10/29

Yesterday was Halloween dress-up day.

I was Nathan Detroit (Guys and Dolls)

Mrs. D was Cruella Deville (101 Dalmations)

I was monitoring some students in in-school suspension and noticed that one of them was in there for the day because she does not participate in Halloween.  It reminds me that the school did not officially refer to Halloween for this spirit day, but instead (and in the theme of an anti-drug week) as "Say 'Boo!' to drugs day."  I need to find out if the full-time suspension monitor knows if that was a parental or student decision.  I'm not particularly inclined to rant about Halloween in schools — try to stifle your disappointment.

In GM, we watched "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" (because we can).  I haven't seen this video in such a long time that I got to enjoy a new discovery of how amazing it is.  Off the top of my head, it's the only kid-oriented story on film that I can think of that doesn't teach the lesson, "If you believe really hard in something, it will happen."  Linus firmly believes in the Great Pumpkin and waits for it all night and it never comes.  So instead of another "Hey kids, magic stuff is real — keep at it" movie, this is a movie that seems to say, "Hey kids, it's ok if something that you really wish for doesn't arrive, life goes on anyway, and deeper beauty and meaning exists (in friendship and in nature)."  I love it.

Imagery like this makes me happy.

I ended the day by attending a specialized meeting with representatives from different teams (Mrs. D represents the arts here) and the principal and VP.  It was...boring!  Yet, also informative.  Enough of that, I have another day to talk about...

Today was a clerical day post-marking-period.  We finalized grades and began preparation for the next marking period (we fortunately get another day, Monday, for this as well).  I worked on creating seating charts based on IEP and medical information (vision and hearing, for example).  In looking at my rosters, I know I'm going to have my hands full.  There are many ADHD students in these classes and many with IEP's, too.

One class in particular is going to be the adventure of a lifetime.  Mrs. D and I have been warned THREE TIMES about this group of students, with phrases like, "this is the kind of class that could make someone run away screaming from education."  We met with a teacher who works with these students (though not all at once, is my understanding) to figure out who to avoid sitting next to whom.  He did help with this, and he also informed us (almost one by one) about the very low-performing faculties of these students and their behavioral...let's say "quirks."  He also said to us, and I quote directly, "This is honestly the lowest set of students that I've seen."  28/30 of these students have IEP's, by the way.  Fortunately, their learning support teacher will be with us during each class.  Mrs. D will be trying to let me be entirely in control of the class but will, when needed, be a valuable presence and extra set of eyes — perhaps also an enforcer if I don't cut it some day.  My expectations for this class will, and need to be, completely different than that of others; I'll be progressing in the curriculum at a dramatically slower pace.  Some of these students read at a 2nd grade level.  I get the impression that if I can make it through teaching this class, there is absolutely nothing pedagogical that would keep me from certification.

Please forgive my late-night lazy storytelling, but I need to wrap this up.  The last memorable event of the day was hearing about a situation in which some HS seniors were found to be expecting Mrs. D to drive them between two music events on a weekend without ever having asked her.  Furthermore, she had to drive them around today due to their poor planning.  SENIORS!  WAKE UP!


The Oldest Established (Guys and Dolls)

10/21

I was so confused this morning...just before real rehearsal began in choir, a small mystery something flew into my side and I swatted it away.  Mrs. D then yelled toward the disruptive corner of the ensemble, "Did you just throw a stinkbug at Mr. Duval?"  The one who apparently did this looked genuinely surprised that it hit someone, because she apparently was aimlessly swatting it away from herself.  At this point, I didn't know what to think.  I already struggle to hold on to any respect in this room, and this troublemaker definitely has none.  She and her friend started laughing and making snide jokes that I couldn't hear while I kept looking at them with a "did you really just throw something at me?" look.  I was mentally mixed up with a conflict of annoyance, shock, patience, helplessness, and amusement.  I still don't know what to think.

AAAAAHHHHH GUYS AND DOLLS


The Thrill is Gone - B.B. King and Tracy Chapman

P.S. I just added yesterday's Theory song to the post.  It was an interesting one.

10/20

Wow, today went smoothly!  In HS Choir I worked on preparing a piece for the future while Mrs. D taught and there weren't any serious moments of disruption.  I was observed during theory and that went quite well.  Then we watched Guys and Dolls three times (in a row — today's early dismissal rearranged the schedule), but the students were fairly cooperative.  After that we had a music faculty meeting that was mostly used as clerical work time, except for the occasional outburst of laughter from Mrs. D and I.  (We've recently created an epic inside joke that has us cracking up far too often.  It involves us doing impressions of Mr. T.)  Humor keeps us going, and I'm glad we find the same things funny.


Running Man - Hanson

10/19

The principal made an appearance in HS Choir today and the girls who had been removed were not disruptive this morning.  They weren't exactly participating, but this was the best they've been.  We still have a couple more angles of approach to use (some of which come from administrative support, to be fair).

I have to reflect on a dilemma that this brings up.  How "academic" should choir be treated?  We were told yesterday that students "almost never" get removed from an academic class for non-academic reasons, and that since choir is a graded class, it is academic.  My initial reaction was, "Well, if this were a math class with 100+ students in it and a group was so disruptive that other students complained daily and time was regularly wasted, it would seem perfectly reasonable to remove them so that the class can progress."  I do still stand by that, but the opposing point is reasonable; we directors push to have choir treated as academic, so we shouldn't get any special privileges to remove students.

Well, choir isn't math.  Instead of thinking of courses purely as "academic" and "extra-curricular" (as this school seems to), wouldn't it be reasonable to approach academic courses differently depending on whether they are a core, elective, or ensemble?  Oh, and I was recently reminded of a beautiful "slippery slope" situation.  When choral directors manage to convince an administration that they are so special that no one ends up with any oversight, they can end up kicking students out of choir without ever having attempted rudimentary behavior-changing approaches (moving seats, office referral, calling parents), and instead doing so after having merely criticized the student a couple times.  I saw this happen once and don't like it.  Adaptations need to be made in order for unique goals (like those of musical ensembles) to be met.  Oversight must exist to prevent tyranny (if you knew/know the "slippery slope" directors I'm talking about, you'd call it tyranny, too).

Let's see...Guys and Dolls...

Dolls and Guys...

Duys and Golls...

Then MS choir.  I worked with the boys again today and had a great man-to-man talk with them.  We had a much better rehearsal.


Finished Symphony - Hybrid

10/18

What a day.

Mrs. D exploded during HS Choir today and threw out the excessively rude and disruptive girls. The rest of the class verged on applauding (we're glad they didn't). It doesn't end there though; Mrs. D received an e-mail from the administration saying that they don't want to permanently remove anyone from any class and that "perception is an issue." There's never been a reason to specify this until now, but these girls are all of the same ethnicity.  So, in short, all possible frustrations about unfair ethnicity-based treatment, classroom management disasters, apparent lack of administrative support, and loss of rehearsal time have boiled over.  I feel this saga has reached its climax, but that the "falling action" will be mostly a plateau.  Tomorrow, the girls will be back in choir and everyone else will be wondering why.  I can hardly wait.

In GM, the "American Musicals" unit takes a week to complete, so we started it today.  All three classes elected to watch "Guys and Dolls" over other options.  The third class even knew what the first two chose.  I really would've preferred some variety.

During rehearsal after school with the show choir, some I.T. people came to the choral room and said they needed it for training...so the choir moved to the orchestral room.  That...doesn't quite make sense to me.  Also, while playing some sample music for them, the power went out briefly.