SY 2011-2012: Q1 Ending

I have not really had much time at all this quarter to reflect/post, so I'll squeeze on in here...

Q1 has been very busy and one would think that it being my 2nd year here it would be easier.  I think in contrast to that, it's been more involved as I am now taking on more responsibilities and such.

Marching band:  been going very well so far this season.  We've had a few snags and dramas, but have worked past them for the most case.  Last rehearsal I started to record myself during their run through, like a judging tape, to help me remember/plan for rehearsals a little better.  I think I will continue to do this and see how well it works.  God bless the iPhone for it's voice recorder! :)

Next season I think we need to revamp the drumline warm-ups again and settle on something that is both fundamentally sound, well within their reach, but also interesting and engaging.  This year's basic warm-ups served it's purpose well, but I think they are starting to feel a little stale and stagnant... gotta find a good way to avoid this next season.

Orchestras:  We've had a bunch of ups and downs.  Most of it focusing on people/interpersonal things.  Slowly though, we have worked through it.  CO had to be lectured about treating people w/ respect regardless of their differences.  I gave them a writing prompt too which I think helped: 1) think of someone different and list their differences from you; 2) now create a separate list of what you share in common; 3) why is it important to treat this person w/ respect regardless of their differences?

Musically both groups are progressing.  Still having a hard time finding repertoire that is both challenging and do-able for the groups.  I have not found much good literature at their level... hopefully I can find more in the near future.  Assessments went well, I did them really early this year to get them out of the way.  I may reconsider that next year...

Piano: has been going strong.  This year I'm going a bit slower, but I think it's paying off in regards to the quality of the student performances and how they are progressing.  Something to consider for next year (which comes from last year): "My only concern is addressing the new students who have been transferring in late.  I think next year I might tweak my lessons to start after the first couple of days to avoid this.  As an alternative I'm thinking of focusing on listening activities and such with the students in the beginning so that if anyone else comes in late they won't miss anything essential for later."

Q3 Closing - Orchestra Reflections

Okay, so quarter 4 is almost wrapped up.

The orchestra classes are going strong.  Getting the Q3 assessments out of the way early and then focusing efforts on music for the rest of the quarter helped.  It allowed for more sectional time and more streamlined focus on the performance music.

The new seating is also working out well.  Most of the students are better behaved this quarter.  It also sounds a lot better.

For quarter 4, I am going to try a group assessment.  I had the students create their groups and sign up in class.  They seemed excited.  I think this will help by:
1) saving time/energy
2) alleviate anxiety for most of the students
3) provide a more accurate picture of how they perform in the group

The in class sign up worked really well for period 2.  In period 1, however, several students still did not sign up and it was chaotic.  I think I need to think of a creative way of better organizing this for next year.  It's worth the time in class if I can get 100% of students to sign up.

Q4 assessments will also be based on our concert music which should help increase relevancy and also help better prepare the students for our upcoming performances.

Q3 - 3 Week Mark

Okay,
3 weeks in and I have finished this quarter's round of assessments.  It took a lot of time, but all in all it allowed me to listen to them individually and also re-seat the class.  There were some issues to deal w/ and thoughts for next time:

• Difficulty of assessment leaned on the easy side (might not have given full indication of students' ability)
• Still had a handful of students who didn't sign up OR didn't show up for their time

Still need to reflect more on how to deal with those issues but I'm hoping to figure out some sort of solution.  The best part of it all was that the students showed improvement all around.

Next big goal/focus: SNAP GRADES @_@