9/22

(I must relay this very interesting study.  Yesterday, the results of the first scientific study of merit-based pay of teachers were released.  They found that merit pay does not improve student test scores.  Here's the release, and here's a video of the highlights of the announcement.)

Things went pretty well today as I was essentially on my own.  I'm proud.

HS Choir has this group of girls who sit in the back that simply don't participate and talk constantly.  Today, possibly due to the absence of Mrs. D, this activity escalated to cursed insults directed at other choristers.  I had some trouble with them while I was directing warm-ups and music, but I had them under control enough that I could ignore them.  The reports of the swearing and insults came in the form of numerous reports from the victims after class.  I'm furious at the way these girls act.  Tomorrow we'll be putting them in the front row, beginning our process of trying everything we can before kicking them out of choir.

I gave a quiz in GM today on the subject of the bass clef.  The questions are almost exactly the same as they were for the treble clef quiz, and I've only spent the last three days telling them that the bass clef is different than the treble clef, yet there were two students who answered every question as it would be answered for the treble clef, not the bass clef.  Grrrrr.

I had a rehearsal with just the boys of MS Choir and they started to talk about how much they like how many girls are in the choir.  I pointed out to them that I know they've been acting disruptive just to get attention and show off and they all nodded and agreed.  I then told them that even though being a distraction can get giggles from the girls, that those girls in choir are more likely to keep thinking about a boy later on if he focuses on singing well during choir.  Is that true?  I don't know, but I'm going to run with it as far as I can.


Martha My Dear - The Beatles