Quickfire Teaching Thoughts, and Pedagogy Excitement

First, some thoughts scatter-gun style:

I started beginners this week. It's super exciting! I was so ready to send them all home ready to play "We Will Rock You" (Eb D C Bb C C for brass and clarinet, C B A G AA for flute, etc) for their parents so they would be hooked forever. And then, many of them simply could not make a discriminate pitch. Sure it was only day one, but how do we get around that? Are they going to go home and practicing making poor sounds that are in between partials and not really notes? Lesson two starts tomorrow, we'll see!

Another beginning band thought - this is where it all begins. It's incredible to think how influential my instruction can be for these 10 and 11 year olds!

Jazz improv is still on the shelf for now, but we're going to try to subtly and slyly back our way into it by having a "recording session" tomorrow, where we will record our rhythm section playing a sweet rock vamp groove, and then on Friday, I'll distribute it on CDs for everyone to solo along with. We have already practice a scale that sounds great with the groove, so hopefully this approach will have better results - they are very familiar and comfortable with rock grooves, they like this song in particular, we have a little better rapport, etc.

I just finished grading our first playing test, which consisted solely of a Bb scale played in half notes, quarter notes, then repeated 8th notes. Many students excelled, while others displayed some real weaknesses, and I'm a little wary about handing their scores out tomorrow. I tried to be generous, yet firm, remembering that 6th graders have really only been playing for a few months, whereas 8th graders have been playing at least three times longer. I plan on keeping playing tests around, though, because I love getting a chance to hear each student individually.

I attended my first Grade School Music Association district meeting today, and I knew nobody and had no idea what was going on! I'm looking forward to getting caught up to speed on this kind of stuff.

Finally, I put together a worksheet that I'm really excited about. Many of my students have a very serious note reading problem, and the worksheet addresses that. Right now, they are blank templates so I can increase the difficulty over time. I plan on assigning this once a quarter or so. Here's a look:


Any comments or suggestions for improvement? Part of what I want to communicate with this worksheet is that band (music) is just like any other academic class. You put hard work in at home and learn a lot. Hopefully this will help fingerings and note recognition become second for us. In the meantime, I'll remember that it's still very early and that growth and development will come - from myself and my students.

the Future

So things at the high school have been going well overall the last week or so. Classes are productive (usually!), I'm building some rapport with the students and late nights are less late. Joining a gym, catching up on fresh cooking, and some lull time in the marching band schedule have helped also.

However, I cannot help but worry about my instrumentation situation, especially for next year. Let me lay it out. In my top group I am sufficient in flutes, clarinets and saxophones (of course). However after this coming graduation, the only things left in the way of brass will be one trumpet, one horn, and one baritone. The freshmen level band only now has flutes, clarinets, alto saxophones, and two trumpets, so that is all I will be able to promote. I am not sure yet what will be coming up from the feeders for next year.

What bothers me most is that I feel powerless. I am totally up for the extra work of rewriting parts and carefully selecting repertoire. But I feel that in this coming scenario that may not get me far enough. I am also not sure how or when to approach students about switching instruments. I am also wondering how to approach my feeders about how we can work together to have proper instrumentation in the community's music groups.

I do not mean to complain or to sound overly bleak. However I am looking for some creative solutions and ideas towards mending this situation. What I really want is to provide my students with the experience of a characteristic band sound, and a shot at repertoire with diverse sounds.

Beginning band reminder

A reminder about teaching beginning band:

Save twice.

I would just like to preface this post by saying it is not my intention to complain, but to share a stressful yet comical story with you...


I have about 20 different lessons to plan for each week. Technically, they all have to be turned in and checked on mondays, so I usually spend one day of my weekend up to my neck in books, papers, and Word documents. Yesterday was that day. I spent about 4-5 hours working on lesson plans... Last week I had just felt really disorganized with the way I planned, so I was meticulous and really felt good about all of my lessons for the week. I knew what Is doing, all my powerpoints were ready, and the lessons were well sequenced... You can see where this is heading..

This morning, about 7:15, I was transferring my old lesson plans to a new location and saving my new lesson plans to my external hard drive so I could print them. Somehow, by a crazy wrong click of my hand, I save my old lesson plans over the new ones. There was no way of getting them back. If I had accidentally deleted them, then it would be a different story, however, saving OVER them? not so much... I lost every single lesson plan for the week, and had less than an hour before school started...

Luckily, the teacher across the hall was willing to change morning patrol shifts with me so I could work, and my dad was up so I could cry to someone.. Then I got down to work. I pulled together the 8 lessons that I needed for today, and all was well. Was I upset? of course! But, I was also really proud of myself... I took a few moments to grieve my lost work, and then moved on. I'm still not looking forward to re doing everything tonight and figuring out how to get my classes organized and on track again, but It will be okay.... The moral of the story? Save everything to two different locations. Period.

Making Mistakes

"Mistakes are okay, just learn from them!" This has been my number one lesson this past month of school. I have probably made more stupid mistakes in the past week than I did all of student teaching combined. (and I made plenty then, too!) And you know what? I still think I'm doing a pretty good job as a teacher! This has been a great opportunity (ehem, trial and time of suffering) to deal with and overcome my perfectionism. Change happens slowly. Remember that 5th grade class that I wrote about a few weeks ago? It's still a mess. I still spend more time angry at them than smiling at them. I am still too inconsistent in my punishment. I am still afraid to make parent phone calls. I am still learning. That one out of control K class? Still completely out of control! My fault? Partially, partially not. All I can do is continue to reflect and improve, and overall love the kids. Newsflash to the world: I have learned more about how to be a good teacher from the classes that DON'T go well than the ones that do. Here is what i've learned so far this week.

1. About school: It's seriously okay to be mean. It's okay to punish kids. It's okay if they cry. About me: I am afraid of being mean. Somewhere in my messed up brain, I have discovered another one of my many irrational fears. You ready? I am afraid that if I punish kids for talking and not meeting my expectations every single time and for minor offenses in the beginning, instead of leading to a respectful learning environment where the kids feel like they can both learn and express themselves, I will have a stoic, emotionless, and bored class that will completely miss the point of music. Yet, all my experiences and the experiences of teachers who I respect proves the opposite. Next week, I am going to try my hardest to not be afraid to punish kids. (side note of self reflection - I think it is really interesting that I am having this problem because I was that kid that was COMPLETELY afraid of GETTING in trouble as a kid.)

2. Kids need consistency and structure. Teachers fight a losing battle if a student does not have structure and discipline at home. Teachers fight a double losing battle if parents AND other teachers don't provide enough structure and discipline. My mom said to me today "Don't kids just adapt to the expectations of where they are at the time?" Absolutely not. Some will....but most of the time, I don't think they can. Consistency and structure are stabilizing. Boundaries are comforting. It is true.

3. If you believe a child won't succeed, they won't. If you believe that they will, they are more likely to. This is the most powerful fact that a teacher holds in their possession. I hate labeling. low kids, high kids, slow kids, gifted kids... obviously, we need some system of labeling in order to know and help each child succeed. We can't say that all kids learn at the same speed and in the same way. However, expectation plays a huge part in behavior and success. I wish that I could say that I have the same expectation for all my classes, but I am still making mistakes! This is one of my goals for next week, especially with the classes that I struggle with.

There is one particular student that I am trying to "win over to the good side." She is a kindergartener who always seems to be in trouble. Sort of randomly one day after she had made some bad choices, I called her over to me and told her that i believed that she could turn her day in music around. She said she could and she did.... for the next ten minutes... It was a start!! I've decided to really work on this child. Make her believe that she IS good and that she CAN make good choices for behavior. I figure, If I believe in her, maybe she will start to make some good choices and believe in herself. We had a similar talk today about her being a good leader for her class. She made it another ten minutes. I am proud of the start.


Those are my musings for the week. On another note, I survived BOTH middle school and high school without ever getting a detention, just to have detention duty this morning at 7AM... I can no longer say I've never been in detention. It's a little sad.

Rough Draft

I have been tremendously fortunate to have had wonderful veteran teachers in my life. In fact, I was just telling a friend of mine from my hometown that I had never had a first year teacher in all my years of public school. Kinda crazy. I remember student teachers, but no new teachers. As a result, it is hard for me to know what people expect of young teachers; it can be really stressful. I don't like to make excuses or settle for less than my best, but I don't want to burn out either. Especially as the only band teacher in my district, I don't have a sense of "normal."

This week while journaling, I had a nice thought that I wanted to share:

"Next year will be easier. I will have a place to go from. This is the first draft. It will be rough, it will have mistakes, but it will hang together. The big picture will be there. And I have the rest of my career to revise it."

I had a good week this week. I really felt like I turned a corner with this idea of a "rough draft." It's not like college. You don't get graded every time you teach. You just do your best. And if it doesn't work out, you do it better tomorrow. Sweet.

Okay, this post is kinda mushy/serious. Here's a silly kid quote:

Me: Great, band. Wunderbar!

6th Grade Band: huh? What? What's that mean? Is that German? My last name is German! Metzger means butcher!

Particularly loud sixth grade boy: It means testicle!!

::ALARMED TEACHER FACE. I collect myself.::

Me: Excuse me Tyler, what did you say?

Tyler: Fantastical! It means fantastical!

Me: ::sigh of relief:: Yes, that's a great translation!

One month down!

Jazz Update

Remember that post I made a few weeks ago about the improvisation curriculum we were going to put in place in my jazz band class? Remember how uplifting it was and how I was going to lift my students out of their musical shells and take musical risks and create? We were going to gel as a musical unit and overcome our instrumentation problems and our shyness. Remember how musically and personally rewarding it was going to be?

My kids hated it.

The entire concept was met with incredible resistance, as my kids wanted nothing to do with musical risks, creativity, and self expression. It really is hard for me to describe how much they resisted participation in our improvisation games, in the idea of playing for playing's sake, and in the value of playing this type of music.

Needless to say, this was super frustrating. I was so excited about the prospect of making improvisation the centerpiece of the class (since the instrumentation stinks and they read really poorly anyhow), and I couldn't believe it when I saw it completely fall apart.

So I want to briefly analyze the failure, because I want to put it in my back pocket to try it again later, I think it is incredibly valuable, and I want to see how I can improve as a teacher. I see two main reasons why it didn't work.

1) One of the key components of the failure of the improv curriculum lies in the fact that it was completely different than anything they had done before. People hate change. Kids hate change. It is clear to me that they are very used to a very different system than what I was trying to implement. That system, which is probably practiced by the majority of band directors (which I have resorted to often this year, sad to say) goes like so: 1) Pass out some music, 2) sightread it terribly, 3) kids wait for band director to tell them how to play it, 4) perform at a concert with varying quality.

In this system, the kids learn nothing, don't do any of the work, and the director does all the work. (I've already had to do this with my 6-8 grade band that marches parades, because we had a parade right at the beginning of the year. I see how easy it is to slip into this system).

Well, the kids are very used to this system, and when I presented a different approach to our class, they did not handle it very well. They responded to the improv curriculum with comments like "when are we going to play real music?" "this sounds dumb," etc. (The irony of the first comment is that they can't read a lick, which is one of the reasons I went the improv route in the first place. If I put music in front of them, at this point it's pretty much always a disaster).

So this is one of those things that, as the students get used to me and as I develop a reputation over months and years and I get to start doing things they way I think they ought to be done, this'll change. They won't be so used to it anymore. Our fellow blogger Nick sagely reminded me that "Rome wasn't built in a day."

2) The second point of failure in the improv curriculum is a classroom management one. This lies on me and the teacher before me. It was clear from day one that my kids are used to talking whenever they want, getting up whenever they want, and pretty much controlling the class. Obviously, that's something I wanted to change, and I'm working hard at it. My mentor teacher said that it's going to be December before I make a lasting dent, but I'm working hard at it, and we're getting better, but man, it is exhausting.

The 8th graders in particular are tough to deal with. They think they know it all, are super cool, and they are used to having zero structure and zero consequences. So they didn't immediately see the value of the improv lessons, and they just went buck wild. They didn't do what I requested of them, sometimes flat out refusing to do so, and they just wouldn't focus or work toward any goal. They're content with sub-mediocrity and goofing off.

And I guess this comes back to a problem that's even larger than the failure of the improvisation lessons. I hate being the bad guy. I have this concept of a good classroom manager in my head as someone who just doesn't have to punish students because of their mystical, esoteric ability to inspire respect, motivation, and a healthy amount of fear in their students. And man, I am so not there. If I were totally consistent with my rules, I would hand out 20 demerits a day, and that just seems ridiculous to me. I am striving for consistency and firmness, and it's easier in jazz band with just 12 kids, but in band with 45, it is just out of my reach right now. It's overwhelming.

So I guess the nexus of the problem really lies in motivation. If I can sell to my kids the value of my educational vision for them, then they'll focus, do what I ask of them, and put in the work. If I don't, then I'll be fighting my kids, dragging them along forever.

Wow, this reflection was helpful. And now I'm pumped! I have a renewed zeal to just impart my passion for music and music making in my students. I know it's not gonna stick for all my kids, especially some of these hardened 8th graders, but 5th grade beginning band is just around the corner.