Grateful and thankful for all the thoughtful messages and gifts I received on my last day!
Wow, what a term it has been!
Seven weeks as a student teacher, two weeks as an employed casual teacher for Music. The past term has been such a rewarding and memorable experience for me. I have been so privileged to be a part of this school and this community of wonderful staff and students for a term. It wasn't easy, and I don't think anyone experiencing full-time work for the first time can ever say that it is, but the most important part of it is that I made it through and took so much valuable knowledge, insight and advice from it all, and ultimately, matured as a person and as a passionate music educator.
One day as I was casual teaching, a student asked me, "Miss, will you ever lose your passion for teaching?" I answered, "No, of course not! Why do you ask? He replied, "Many teachers do after several years, and it's really sad. So please don't lose your passion for teaching, I believe you are a great teacher."
So here's a summary of my term which I decided to split into two categories: things I am proud of, and events/experiences I learnt from...
What made me a proud music teacher:
As a student teacher, you never get to experience classroom teaching at its fullest; ie. enjoying the deep relationships you have built with the students over the past several years, and missing out on writing the formal mid/yearly reports for all your classes, which isn't too bad I guess. So the first task I had to do was to quickly get to know the students in the shortest amount of time possible, so that I can develop a level of trust with them, and earn their respect to an extent. I can say for sure, that I learnt all their names (especially the elective classes) within the first couple days, to show that I know each and every one of them, and also use it to my advantage such as calling them out to answer questions when they're not on task.. the technique every teacher loves to employ! That was the easy bit, and now for the hard part...
In order to actually teach them something in the very short amount of time I was there, I needed to quickly grasp an idea of where the students were at in their learning, more specifically, identifying the weaknesses in each individual student, as well as the content that hasn't yet been covered in each general stage. After the first lesson with the elective Year 9 class and Year 11 Music 1 class, it was so obvious to me what they needed to work on, and how I could help develop them into a whole musician...
Year 9 elective music: This class were a bunch of friendly, bright, well-mannered, somewhat reserved students. Over half the class had an intermediate skill level on an instrument, and when asked what they disliked about music, most of them responded with, "performing makes me nervous". At that moment, I just knew I had to introduce the idea of 'improvisation', which was just so fitting for their topic of Jazz for this term. Fast foward to the end of the term after all my carefully planned lessons, Year 9 have composed and notated a Blues composition in groups, performed their compositions and had plenty of opportunities to improvise collectively and solo. It was so rewarding to see each of them develop their confidence a little more each lesson and to be able to finish the term by requesting an "improv party!" Their eagerness to play and enjoy music was all the motivation I needed to continue preparing creative lessons and resources for the students, as I looked forward to every next class we had.
Year 11 Music 1: The atmosphere of this class was completely different; twenty-four energetic and loud students (mostly boys), who were all eager to jump up from their seats to perform. After observing the first lesson, it was clear to me where their strengths and weaknesses were, with their skills in the musicology/aural component at a concerning level... I was given instruction to focus on strengthening their aural and analysis skills for their upcoming written exam, and so I did... in my own unique and innovative way.
Each lesson I planned incorporated a bit of everything - analysis, playing, improvising and composing. My initial goal was to help them develop a deeper understanding of the music by playing through it first, before discussing and breaking down what had just been played ie. the melodic/harmonic roles, ostinatos used, etc. I found that the hands-on experience was helpful for most students to realise what was actually happening in the music, until their exam date was approaching too soon and they just really needed the time to gain a better grasp of the terminology necessary to answer extended responses... so I changed the game plan. For the last three weeks before exams, each lesson was based on an extended response question from a HSC past paper, and students were to participate in the unique activities I designed to scaffold their learning and assist them in formulating a good written response. Some of these activities included:
A live class debate on how the excerpt achieved UNITY or CONTRAST
"Find your pair" game: involving a cut-up glossary of music terms and definitions for students to be the first to find the other student in the class with their corresponding term/definition
"Bingo" game - students identify a row of 4 features they can hear in the excerpt. The first to correctly identify a row, wins the game. (Refer to image below)
Towards the last week before exams, students began to show a better understanding of the Concepts and were able to use appropriate terminology to describe features they heard! Yay! I wasn't sure that was the case for every student, but I was overjoyed when one day a student walked into class and said...
"Miss, guess what happened yesterday? I was driving home, and upon hearing a song on the radio, my mind began analysing the music and going through all the Concepts as if I were to write about it in an exam! It was insane because I've never experienced this before outside the classroom... ever!"
... and that's when I smiled and knew I made a difference in her learning.
Events and Experiences I learnt from: (especially as a Casual Teacher)
As a casual, you're in there by yourself. Just you and the students, and a huge backpack you wear called, 'Duty of Care'. Although seventy percent of the classes I had were the music classes I was teaching as a prac student, the last thirty percent were extras I had to take on from other subjects, in classrooms I have never walked into before, and students I have never met. In situations such as these, I had every opportunity to practise my behaviour management skills and understand how essential it is to be prepared before each lesson, but also how important it is to be adaptable and think quick on your feet. I was lucky enough to have experienced being deliberately locked out of a room by a student, dealing with incidents of physical abuse in a classroom, and as a result, writing up a number of incident reports all during the two weeks. If there is one takeaway point from all of this, it would've been, "fake it till you make it". Believe in the skills you have developed as a teacher, and confidently execute these skills in the appropriate situations. We all learn from experience, and it is these experiences and valuable life lessons that strengthen us, and shape us into who we are today.
PS: Despite all of this, I absolutely enjoyed my time as a casual, and can't wait to be back in for a few more weeks in Term 4!!