I was writing some music on the board with errors in each measure for them to identify (I had not told them yet what the purpose was of what I was writing), and not a moment after I drew the first bar line a student said, "Wait!  There's something wrong with the first measure!"  Awesome.

With a Lily in Your Hand (Eric Whitacre) - Polyphony (iTunes)

I forget earlier to mention that we have a daily listening journal activity for the GM classes, similar in nature to my Theory ritual.  Today we played the William Tell Overture (Gioachino Rossini) for them, followed by this:



They loved it.