More Music!

I got another for the music teacher at the school with the ineffective secretary.  This time I made it to the school, and signed in without any issues (going at lunch also means that the secretary is not there). The music teacher was actually there because she was having an in-school mentoring session with a new teacher. Although it's been hit or miss with this school, this music teacher has her stuff together and I don't need to worry about anything! This day, she even went up stairs with me before the afternoon started to make sure I knew how the technology worked in one classroom! Then when I went to that class later, she actually popped in to make sure it was still set up!

I ended up getting called in for her again a week later. It was one of her half days at the school, but apparently she was really sick. Oh boy. Would that mean I'd get sick? I didn't! Yay!

The two days somewhat blend together. Actually, a lot of days are blending together now! So I'll just talk generally now.

One of the classes I had to go to was the gr 3 class I had my first morning at this school. I was nervous because I knew there was the kid with a safety plan. Again, he wasn't there, and the other boy that had a lot of issues wasn't there either. After a couple minutes, the kids did remember me, LOL. Once I raised my voice they all remembered.

One of the music placements I did, I had to read a kids' book about different types of music. During my prep, I had looked up different YouTube videos I could play as audio examples. That was fun! It disrupted the flow of the book, but I think it added a lot of meaning to it. I also read a book written by John Lithgow. It was pretty good too. About a young child that learns instruments so quickly he gets bored and has a tantrum, and tries another instrument. At the end, the boy discovers he actually really likes being the conductor instead.

I really enjoy these types of classes, where I get to teach a lesson. Although this teacher plans her lessons so that a non-music teacher can do them, it's easy to deepen them. So much better than "Here's a worksheet, they know what to do". Now, I did have that for two of the classes at this school.  They had been working on recorders and being in the junior division, it's a challenge to let them actually have playing time with a substitute teacher. The first class, was to name the lines and spaces. Many of them copied the example on the board and instead of writing a music note in the line or space, they wrote the note name. The other class was working on short compositions and music goals. I did allow them to play their recorders to help with the composition. I also taught them "Baby Shark" but I didn't realize it needed F#.

I haven't been back since these two times in January, but funny how after the first day I said I probably wouldn't go back here, and then I ended up there 3 more times!