Week 10

PART I: Clements & Klinger 4.2

Rapport: What do you think contributes to the relationship between your cooperating teacher and their students?

I try as much as I can to have space in the classroom for laughter, because I think that establishes a positive classroom climate and it keeps people relaxed so that we all have a good rapport with each other. I also do my best to build individual relationships with the kids so that they don’t feel like I just see their faces in my classroom every other day, but that I actually know what’s happening in their lives – even if it’s just things like knowing they have a really hard class tomorrow, or that a bunch of them are participating in the play. I think also, developing a sense of structure for the class contributes to the rapport, so that students know where there is space to be silly and where we need to focus in.

Use of Humor: How does your cooperating teacher insert humor into lessons or discussions with students either formally (from the podium, for example) or informally (talking to individual students while exiting the classroom, for example)?

It depends on the class. With my high school chorus group, I like giving them silly ways to share how their day is going (i.e. give me a fruit that describes how you’re feeling right now) and that usually gets people laughing together and having fun. With other groups, sometimes it’s through demonstrating the opposite of the sound we want because that’s so ridiculous, or sometimes it’s through responding in a slightly snarky way to students who are asking irrelevant questions. 🙂

Proximity to Students: From where in the classroom or rehearsal hall does your cooperating teacher deliver instruction? Are the interactions stationary or does your cooperating teacher move about the room?

This also depends on the class. In smaller classes I like to be seated with the students so it feels more like a team effort rather than me dictating to the class. In larger classes I definitely stand more and walk around more because there’s just a lot more going on that I want to make sure I catch – although I also think I can do a better job of this.

Decision-Making Involvement: How does your cooperating teacher involve students in everyday decisions? Are the students given opportunities to solve problems or resolve issues? Do the students have input or involvement in record-keeping tasks such as taking attendance?

I try to let students lead as much of the class as I can, because I think that helps them take ownership of the material. This would be in things like warm-ups or sight-reading, where they can come up to the front of the class and lead, if that’s what they’re comfortable with. I think in all my classes too, my students know if they raise their hand and have a legitimate question, we’ll spend time talking about problems or questions they have about the music. For example, in 7th grade this week, one student raised his hand and asked if the song we were singing was written by black people (because it sounds kind of like a spiritual and talks about freeing people). I told them it was actually written by white folks, and asked why they thought white folks would write a song like this. It led to a (somewhat focused) discussion about how white folks try to help with issues of racism, and while I don’t think we ended the conversation with a concrete conclusion, it was an issue that the kids were able to name and talk about within the class structure. Students do not help with record-keeping tasks.

PART II: Reflection

This week was generally a lot of fun! Yesterday we were able to see the middle school play together during school, which was really lovely because it allowed me to see so many of the students I teach in a totally different context. It’s helpful for me to see that so many of my 7th graders can, indeed, be focused and at least somewhat serious about a production, so I know what I can ask of them and expect of them come concert time. They had a pretty poor class on Monday this week, so on Wednesday instead of our normal classroom routine we just came in and jumped straight into repertoire, and that worked for about the first half of the class so that was nice. Nearing the end of class (and the end of the day) they got antsy and distracted as is often the case, but that’s also the point where we had a short conversation about who wrote this music and why, which I think was important. But, when we have discussion times, it often leads to people asking irrelevant questions and getting us off-task, so I think I just need to be more discerning about who I call on and when.

Vocal workshops was lovely this week, with careful risk-taking by many students and warm affirmations by peers when students shared what they had been working on. I’d really like to push a little more on their repertoire choices, to get them out of what’s comfortable for them to sing so that they can grow (in range, technique, ability to sing in different registers, etc.), but I know some of them have very specific goals for college and so they actually do need to focus on building, for example, a specific musical theatre repertoire. I feel like in this beginning part of the year it was important to allow the choice to be totally theirs, to make sure they would be invested in the class, but soon I want to push their boundaries and boxes a little more.

In 6th grade this week, the kids did a little check-in on their knowledge of steps, skips, and leaps, where I had them define each term, identify on sheet music what each interval was, and then write a short melody just using steps. It was super helpful to see where they were at individually, because now I know for sure who needs a little extra help. Also, I gave them a bonus question where they could sing the melody they wrote for me, and so two of the kids chose to do that and did it perfectly! That was a great moment, because I was watching the results of my teaching blossom right in front of me.

All of my groups are going to help lead a sing-along together on Monday in front of the entire school, and so that’s a lot of the work we did this week. Unfortunately there wasn’t a time when we could all rehearse together (classic Calhoun), so I’m just hoping it will all fall in place on Monday for Harvest Festival! Also, the Glee Club had another sweet performance at breakfast this week with great levels of risk-taking (some people singing solos while they played the keyboard, another student singing with the group for the first time in front of people), so I was very proud of them.