So homecoming has come and gone. I must say it was really a blast. The students had a great performance for this time of the year and we all learned a lot about what needs to be worked on in the future. We've even paved ahead and are almost complete with movement 3 of the show :)
Seating tests are almost done (today is the last day). They have been long and grueling. I need to find a way to get/inspire all of the students to sign up and prepare for their exams a little better. I think maybe we need to talk about "how to practice" and responsibility of practicing.
Our first PD day for the year has come and gone. It was very long and in many cases very intimidating. I did learn that the school has a voicethread account so I'm hoping to use that with the ensembles to share videos and comments.
Another neat thing was this video that I'll share. Hopefully it's the right one (I'm in school now so can't load youtube... grumble).
Monday, September 20, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Next week: Homecoming
It's been a while since I've had the time to sit down and blog about the year. Seating test are going strong and overall going well. Marching band is going well too. We just finished movement 2 on the field and the show is coming along nicely.
Homecoming here we go...
Homecoming here we go...
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
2010 Week 3 = Power Outages and a raining ceiling
Talk about a crazy week... Monday and Tuesday we had power outages in school. This knocked out the air conditioning for almost the entire day. It also lead to a complete lights out in the middle of my CO class. CRAZY @_@. But we managed and the kids behaved and handled well.
On Wednesday, as I worked in my office, I heard what sounded like pouring rain in our room. Looked out and saw the ceiling leaking and flooding the downstairs. It was also crazy... we had to quickly find buckets, move valuable instruments out of the way, and then mop up once it was done. @_!
Hopefully the rest of the week will be okay. Tomorrow I begin assessing the students for the first time. It's going to take quite a long time, but I am excited to see them one-on-one and hope to get to know them better.
Goals:
Finish drum break
Work on curriculum maps for my 3 classes (this will take a while)
On Wednesday, as I worked in my office, I heard what sounded like pouring rain in our room. Looked out and saw the ceiling leaking and flooding the downstairs. It was also crazy... we had to quickly find buckets, move valuable instruments out of the way, and then mop up once it was done. @_!
Hopefully the rest of the week will be okay. Tomorrow I begin assessing the students for the first time. It's going to take quite a long time, but I am excited to see them one-on-one and hope to get to know them better.
Goals:
Finish drum break
Work on curriculum maps for my 3 classes (this will take a while)
Saturday, August 14, 2010
2010 Week 2
Another week has passed and boy was it a long. We had a booster meeting on Monday and open house on Wednesday. Crazy.
Classes are going really well. Got all the routines finally set in my big orchestra classes. This has made everything run much smoother. We have already begun to work on music and I am very satisfied with where we are starting off the year.
The weekly workouts have been working out well. I'm getting faster at writing them and the students are making improvements very quickly within them.
Piano classes are going well as well. I am focusing on trying to give each student individualized feedback and attention. We had our first round of assessments this week. These were intended to be formative in nature and gave me a good opportunity to see exactly where they are. I am also very happy to see how far they've progressed already. 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.
I've begun doing more detailed planing for marching band, similar to the planing I do for my daily classes. I think it's really paying off and making our practices much more efficient. Time will tell though if it really makes that much of an improvement.
Things to work on for the future:
- Implementing snap grades into my routine
- Finish arranging 3rd movement and drum break for MB
- Work CO/CS officers into the fold more
Classes are going really well. Got all the routines finally set in my big orchestra classes. This has made everything run much smoother. We have already begun to work on music and I am very satisfied with where we are starting off the year.
The weekly workouts have been working out well. I'm getting faster at writing them and the students are making improvements very quickly within them.
Piano classes are going well as well. I am focusing on trying to give each student individualized feedback and attention. We had our first round of assessments this week. These were intended to be formative in nature and gave me a good opportunity to see exactly where they are. I am also very happy to see how far they've progressed already. 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.
I've begun doing more detailed planing for marching band, similar to the planing I do for my daily classes. I think it's really paying off and making our practices much more efficient. Time will tell though if it really makes that much of an improvement.
Things to work on for the future:
- Implementing snap grades into my routine
- Finish arranging 3rd movement and drum break for MB
- Work CO/CS officers into the fold more
Saturday, August 7, 2010
2010 Week 1 = Finished!
Week 1 of the 2010-2011 school year is done. What a week!
Most of the classes were focused on the nitty-gritty things at the beginning of the year. Syllabus, classroom procedures, get to know you activities etc. I know that these things are really important in setting up the expectations and routines that will help later down the road. The only thing that I don't like about it is that it's a lot of didactic, me giving out information, teaching rather than a more hands-on-approach.
I'm hoping that the procedures I set-up for the CS class (of 130+ students) will be effective and efficient in getting us going. I'm also using Sibelius to create a "Weekly Workout" for both orchestras. Hopefully this will help to build the technical, rhythmic, and theoretical sides of their music education. That way when we get to the real music, it'll be a walk in the park.
Goals for the near future:
- Continue to create/implement weekly workouts
- Get my Snapgrades and Blackboard accounts going
- Seating test! @_@ (130 + 85 students = a lot of time)
Most of the classes were focused on the nitty-gritty things at the beginning of the year. Syllabus, classroom procedures, get to know you activities etc. I know that these things are really important in setting up the expectations and routines that will help later down the road. The only thing that I don't like about it is that it's a lot of didactic, me giving out information, teaching rather than a more hands-on-approach.
I'm hoping that the procedures I set-up for the CS class (of 130+ students) will be effective and efficient in getting us going. I'm also using Sibelius to create a "Weekly Workout" for both orchestras. Hopefully this will help to build the technical, rhythmic, and theoretical sides of their music education. That way when we get to the real music, it'll be a walk in the park.
Goals for the near future:
- Continue to create/implement weekly workouts
- Get my Snapgrades and Blackboard accounts going
- Seating test! @_@ (130 + 85 students = a lot of time)
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Growth vs Fixed Mindset
I read about this on one of the blogs I follow about people whom have a growth vs fixed mindset.
It made me start to think about the students. How can we foster a growth driven mindset into them, and get them out of this idea of fixed. I think many of them, more of them now then in the past, are stuck in this fixed mindset. This is where excuses come from, such "I'll never get it, I'm just not talented".
Perhaps through discussion and a safe learning environment we can foster this growth way of thinking. That reminds me, I should start reading that book Drive by Daniel Pink. Perhaps something in there will help as well.
It made me start to think about the students. How can we foster a growth driven mindset into them, and get them out of this idea of fixed. I think many of them, more of them now then in the past, are stuck in this fixed mindset. This is where excuses come from, such "I'll never get it, I'm just not talented".
Perhaps through discussion and a safe learning environment we can foster this growth way of thinking. That reminds me, I should start reading that book Drive by Daniel Pink. Perhaps something in there will help as well.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Thoughts for the new year...
As I start planing for the new year, I find myself a little stuck at times. I think mostly due to the fact that I am unsure what to expect from the students and what levels they are at. I know that once school gets started and I get to know them, I'll have a much easier time planing for them. Till then, I guess I'll just have to feel a little uneasy for now.
Things to do on the first day of class:
- Welcome students to new year
- Introduce myself and officers
- Go over grading policy, uniform requirements, required materials
- Rules and expectations of class/behavior
- Stand tags for each and every student (have them decorate maybe?)
- Questionnaire form (still need to create this)
- Procedures for entering/exiting class, bathroom, etc.
For the orchestra's I've been wrestling with the idea of using Sibelius (music notation software) to create my own warm-ups and exercises for them. After speaking with a few people, I'm starting to think it'll be a really good idea. I'm worried about finding the time to do it, and also the quality of my own work. I suppose it'll be a learning process for me as well.
Still on the to-do list:
- Create syllabi
- Select pieces for orchestra
- Create questionnaire form for students
- Make bathroom sign-out sheet
- Stand tags...?
Things to do on the first day of class:
- Welcome students to new year
- Introduce myself and officers
- Go over grading policy, uniform requirements, required materials
- Rules and expectations of class/behavior
- Stand tags for each and every student (have them decorate maybe?)
- Questionnaire form (still need to create this)
- Procedures for entering/exiting class, bathroom, etc.
For the orchestra's I've been wrestling with the idea of using Sibelius (music notation software) to create my own warm-ups and exercises for them. After speaking with a few people, I'm starting to think it'll be a really good idea. I'm worried about finding the time to do it, and also the quality of my own work. I suppose it'll be a learning process for me as well.
Still on the to-do list:
- Create syllabi
- Select pieces for orchestra
- Create questionnaire form for students
- Make bathroom sign-out sheet
- Stand tags...?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)