Week OneWeek one of life as a second year teacher has come and gone.
I've Changed
I've changed, I'm already a lot more productive in one week than I was all year as a first year teacher. I'm more friendly with other teachers and I understand better how how administration and everything works. With this new found pro-activeness, I have been a lot busier as well. I have taken up some added responsibilities which are my own fault. I volunteered.
I Volunteered
I am coaching seventh grade football this year and I am on the varsity scout team in addition to my already hectic music schedule.
First Day Of School
For the first day of school we had to take care of rules and expectations. I changed all my first day handouts this year. I found these great music Websites of other schools and stole from each to come up with my own.
Horizon High School - Choir Program
Red Mountain High School Directory
HHS Choir Room
The biggest change was to my grading policy, I added an "A" project for each quarter.
They Can Choose
I really like this because it allows students to actually get involved in making the music program better. But, it also allows them to choose They can choose if they want an "A" and what they are willing do to get it. The best part is its all on their own time frame.
Didn't Waste Time
I didn't waste any time getting started with performing in the music department either. I heard from some friends of mine that there was going to be a talents how in the local old west days celebration that was severely lacking in contestants. I decided that my top audition choir could put together a song in just one week or 4 days to be exact. So on Tuesday I gave them a new song to learn and two days later on Thursday we choreographed half and on Friday the other half.
Am I Nuts?
In my mind it was a good idea because it gave them a chance to get started right away and not waste a lot of time trying to get the wheels turning at the beginning of the year. They are always more motivated when a performance is looming. Also it was a really easy number with really easy choreography so it worked really well as a confidence builder. You should have heard the kids brag to their friends that they could be performance ready in a week. I might add that infact they did very well and it was looking like my crazy idea just might work after all.
Suprises, Always Surprises
The night before we are to perform I find out the wedding that I am supposed to DJ for (did I mention I DJ on the Side:) is actually starting 2 hours earlier then originally planned. This conflicts directly with our Old West days performance.
My Beautiful, Amazing, Talented Wife
*Cue Super Hero Music. My Beautiful, amazing, talented wife comes to the rescue as she is fast learning is a full time job. She a little reluctantly covers for me at the old west days while I head off to DJ the wedding. About the time I know their performance should start I get a call from my wife explaining that a few of the students decided that instead of doing the choreography they would just stand and sing the song. This would have been fine except for it's a pretty simple song which can be boring without the simple choreography to accompany it. Simple + Simple = Not Boring right? I think I learned that in college. :) So I tell her no they can do it
Simple + Simple = Not Boring
So a few of the more popular students took it upon themselves to persuade everybody else not to do the choreography. So needless to say I was kind of disappointed with the kids because they knew the choreography but decided not to do it anyway. Overall I still fill it was a good experience for the kids and would probaby do it again given the same set of circumstances. And in the end I even let the kids count it as their "A" Project for this quarter so now everyone is happy and we have all learned a few things.
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