Callyourmomaphobic

Things are going well in the land of middle school band.  Some of the 7th and 8th graders still wish I were their old teacher, but I'm learning to just live with that unchangeable fact.  The 6th graders and I are starting to develop some really good relationships.  I can feel the harsh exoskeleton I felt I needed when I started begin to fall off and we are able to work together much better these days. 

Classroom discipline is improving.  I am trying to keep things positive, so right now I have a competition between all of the classes for a party in the courtyard during their class the day after the concert.  To earn this, they have to be the class with the highest percentage of practice cards turned in that receive a 100.  The first one that counts is due Tuesday, so we'll see then how well this will work.  Next week I'll also be starting another program that I haven't come up with a name for yet (suggestions are welcome!) where students will start the day with 5 "coins" and if I have to call them out for disrupting the class, I take 1 away.  Students can exchange the "coins" they have retained for prizes such as pencils, Silly Bandz, restroom/locker passes, and extra points on an assignment (again, always taking suggestions!).

On the practice cards, students have to get a parent to sign it for us to accept it.  This has led to many students trying to forge their parents signature.  Unfortunately, these 12 year olds have the handwriting of...well...12 year olds, so it's pretty obvious when they didn't really have a parent sign the paper.  I have managed to brave an e-mail to parents to verify their signatures, as well as a couple other times for behavior issues.  But there is 1 thing I still haven't summoned the courage to do:

Call a parent.

Thus the title of this entry.

See?

Ok.

It's nervewracking to even think of calling a parent!  What if they don't speak english?  What if they have a thick accent and I can't understand them?  What if they are convinced that anything I say is a conspirancy created by another student against their dear Johnny? 

Can I please just text parents? 

There really should be a college course in calling parents.  Or at least a seminar.  Or maybe it should be part of student teaching that you have make at least 3 phone calls home that semester.  Either way, I feel more prepared to teach Greek than to dare phone home.

I realize the day will come when I need to just bite the bullet and dial 10 digits, but hopefully it won't be today.

Spring Break!

Education professors and my student teaching mentors told me that students brains are generally useless the week before a break...well at least I now know they aren't liars.  My students weren't bad, but they were as fidgety as a 4 year old with chicken pox.  I managed to teach actual lessons monday-thursday, and then on friday we combined the beginner classes and played band ball all day (Band ball is just some game that the other band director made up and I'm pretty sure the rules change every 5 seconds...).  It really only takes 1 person to run band ball, so I reorganized and put away all the solo and ensemble music off to the side so I could still keep an eye on my woodwinds.  It was funny to watch how they responded when the other band director said the same things I say to them every day.  They were sad to discover I wasn't lying about having to play in time with the metronome.

I just returned today from visiting friends in Oklahoma for a couple days.  It was interesting to sit around with the same people I went to college with and instead of discussing ways to get away with stuff in various music courses, we were talking about our own classrooms.  2 of us are teaching and 1 is student teaching and it was kind of comforting to realize that we all have similar issues when it comes to classroom management.  Along with sharing our frustrations, we shared ways we have dealt with these problems.  Some of my students may be in for a surprise monday...

She turns into crazy lady!

Today was kind of an unusual day.  The head band director was gone for the first 4 classes with some of the honors band students and string orchestra at symphony orchestra UIL, so I was essentially running the classes myself with some classroom management help from another sub.  Because of the situation, I had to combine the beginning classes.  The brass are not used to me, so they kept trying to get away with playing wrong notes and making up their own rhythms.  At one point I stopped the class and asked the woodwinds, "could you please tell the brass what I think of people adding notes and intentionally playing wrong notes?"  Their response..."she turns into crazy lady!"  Not the answer I was expecting...but it's pretty accurate.  I've got them trained.