Pre-Internship: Week Two

This week we prepared for the Optimist Band Festival. This week is always crazy for band teachers and students, and we knew it would be right in the middle of our experience. At first our co-op said we probably wouldn’t have time to work with the band kids because they needed to work things out for the festival. She ended up changing her mind about this, which I was happy for. She gave us things to work on with each piece and allowed us to work with both concert bands. This was our first time to really be in front of the groups and it was frightening. I prepared my score ahead of time, but apparently not enough. I couldn’t wait to sit down. Not because I didn’t enjoy what I was doing but because I felt under prepared and I felt as though I was wasting their time during their last few rehearsals. The students however were very welcoming and pleasant. They didn't seem to realize how I felt, or if they did they dind't show it. They clapped for me when I was done working with them and thanked me at the end of class. It made me feel great.

This week was pretty boring when working with the jazz bands. We basically watched. I couldn’t play with them because our co-op wanted to record them and play it back. Although I understood why we couldn’t really participate it was rather annoying to just sit there. As we discussed several times throughout the weeks, it would be more useful to have the pre-internship in February or April. For the majority of the week I sat by and took notes.

This week I started an assignment with the drama class. I prepared a handout that included the assignment and a rubric on how they would be graded. My plan was to split them into three groups of five but I got turned around and split them into five groups of three. This wasn’t going to work for the assignment so I combined the groups to make two large groups. The students were being very hostile and did not want to participate. When I gave them the hand out they got angry because they thought it was a written assignment. Many of them threw it on the ground and as a result had no idea what to do. I had to explain it to them several times. Although in retrospect I realize this was all my fault I was incredibly frustrated and they could tell.  A few students turned to personally insulting me and the assignment and the entire time I just kept having to remind myself that it wasn’t personal. Their hostility was escalating. I asked for help from my co-op. She gave me advice, but I just wanted her to handle it. I know what she did was right, but I felt so alone. I started the next day on a better note and eventually things were smoothed out. There were students who didn’t want to carry their books around so I was adaptive and carried the books for them.

I really liked the assignment I gave the students. This was a great experience because I learned what to do and what not to do. I learned to be calm, move slowly and keep a level head. There are so many things I would have changed and I hope I get a chance to teach a drama class in the future and re-do this assignment. I think it has a lot of potential.

This week I started teaching the English class. The first day went great. We started by discussing friendship (the topic of the new unit). We worked on a short short story and the students were great to work with. It was difficult the first day because I didn’t know their names, but that was later remedied by a seating chart. There was a little hostility because I asked what characteristics they look for in friends. One kid decided to tell me exactly what he hates and it turned out to be a personal attack on another kid. That was unfortunate but we moved on and things worked out fine.

The next day was the first day my academic advisor was visiting. I was well prepared and had a lot for them to work on. We started by discussing the qualities of spring (it was the first day). The students listed words that described the weather/season. I then told them to do the same assignment silently without using the words we had come up with together. Very few students thought this was interesting, and some were even angry about it. After they settled down many of them had good paragraphs. But this activity made them suspicious. Every time I asked them for descriptors about a topic in the future they wouldn’t give me good ones because they thought I was going to limit them again. All I was trying to do was expand their vocabulary, but many students took this as a challenge to create the least imaginative and boring paragraphs as possible. It was a little annoying.

We then discussed the qualities of friendship (they were worried I would limit them again). We compared our words to the words in a poem. The students were then asked to write a descriptive paragraph about what they look for in a friend or what makes them a good friend. They worked well every day in this week. My lessons went as planned and I was excited to go back.

The Optimist Band Festival is something I’ve attended with dozens of groups. But I’ve never seen it from this angle. It was interesting to see the behind the scenes of the festival. The organization before hand, dealing with last minute issues, making emergency repairs to instruments. It was all very hectic and it was a constant learning experience. We met a lot of people and it was a great time, but very exhausting. 

Right before the junior concert band went on, one of the clarinet players had an issue. The mechanisms between the break were not working. The cork had come loose, folded in half and would not allow the mechanism to close all the way. She asked us to rip it off. After looking at it I didn’t think that would be an issue and it seemed to be the only fix so we did it. However this caused more problems. I found the cork and we glued it back on. I felt a little embarrassed that I didn’t think of doing this. After this the clarinet still didn’t work properly and I had to run to the front and borrow a clarinet. I’d never walked around the building alone before and was afraid I would get lost as they were in the farthest warm up room. I made my way there and back with no issues and we had plenty of time to warm up the new clarinet. Later all of the Euphonium players pulled out their tuning slides and couldn’t get them back in. None of them had slide grease and all we had was cork grease from the clarinet. We made due. That however was a totally new experience that made my heart beat faster for the whole day.

The rest of the day went normally. The only new thing for us was that my partner and I were sent with a student with a handicap. We were to find the fastest way by taking elevators, back doors and random hallways. This would have been difficult if the building was familiar, but the Conexus Arts Center is set up like a labyrinth and we got lost on more than one occasion. We did however manage to find our way fine.

We later worked with the elementary groups, and they were a handful. Two students decided to have a full on sword fight with a Selmer Alto Saxophone and a Bass Clarinet. When I asked them what they were doing they said “she started it.” When I asked them if they thought it was a good idea I got the same answer. When I asked them if they knew how much those instruments cost and how much it would cost to repair them if something was damaged the one girl replied “my mom bought it so it doesn’t matter. It’s mine and I can do what I want with it.” I had no idea how to respond to that. I’ve never seen such carelessness or disrespect. That girl obviously came from a well off family. This was something completely new for me.

The clinicians were all very interesting, especially the last one of the day. Our senior concert band was one of the last to play. I thought the clinic would be a write off, that the students wouldn’t listen and would misbehave. The exact opposite was true and this was because of the clinician. She was so engaging and interesting to listen to. She brought the soloists up to the front and made sure everyone knew what colors to listen for. They were excited because they got to label each sound a different color. I later found out that one of the students actually does this. His brain makes connection between sound and color. When he hears a cord it is one color, people speaking is another. I thought this was really interesting.

The second day was the jazz day. It went way smoother. The only issue was that our junior group was first to perform and four of them were late, and one forgot her music. I spent the first hour of the day running up and down the stairs, taking the students to the jazz room. After this was taken care of things worked out fine. The first clinician was interesting, but a little impatient. He spent most of the time working with the percussion section while the rest of the band sat there (which was an interesting turn around since the percussion often sits there).

The senior group performed well and got to clinic with Gord Foote. I was excited for this, but it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be. He seemed unimpressed with them. I saw him work with a group earlier and he was right into it. With our group he seemed in a hurry and disinterested. It was a little annoying because I know he could have told them so much that could have helped them to improve. 

Seeing the Optimist Festival from this point of view was very different. It was interesting and educational. I wish this could have been a part of our education in first and second year. It was hectic, busy and demanding, with highs and lows all day. It was the perfect look into the real life of a band teacher.