Respect

The hardest thing about student teaching is getting the respect needed to effectively teach a class full of teenagers. Lately, I feel like they've been trying to walk all over me, but I think I've caught it early enough. I've had to be really strict. I think part of the problem is my age. I'm only 7 years older than some of the students. I have to be really careful that they don't think of me as a friend, because then they think they can get away with anything they want to. So, lately that has made me a little mean. As soon as I feel like I have the control, I think I can become a little more relaxed. I don't like being the bad guy, but right now I need their respect more than their friendship. Some of the students at the high school want to have a pre-twirps (Twirps is a dance they have) party at my house. I really don't think that is a good idea. I've been really careful to make sure none of my students know where I live. They need to know there is a line between them and me.

Football game 2

If you want to check out the CHS band in action, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M6XBKI8JHw. They did such a great job and I'm really proud of them!

Football!

Yesterday was a VERY long day. Quick summary: 6 AM - Wake-up/get ready for school, 7 AM - arrive at CHS, 11:30ish - go home for lunch, 12:15ish - head to CJHS, 2:45 - school done, go to work, 5 pm - head back to CHS to support band for football game, 6:30 - Football!, 11 PM get home. 17 hours straight! I was pretty exhausted last night.

The game was really fun! It is quite the production. I will try and post a picture later. I was very proud of my band!

Stolen!

Today was extremely stressful! The band seemed a little more relaxed today then they were yesterday. I am really looking forward to tomorrow's football game. The stressful part about to day was that 2 more guitars were stolen! We had one stolen earlier in the week, and two more were stolen today. So, we decided to reissue locks, but keep the same lockers. So, now they better understand to not give their combos to anyone and nobody knows their combination but them.

CJHS went really well. In concert band, we sight read a couple pieces and they did really well. I can hear a lot of improvement in them.

Tomorrow: CHS homecoming rally and football!

The looming football game

Today, tensions were high in band at CHS. The first football game of the year is this Friday. Everybody seemed a little stressed and worried that this game is not going to be that great. Most of the tension came from the drum major and the uniform crew. What we explained to them all is that Todd has been teaching for 18 years and he does know what he's doing. It is different than how they have done things in the past, and they are starting to get upset about it. They are also not going through the right channels to get talk about these things. Todd and I had to put out a few fires today. It was a little stressful.

My supervisor from the university, Bob Kohen, observed me today for the first time. He came to Concert Band at CJHS. At first I was very nervous, but as soon as I started to teach, the nerves went away. I did notice him watching me a couple times, but I don't think it really effected me. After class, he said I had a good repor with the students, which is what he was really looking for today.

Crazy kids

Last Friday, the kids at CJHS knew it was Friday. It was nutso on Friday! Not only was it Friday, but they had also gotten their prizes for the magazine drive. I had to confiscate one of the prizes for the period because it was such a distraction. With all these things against us, we only got about 1/8 of the stuff done that I had planned for. They just kept talking. The only time they weren't talking was when they were playing, but the exact moment that the song ended, they would just start talking. If I was allowed to walk out on them, I would have. I was about 30 seconds from throwing a kid out of my classroom, but I couldn't decide who I wanted to kick out!

Anywho... tomorrow is a rally schedule at CJHS. Let the insanity commence!

The end of this week is the first football home game for CHS. The band is starting to worry a little bit about being ready for it. I personally think they are going to be great at the game. I try to let them know that.

I've had a few students get mad at me now. One of them was showing up late for band (CHS) fairly often. I am the one that takes attendance everyday. The attendance policy states that if a student is late, they have to serve a detention. They also have to go to the attendance office when they arrive to class. One day, on a marching day, he shows up late. I ask him to go to the attendance office. He says, "Wouldn't you rather have me rehearsing out here on the field." My reply was, "No, I want you to go to the attendance office right now." He storms off, goes to the attendance office, and then does not come back to class. Todd went down to the attendance office to let them know he didn't show up and he was marked truant. The next day, he was late again. I ask him to go to the attendance office. This time, he goes to the attendance office, and then he goes home! Todd went down to the attendance office and they pulled him out of his second period class. They had a discussion with him. Basically, Todd told the student that they had to decide if they wanted to continue to be in band. He hasn't been late since.

Journal 1

So, for Practicum I, we are supposed to submit a journal every three weeks for a total of nine weeks. I figured I would share with you what I submitted for this first one. A lot of this will probably be repeated from earlier. I have bleeped out the names just so I don't offend anybody.

            The first month of school has felt like two months to me. It is definitely a different feeling than I’m used to. Getting up early everyday and teaching can be rather exhausting. Add on top the other classes that we have to take for the credential program and work, and it gets even worse. I am hanging in there and it is getting easier for my body to do. I remember getting home every day for the first couple weeks and just going straight to bed to take a nap. I can now make it through a day without napping.

            As far as I can tell, the teachers I’ve observed all have well planned lessons. I have never seen a teacher look for something to do next. They all go from one thing to the next. How they organize there lesson plans is different for all the teachers. Some have an agenda written on the board, others have some kind of PowerPoint presentation or other computer program that guides the class, and others just seem to know what is supposed to some next. A history teacher I saw, Mr. *****, really just seemed to know exactly what came next. When it came time to lecture, he asked where they were in the notes and then just picked up exactly where he left off the day before and kept lecturing right till the end of class. It was, by no means, a boring lecture. The students all seemed very interested in what he had to say. It almost seems like the lecture part of class would just be continuous from day one all the way to the end of the unit.

            Among all the teachers, there are very different classroom management techniques. Mr. *** had an interesting technique of just calling a student out in the middle of class. Mr. *** seemed somewhat old fashioned. One of the students yawned in his class and didn’t cover his mouth. Mr. *** interrupted what another student was saying just to tell the student that it was inappropriate. I personally don’t think that the situation was handled correctly, but I didn’t say anything to him.

            A few teachers I observed, including Mr. ***** and Mr. *******, kept the students engaged. They didn’t really have any behavioral problems because they could keep the kids engaged. I hope that this works for me. Being a music teacher, I feel that a well-planned lesson is the best kind of classroom management.

            I feel like I am getting a handle on teaching, for the most part. I am learning to be stern in some cases and light in others. Sometimes, when I’m teaching, I can get a little too focused on just teaching and forget to smile a little. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, sometimes a student does something they shouldn’t and I don’t mention it. I feel both of these things are already starting to change. The other day, there was a kid I told that if they don’t start practicing their guitar in the guitar class, that they will fail the class. He ended up leaving the class instead. Sometimes, you have to be harsh, and sometimes you have to smile.

            I am very proud that I have learned all the names in the Band at Chico High. There are 80 kids in the class and I know every one of their names. Now, I just need to work on getting the rest of my classes.

Day 14 through 23 - 2 Weeks = 10 school days... What happened?!?

I'm sorry I haven't been keeping updated these last couple weeks. Towards the end of last week, my house lost internet. It's kind of a long story, but the short story is that AT&T gave our phone number to another house and we were without internet till early this week when we got Comcast. Anyways, I am now catching up on all my work and will now catch you up with my student teaching experience.

Besides my normal classes, I've observed several other teachers. I loved the physics teacher. He was very theatrical with his experiment the other day. He dressed up as Galileo and the class recreated his experiments of dropping objects of different mass from the Tower of Pisa. Each student had a roll to play as they "traveled back in the 'way-way-back machine.'" To replace the tower, they used the second story of the administration building. There was actually a dent in the ground from the many years of conducting this experiment with a bowling ball.

I thoroughly enjoyed the AP US history class yesterday. He kept the kids engaged the whole time, myself included. The end of the period came as a surprise. He put the material into words that related to the students.

I've visited other classes as well, but those two seemed like the highlight of the last two weeks. I think they stuck in my mind, because they were both very engaging. That is a quality I want to have as a teacher.

I've been doing more and more teaching every day with the rest of the classes. I now know all of the names of the students in the CHS band. I'm still struggling with names in the rest of my classes. We did talk about what two classes I will be taking over for next semester. I will be teaching both CJHS bands for my Practicum II.

One last piece of news for you all: Chico Unified Teacher's Association (CUTA), the teacher's union for Chico Unified, are really close to going on strike. It's kind of scary, because if they go on strike for 5 days or more, then all of the student teachers will be reassigned CTs. I'm really enjoying my position with Todd and really don't want to be reassigned. I hope this gets resolved before too soon.

Day 12 and 13 - End of week 3

I've just been exhausted these last two days. Student teaching and a job makes for a very tired Eric.

On Thursday, I observed a geometry class taught by Ms. Cox. She too started with a warm-up. She gave them an equation and asked several questions about it. I think that's one interesting thing I've noticed about all the classes I've oserved so far. They all had some kind of warm-up. In music, we do warm-ups to prepare to play. I like that the other subjects do warm-ups to prepare the mind to think.

I took the clarinets i beginning band out that day. I'm impressed at how fast these kids are progressing. The notes are getting clser to being one sound everyday. There is still a long way to go. The saxophones did well on Friday as well. For both these groups, I started to give out little prizes for playing a solo. I'm hoping this owill encourage kids to practice so thy feel comfortable enough to play in front of their peers.

The big thing that happened yesterday was the rally at Chico High. The band played and I played clarinet with them. The band also got their t-shirts today and many of the kids were wearing them to the rally, myself included. I was very interested to watch the rally, because it gave me a peek into the all-american kind of high school. I feel that my personal high school experience was not the avereage typical american high school thing. These students, yesterday, showed some true school spirit and seemed to have a lot of fun at the rally. Everyone wanted to be at the rally it seemed.

Day 11 - Wednesday = Longest day

I had a rather average kind of day, as it goes. It was just really long. 7 AM to 8:30 PM is one long kind of day. I didn't really have any breaks either.

At the schools, Wednesdays are both good and bad. The district has set things up so teachers can collaborate within the department. The music department doesn't need this time to collaborate, so we use the time for rehearsal. This means the band gets extra time to rehearse. The downside to wednesdays is that all the other classes are a little shorter.

In marching band, we marched a little bit, first practicing horns up/down. Then we practiced a little 8 to 5 (8 steps to 5 yards) and ran through the "CHS" formation halftime show a couple times, then got back to class and rehearsed.

In beginning band, I took the trombones out and taught them about maintenance of their instrument and also worked on a few notes. Their sound is already pretty good. I also played trombone with the concert band in 6th period.

Day 10 - Tuesday = longer day

I may be tired, but I am learning a lot and still having fun.

I started the day at 7 AM just like I do every day. We went out to the field to march and aimed to perfect the "CHS" formation.

For 2nd and 3rd period, I observed other teachers for the first time today. I asked the principal what teachers he suggested to observe. In 2nd period I observed Mr. Kinchelo's AP English class. He started with a warm-up of mixed up letters. The students had to try and for words out of the letters using the clues he had given them. Then a few students gave presentations on their character sketch of a classmate. They had to write a very wordy paper about one of their classmates. At the end of class, they went into small groups and worked on a project about books they read this last summer.

Some of the things I really liked about his class were that he used popsicle sticks to call people randomly, he gave tickets to kids who did well on the warm-up as a reward, and he asked for verification of listening after each presentation of the character sketches.

Ms. Lafollett's (pronounced La-fall-it) 3rd period Algebra Readiness class seemed like a pretty routine math class. One of the things I liked about her class were that she had each of the students keep a calendar of their assignments and record their own grades down so that they are keeping track of everything going on in class. She also gave them a "toolkit" that the students had to really build themselves. As they learn new topics in class, they add to their toolkit.

In beginning band at CJHS, I took the flutes to another room. My friend, Chris, took the Tubas out and helped them today. The flutes were, for the most part, still struggling to make a steady sound. They did improve as the class went on. There are definitely a few people that are really excelling in the flute section, and a few people who really have to work hard.

I had my Teaching Special Populations class at the university this evening. My mom has some expertise in this area, and I hope to pic her brain as I learn more in this course. This class ended at 7:20. Thank you 12 hour and 20 minute day.

Day 9 - Ahh Monday

Today was the first day of classes for Chico State. I can tell things are going to get real busy, real fast for me... especially, later this week.

CHS and CJHS were basically normal days today. Band was just rehearsal in both schools. I did do the warmup for the high school. Guitar was a play day. In beginning band, I took the trumpets and baritone to the next room and taught them about basic maintenance of their instruments.

After school was done, I went over to the university instead of biking home. I checked out what the wind ensemble was up to and visited with some old friends. I also talked to Dr. Tevis for a while. He's really excited about my student teaching as well.

I then had my first class at Chico State for this semester: EDTE 532 - Literacy Development. It seems like it might be an interesting class, but I still don't really have any clue exactly what it's going to be all about yet.

Day 7 and 8! Very busy!

My last couple of days have been very busy for me! Let's just go over the highlights of the last couple days.

Thursday:
In beginning band, we split the group into woodwinds and brass. I know I've mentioned this before, but just so there's no confusion, we decided that there will be no percussion in beginning band so they can learn how to read music rather than skirt on by. I took the woodwinds to another room, while Todd stayed in the band room with the brass. Both groups learned how to play to notes. Now, when I say two notes, I don't mean that it was very nice sounding. It was really more of a mass general sound somewhere around the note they were trying to learn. The cool thing was that when we changed notes, you could hear the mass sound going in the right direction.

At CHS, the band formed their "CHS" on the recently lined field for the first time this year. They practiced how to get on the field into that formation and how to get into an arc from there. There is still a lot of work to go with their marching.

After school, Todd invited me to a meeting for all the performing arts teachers in the district. They were discussing what the policy will be for the new auditorium that was built at PVHS.

Friday:
Again, beginning band was very exciting! This time they played as a full band! We got them playing a "sound" as a full band. It was pretty cool.

I also wrote and administered a quiz for the guitar class on Friday. We had the kids graded each other's papers in class. I also recorded the grades in the grade book. I had to do a lot of cut and tape stuff in the copy room because it's rather difficult to put staves and music notes on the word document on the school computer. I am very proud of my quiz!

I would have written my blog yesterday, but I had work right after school at the bookstore. I was then too tired to do anything after I got home.

Day 6 - The first long day

I just got home from the credential meeting. I definitely feel a little overwhelmed right now, but I know things will flesh out as time goes along.

For CJHS beginning band, I invited a few of my friends from the university to come and help us out. It made it a lot easier because today was the day that the kids learned how to make a sound. It was made a lot quicker by having them split into groups of like instruments so that they could learn how to make a sound.

Not much else was that exciting today.

Day 5

I was super tired this afternoon right after school. When I got home, I went strait to bed and took a nap. I think it was 5th period at CJHS that wore me out the most. The beginning band got their instruments for the first time today, and I felt like I was running around just putting out fires the whole time. There was several problems with the instruments. Some students were having a hard time getting their instruments together. Even during 6th period, I was organizing the instrument storage room as a part of the aftermath.

A cell phone went off in 5th period today and Todd had me collect it. The policy at CJHS is, if a cell phone is used, rings, or disturbs the class, the cell phone is to be taken away from the student. They then have to get a parent or gardian to pick it up from the main office after school.

CHS was mostly like every other day. In band, I took the brass out marching and helped the drum major learn a few things about spinning mace. The rest of the day at CHS, I was working on getting the drill adapted for our band and getting it printed.

Day 4 - the first Monday

The beginning of the week was actually pretty good. I guess Mondays aren't that bad... yet.

At CHS, I took the saxophone and horn sections out to march. I got these little erasers and bracelet things and gave them out during marching rehearsal for things they did well. They seemed to like it, even at the high school level. The guitar class had a play day to work things out on their own. I spent that period making copies of the drill for the band's field show.

At CJHS, the beginning band got their instruments today. We started out with me teaching a rhythm lesson. We used the words "Train," "Cho-Cho," "Clickity-Clackity," and "Chuga-Chuga." We first did a repeat after me thing, then I divided them into groups and each group had their own words. The "Train" group would go constantly, while the other groups would go one at a time. It wasn't as successful as I thought it might have gone. Everyone was really quiet. I'm not sure what to do about that yet.

Concert Band went really well. I helped out the percussion section again. At the end of class, one of the kids asked me what my rates are for private lessons. Hopefully, it will turn into a reality soon.

Day 3 - Friday the 13th!

Every Friday, CHS band plays out in the quad as people are going to class, just like the first day of school. I think this is pretty great, because it shows how they play in a performance setting and I believe it gets them to work a little harder each week. Having rehearsal right after the performance also helps a lot, because the problems that happened in the performance can be fixed immediately. Due to playing in the quad, there was no marching today, just rehearsal. I played clarinet with the band today.

Today was picture day at both schools. Teachers and staff got pictured too. I was included in staff. I believe it's for an ID card that I'm going to get. I'm not really sure yet.

Today in guitar, they started to play. They were learning how to tune their instrument and a little more music theory. Some of them have played guitar before, but most of them have never read music before. I think once they get over that hurdle, things will become much easier for us.

In CJHS beginning band, they gave us their three choices of instruments. We also polled them all on what they chose for their first instrument. Most people will be able to play their first choice. There were way to many trumpets. Some won't be able to play trumpet, so we can have a balanced band.

In advanced band, I helped out in the percussion section. Todd wants them to play mallets, but they don't know how to read music very well yet. I gave them an assignment to write all the note names for the first two pages of the book we're using.

I survived my first week. I'm looking forward to the weekend, but also can't wait for next week to start. I am realizing that the kids already are looking to me for questions and stuff. It makes me feel important. Things are just getting better all the time.

Day 2

Ok, so I didn't take roll in the classes today. Todd wanted to continue learning names himself. I am still learning names though. I know I learned a few in each class today. Todd's going to make it really easy for us at CJHS. The kids' assignment for tonight is to make name plates for the music stands.

Today was still a lot of fun! For band this morning at CHS, I took the clarinets and flutes out to the field for marching practice. I brought the drum major with us to so he could call the commands for me and I could focus on what they needed to work on. The rest of the band was rehearsing with Todd. The clarinets and flutes joined the rehearsal with 30 minutes remaining in the period.

During the 2nd period prep, I volunteered to take Todd's extra monitor back to the tech guy. Just as I was about to climb the stairs up to where I was to take it, the fire alarm went off. I walked into the quad carrying this big monitor and set it on a ledge. Since the alarm went off, the tech guy had to come downstairs. After the "All Clear," the tech noticed the monitor and said, "Hey, nice monitor," and picked it up and left.

Guitar was ok. I assigned lockers to every person and Todd went over some basic music theory stuff. Mostly teaching them how to read music. There is a very wide range of abilities in the guitar class.

In CJHS beginning band, we demonstrated the instruments for the kids. By tomorrow, the kids are going to tell us what their top three choices of instruments are. I demonstrated flute, clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax, and trombone.

In concert band, we gave them the forms they needed to check out their instruments. They found the instrument they wanted and got the number off the instrument for the form. We also gave them their books they needed: Standard of Excellence, Book 2.

Right now, we're still trying to get into the swing of things. I'm enjoying every second of it.

Day 1

My alarm clock went off extremely early today. 6 AM is a little earlier than I'm used to. I got to CHS at 7 AM. I was the one to unlock the doors for the students today. Well, at least I tried to. I couldn't get my key in the band room door lock, but my CT, Todd, arrived just as I was having trouble and he finished the job. The first thing that happened today was that the band played in the quad as people were arriving to school. I was very impressed with how they play already. I do see the areas that they need work on, but, I could tell they did a lot of work at band camp. There was even a little hint of dynamics this morning.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Mostly, Todd went over the policies of the classes with the students. During 2nd period, which is Todd's prep period at the high school, we went over a few things, including Todd's schedule is. At CHS, zero and 1st period is band, 2nd period is prep, and 3rd period is guitar. At CJHS, 5th period is Beginning Band and 6th period is Concert Band. He also has a Jazz Band at the high school on Wednesday evenings between 6-8. I'm not sure I will be able to make it to any of the Jazz rehearsals because I have a class at that time at the university.

My biggest concern at this point is learning everybody's names! There are so many students to remember! To help with this, starting tomorrow, Todd is having me take roll in all his classes. If anyone has some good name remembering techniques, please comment below.

Today made me even more excited about this upcoming year! It's really interesting to see how a new band director to the school adapts and changes things that the previous director did. Todd isn't changing everything at once, but you can tell he is slowly changing everything.

Just as a side note: This morning I wore a blue shirt, thinking I look good in blue. I didn't even think about CHS's colors of Red and Gold. Two colleagues of mine let me know too that Blue is the color of PV, CHS's rival. Oops! None of the students said anything about it, but I think I need to look into getting more red shirts!

The day before...

Tomorrow starts the new school year for Chico Unified School District. I am so excited to start my student teaching! My Cooperating Teacher (CT) is Todd Filpula, the new band director at Chico High School and Chico Junior High School. The week before last, I got to meet with the student leaders of the band at Chico High School. Last week was their band camp. I did not go because I was out in the back country, on a very wonderful backpacking trip. I plan on being at the schools full time this week, just to see how things go in the first week of a high school and a junior high.

I talked with my CT over the phone today just to see when I will be at school tomorrow and what I will be doing. He said we'll decide what I'm doing tomorrow when I get there. My new life starts at 7:15 AM tomorrow.