A day in the life of ME!

Okay, so I guess it's time to talk a little bit about what I do every day and how things have been going the last few weeks. So, first off, here is my schedule for Monday-Thursday:

Mont Harmon Jr. High
AAA/SEA: 8:24-8:40
1st (7th grade band): 8:44-9:30
2nd (8th/9th grade band): 9:34-10:20
3rd (Percussion 7th-9th): 10:24-11:10
Lunch: 11:10-11:35
Creekview Elementary: 11:45-12:30
Wellington Elementary: 12:50-1:30
Castle Heights Elementary: 1:50-2:37ish (I'll explain in a minute)

After Castle Heights, I go back to the junior high to finish any prep work and to make sure my door is open so students can get their instruments to take home. Also, on Fridays, I don't go to any of the elementary schools, so I have the afternoon to myself. Since I don't get a prep period any time during the week (since any prep time I would have is taken up my traveling), they kind of just put them all on the same day. It's kind of nice having about 3 1/2 hours to myself on Fridays.

You're probably wondering what AAA/SEA is that I have at the beginning of every day. That is an advisement period where I just make sure students are keeping up on their homework and teach them a little about being organized and things like that. It's pretty laid back and I don't really have to do too much for it. I just have to make sure I read the lesson they have outlined beforehand.

My 1st period, the 7th grade band, is actually doing fairly well. They are a little bit behind where I thought they would be, but they are for the most part progressing nicely and all around doing the best out of any of my bands. The only problem is the instrumentation. I have 5 altos and only two bari saxes and two trombones as my bass line. At the beginning, it was even worse with the altos, but I convinced two to switch to bari and one to switch to tenor. Other than that, though, they are sounding pretty good.

My 2nd period band is a combined band of both 8th and 9th graders, but it only has about 15 kids in it. Pretty sad isn't it........... I guess a lot of them didn't like the old band director, so they quit. Hopefully I can raise those numbers here in the next few years. (Oh, there are about 26 or 27 in the 7th grade band) Overall, this band has a pretty good sound. The only problem is, they can't count. With them, I've had to go back a ways to try and get them up to speed. Once again, they have a great sound and are fairly balanced, but they really need to work on their basic counting abilities.

My percussion class is..........interesting. The struggle with that class is that there are 3 different grade levels and at least three times that many skill levels in the class. The only consecutive thing I have found between the grades is that all of them don't know how to read bell music. They can read rhythms, but when you mix notes with that, they are lost. For the last week or so, we've done a lot on bells. They don't like it, but I have started to see a little bit of improvement already. Eventually I want to start doing percussion ensemble pieces with this group, but the school doesn't have any music for that and what I ordered hasn't come in yet. If it doesn't come in the next few weeks, we'll have to forgo that and wait until the Christmas concert.

Now for the elementary schools. Creekview Elementary is definitely my biggest challenge. There are 45 kids and band falls right after lunch. There are a few times of the day and a few days that are the hardest. Mondays, the first day back after a break, and right after lunch I have found are the hardest times to teach any kids anything. Mondays and after a break are hard because they aren't back into the routine yet and their minds are still on holiday. Right after lunch is hard because they have been let loose for a half hour and it is hard to reign them back in. That is true with any age group, but the younger ones especially. It isn't that they are a bad bunch of kids, it's just hard with so many of them and at that time of day.

Overall, the elementary schools have been chaotic and a struggle for me. The first week I was demonstrating instruments and letting kids play on each of the instruments. They enjoyed it, but once they had their turn to play or they were waiting, of course they wanted to make noise or just be obnoxious in general. Then last week we had our instrument rental night, so I had a room full of 5 different instruments at each school that I was trying to teach kids how to put together and hold while still trying to keep control of the class. It didn't work so well............... To say the least, it wasn't a good week.

Today we finally started moving a little faster, so there was a little less chaos and confusion, but it is still hard trying to give each section individual attention without losing the rest of them. I think it should start getting a little better here in the next few weeks.

In all, the last week has been hard and a little discouraging, but I haven't given up yet and I have hope that things are going to start getting better here pretty soon.