Ready for what made this week at least partly exciting? Sit down, because this gets real.
PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES
Yep, even student teachers have to be around for this too. Todd said that I should come just to see what it's like, how to deal with parents, what to say, etc. I'm actually really glad I went because there is something to be learnt from going to a Parent Teacher conference.
We started out by getting set up at our table in the lunchroom. We had a sign just like every other teacher so that parents could find us. What makes this interesting for Todd is that he has had some of these kids for up to six years.
-- Real quick sidenote --
Todd started out teaching at South Davis Middle School and three years ago he moved to Woods Cross High SChool. SDMS serves as a feeder school for WXHS so kids that he started six years ago in 7th grade are now his seniors, hence the six year student thing.
Anyway, Todd has met a lot of these parents many times before, some several times a year for the last couple of years so he knows many of them pretty well. He pretty much always had something unique to say about every kid, because he knows most of them. Todd asked me to talk to a few parents and say some things about their kids.
I don't know every kid yet. Problem.
I know all the kids in the jazz band, most in the Wind Ensemble and quite a few in the Symphonic Band, so I wasn't feeling completely screwed. Sometimes Todd would take off and leave me to tend the table. Thankfully most of the parents I talk to brought their kids with them, and thankfully, I knew those kids. So I was actually able to say honest, good things about them. It went pretty well.
Now, some notes about Parent Teacher Conference from the viewpoint of the teacher. Some parents go in with the knowledge their kid is failing or not doing very well, and then it is your job to explain why. Most of our parents weren't blaming us luckily, they knew why their kids were failing. What makes this situation awkward is when the kid is right there, then the parent and kid start yelling and fighting with each other, and it just becomes this incredibly uncomfortable yet slightly entertaining situation.
Sometimes you might have an incredibly awkward or weird student, and then you meet their parents who are also incredibly awkward or weird, and then suddenly everything lines up. Haha.
Anyway, PTC went pretty well because we have great kids who practice hard, do their homework, turn in assignments and actually genuinely want to be in band. Plus it helps that we have an army of supportive parents who do everything they can to help our program and the kids succeed. It was a great experience for me.
On the music side of things, I've really been grinding into rehearsal with our bands. Our repertoire list has been finalized for both bands so we've actually had more direction in rehearsing. Plus, both bands can pretty much play all notes and rhythms on the hierarchy.
-- Tangent --
Level 1: Tone
Level 2: Notes and Rhythms
Level 3: Tuning, Dynamics, Articulation
Level 4: Blend, Phrasing
Level 5: Musicality, Expression, Shaping
As I was saying, our bands are to the point where now we get more serious about rehearsal. Now this level of rehearsal is one that I'm not comfortable with. Now I'm having to listen more for blend, tuning and everything that isn't completely obvious. It's been a much more difficult week for me in terms of rehearsing because I can't always hear what needs to be fixed. My ears tell me that something doesn't sound like I want it to sound, but I have no way to articulate what I want to hear. It's a strange phenomenon that has been quite frustrating for me this week. I'm getting slightly better but it's made me have to rethink score analysis even more so that I can maximize rehearsal time.
Anyway, no football game this but our next one is the big rivalry game against Bountiful High School. Truth be told I don't think we are going to win but at least the band will sound good :)
More anecdotes and happenings next week!
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