b natural. c sharp.

As an update for my last post, my week of being on my own went fine.  I actually ended up only teaching 5 lessons because of all the snow days and delays.  My observation was during an unexpected lesson, but I did fine and my supervisor gave me lots of nice comments.

However, today I had a lesson that went like I originally feared my lessons to be without my mentor teacher’s presence.  All four of the kids were acting very strange from their normal selves… bickering, calling out, not paying attention, and one pushed his stand out, stood up, and was ready to fight with the other.  My mentor teacher happened to step out of the classroom for this lesson and I felt completely out of control.  I did my best and was as strict as I’ve ever been with all the teacher tricks I’ve learned so far, but the students were just not normal today for whatever reason.  The lesson really upset me because I’ve never had to deal with that kind of thing, and I felt helpless without my mentor teacher to step in/give me any guidence.  I managed to keep general control and get as much done as possible, but as soon as they left and he asked how it was, I burst into tears.  He was surprised because when he poked his head in every so often, things looked like they were going fine.  He told me not to worry about it because all of them were off today and the one kid was having a really bad behavior day all around.  I’m really mad at myself for getting upset because I know I’ll have to deal with this kind of thing a lot and probably worse.  At least next time I will be ready for it.  If I am prepared for the worst, I figure the good days will be even better.

Other than that one lesson, things are going well.  I’m starting to teach a lot more now, but it’s usually the same general lesson for several of the groups so it’s not too hard.  I was proud of myself when I taught the notorious saxes this week and was so on top of pacing that they didn’t have a chance to misbehave.  I’ve quickly learned the necessity of keeping a water bottle on hand because otherwise I start losing my voice by the end of the day.

Student teaching is going well so far. It’s not stressful, just exhausting to be on an 8-4 schedule every day. I’m starting to get used to it but Tuesdays and Thursdays are really hard because I have to get up before the sun, and my body hates it no matter how early I go to bed. I’m always really tired when I get home. As of now I’m teaching viola, percussion, and flute groups. I will also be picking up violins on Friday. My lessons have been going well and I’m getting more and more comfortable. We got off today for snow, and it rules.

Unfortunately, things are about to get a lot more hectic…

I’m supposed to get observed by a retired band teacher and we scheduled it for next Friday for my violin lesson. Not a big deal. However, my mentor teacher just called me this morning to tell me that his girlfriend is getting surgery next week and he will be out Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. My options were to continue with the lessons I already have, or pick up all of his lessons for those three days so the kids don’t miss anything. I called my supervisor who is supposed to observe me, and instead of moving it to the week after, he moved it to a time where I would be covering a group (for the first first time) for my mentor teacher on Wednesday.

So I at least have to pick up those two groups… but I will probably end up doing them all for the three days. What sucks the most is that the observation is during the sax group, who we originally planned to pick up in my last week because they are so wild in their behavior. I am now officially freaked out.