NJMEA

So much to post about, so little time...

This past week was a quick one, as I only actually taught two days of school. I taught on Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday, I had a sub in for me all day because I am part of the superintendent's "steering committee." I signed up for it in the beginning of the year, thinking it would be a good way to kiss up to the new boss. Also, being that it is my last non-tenured year, I wanted something good to put on my annual performance review. I really didn't know what I was getting into. Basically, we are like his advisory council or something. If there is a major school-wide decision that needs made, he tells us what he would like to see, and then we come up with a solution. Pretty powerful, huh? Wednesday, we talked about the district's retention policy (or lack there of). I was originally afraid that I would not be able to contribute much, since I am never really deal with students at risk of failing due to their music grade, but I did fit into the group well (made up of a 4th grade teacher, a 2nd grade teacher, and the school nurse), especially with my computer and typing skills. While we were discussing, I was typing an outline of everything we had decided, and then printed out a copy for everyone at the end.

Thursday was a horrible day of school, with pretty much every class I had being difficult. All I could have hoped by the end of the day is that this weekend's convention would get be recharged for school, because I had one of those "am I in the right profession?" moments on Thursday.

Friday and Saturday were the NJMEA annual convention in East Brunswick. Usually, Meg and I go up together Friday morning, go to sessions during the day, to go the concert and the after-concert gala, stay the night at the Ramada, go to the Saturday sessions, and head home. This fun professional-development-filled weekend 'get-away' is one Meg and I look forward to, only this year, Meg is on maternity leave, so I had to go by myself. Obviously, I did not stay the night, just commuted back and forth each day. I didn't have as much fun without Meg there, but I can now answer my question, "am I in the right profession?" with a definite "yes!" Just in the wrong job, that's all.

Saturday I came home very excited about pretty much every workshop I went to. Here is a quick list form summary of some of the stuff I learned:

• Gordon's Music Learning Theory (www.giml.org) - a whole theory for how kids learn music, which is completely backwards from the way I learned and how I teach it. But it makes a lot more sense. Compares music learning to the way we learn a language: Listening-Babbling-Thought-Speaking-Reading-Writing. Notice how reading is the 2nd to last step. Well, what is the first thing we do when we teach music- "This is a quarter note, it is 1 beat." If a kid doesn't understand what that actually sounds like, he'll never get it. The worst part about this, is it makes me want to revamp my whole general music and band curriculum, which would take a lot of work, and require a lot of funding. But I plan to slowly introduce some of the teaching techniques I learned at this workshop.
• New discipline techniques: These are a stretch, and sound tough to implement, but the presenter made it sound very nice. Basically, give the kids two choices, the rules, and the consequences. Keep everything simple. Don't yell, don't argue, don't ask for good behavior. All things that I do and shouldn't. My favorite technique he discussed is when a student is misbehaving, he just puts a check next their name in his gradebook. Doesn't say anything to the student until after class--just marks their name, and leaves everyone wondering who got in trouble.
• A new recorder method called Recorder Excellence, which correlates with the Standard of Excellence series that I use with my band. I was very impressed with the book, but it is way to expensive for my budget. I saw this session on Friday and was really impressed, but am less impressed now that I know a little about Gordon's theories, since this doesn't exactly follow the same logic. I also got a nice new recorder for free.
• Speaking of "free," I have been meaning to get a new microphone for my laptop for a while. Browsing the exhibits, I stopped at the Kjos booth, and saw they had microphones that go with there iPAS assessment software, but would also work as a regular computer mic. There were only $9, so I was going to buy one, but the guy at the booth told me I could have it for free--so now I just need to find time to hook it up and play around with the assessment software.

So basically, yes, I am in the right profession. I just need to find a school where there is administrative support, both for discipline, and for music. Most of what I learned works best in a situation where the band program is actually curricular. Being that my program is extra-curricular, there is not a whole lot, besides attendance, that I can 'officially' expect from them. I spoke to David Newell, the guy who did the discipline workshop, about implementing his ideas at my school. He was shocked to find that I only get to work with my group once or twice a week, and that it was extracurricular. He asked if there was any chance of getting that changed, and I told him it was much more likely that I would change jobs, to a school that would have a program like this.

I need a fresh start somewhere. I need kids that I have never taught before, so I can get a new reputation for myself, instead of the joke that most of them think I am. I need to do things the right way. I need support from staff and administration, and parents. I realize the opportunity is not very likely, and that I may be stuck where I am for another year, or more, but at least now I can look forward to when I do finally get that dream job.

Well, I gotta 'face the music,' (no pun intended). Tomorrow's a school day, with a long, five-day week, so I better get some sleep.