Thought of the day

Sometimes, being a teacher is more about teaching kids how to be human beings than teaching them about any particular subject matter.

"That's so gay" = "That's so (insert minorty here)"

(I know there's a typo in there, which drives me crazy, but I thought it was worth posting since it makes a good post and is well-done overall.)

I never thought I'd say this, but Hilary Duff did something really cool. I 100% believe that homophobia is the last socially acceptable form of prejudice, which is reinforced by the fact that saying "that's so gay" is completely okay with most people. If someone said "that's so Asian" or "that's so black" when they meant "that's so stupid," there would be a huge uproar and someone would make a human rights movement over it . . . so why is it okay to insult the gay population? Bottom line = it's not, and people need to

1. be aware of what they are saying and,
2. stand up and offer support to the gay population by intervening when they hear people saying things that are discriminatory.

If you're wondering what this possibly has to do with education or student teaching, all you need to do is take a walk down any middle or high school hallway. You'll hear "that's so gay" at least ten times, along with guys calling each other "fags" as a means of insulting each other's masculinity. Mind you, you will NOT hear the N-word or other racial slurs, because those are offensive, but for some reason, everyone lets the gay remarks slide.

Stop letting it slide. Take some social responsibility and try to end the ignorance and prejudice. Don't try to sugar-coat the issue and pretend that this isn't about prejudice, because it is.

sick of being sick

back to school. . . . back to football

good news:
+I made it back to school today, after taking 3 days off due to whatever illness I'm battling.
+We made it through the football game without any real tragedies.
+We are officially having a contest for the rock and roll students to create a cool blues name for me. :) They were really excited about it and there are already a bunch of entries.
+Some of the kids seemed really happy to see me back today. I got several hugs and few groups of kids were hanging out with me for no other reason than to hang out and chat. . . .which was cool.
+I might be going with the high school to Colorado for a few days on a band trip with the high schoolers. It's only a maybe at this point, but if it works out, it would be a great way to get to know those kids better, as well as a good teaching/musical opportunity (and a chance to go to Colorado).

bad news:
-I am losing my voice. By that, I mean I have virtually lost it all. .. and I'm supposed to work 9 hours in a sales job tomorrow. . . . ?
-The previously undefeated high school football team lost their homecoming football game. :(
-I am all about being liberal and proud of your body, but the cheerleading squad and dance team at the high school were way too over the top, even for me. I understand that short skirts are par for the course as far as these things go, but garters? Really? I was shocked that it was allowed. If I was sixteen and left the house in a purple mini skirt, white button down shirt, and black tie, with a lacy garter around my leg, my mother would have dragged me back inside. . . . regardless of whether or not my friends were wearing it or it was something the dance team was all doing.
-Not having the use of my voice made me feel useless and isolated at some points tonight. I guess my voice is something I sort of took for granted. Besides not being able to give directions and get kids' attention, I felt really out of the loop and couldn't even converse with my students, other teachers, chaperones, etc.

I guess I should have listed the bad news first, because I don't like leaving my post on a bad note. :( I made it back to school and it was altogether a good day! I hope to have my voice back soon, and with it, I shall soon have a sweet blues name. I am excited. :)

icky x2

99.6 degree fever. . . definitely sick. Gross. I feel a little better after taking Dayquill.

I'm most concerned over the fact that I work three hours tomorrow evening, and if I don't feel better by then, I will be horribly miserable. At least it's only three hours. . . . but still.

Also, the football game that we're taking our middle schoolers to is on Friday. :( I asked for that night off a while ago, and I got it off from work . . . but if I'm still feverish and sick, I can't imagine what would be more miserable than sitting on hard bleachers with loud kids and pep band music during a cool evening. uugggggh.

Send me good vibes, guys. . . . I need to be healthy.

rock and roll in Albuquerque

Today was the first time that I missed a day of student teaching. :( I was pretty bummed about it, but felt sick enough that I knew I would have been miserable and useless if I showed up at school. I woke up thinking I just had a migraine (which is pretty normal for me), and as the day continued, my migraine got a little better but everything else got a little worse. It's too early to tell if I am getting seriously sick or if today was a fluke. . . I'm definitely hoping for the latter.

Anyway, enough of that. . . . as I mentioned in my video, we have a "Rock and Roll as Literature" class in which we are teaching sixth and eighth graders about the history of rock, starting with the blues. Both classes are currently doing a blues project in which, as a group, they are answering questions about a blues artist and then presenting their info on a poster board.

Of course, these questions are not very hard (when and where they were born, what instrument did they play, etc.) but, of course, the kids still complain. I think that most of their complaining stems from the fact that they are unable to relate to anything they have not directly experienced in their lives. They have no imagination. They're so used to video games and MTV and "reality TV" that spoon feed pictures right into their laps. If they can't see and hear it immediately, they give up. If they aren't bombarded by it, either by the mass media or life in their own home/neighborhood/barrio, then they simply don't comprehend that it exists.

When Mr. Johnson and I were putting together the list of artists we wanted the kids to learn about, there ended up being a few more artists than there were groups of kids, so I did a poster to show them
1. a nicely put together example
2. that it's not all that hard, and I was able to do it in one class period

The artist I researched was Bessie Smith, and even as a music major, I had never heard of her . . . the blues isn't really stressed anywhere in the music education process, although I'm not sure why that is. The point of my little rant here is that she was actually pretty cool. She was a phenomenal blues singer dubbed "the empress of the blues" and was the first blues recording star. Her first album, recorded in 1923, sold over a million copies in its first year. Selling a million albums now is a big deal, so imagine how big it was in 1923. She was invited to sing with the big name performers of her day, including Louis Armstrong. Also, she was the highest paid black performer of her time, making $2,000 a week. To be the highest paid performer AND a woman was a pretty impressive accomplishment.


Much like the big stars of today, Bessie Smith made a name for herself personally. Even without the crazy paparazzi and tabloids, rumors circulated about her sexuality. Rather than denying the claims that she was gay (she really was), she ran with the publicity and wrote songs about liking women. So many people nowadays cannot or do not feel comfortable being openly gay, so the fact that Bessie did back in 1923, when it was much more frowned upon. . .. I think it's pretty awesome. It's also awesome that none of this hype negatively affected her career.

If my middle schoolers could look beyond the surface, they'd find that her story isn't much different than that of the MTV stars they adore. Bessie's shows were elaborate and her popularity often caused enormous crowds at her shows, resulting in extra police/security. There was always drama involving her marriages and fights with significant others (helllllo, Britney Spears and K. Fed?), she was known to sometimes drink more than she should, and was a huge party girl during her day.

Bessie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and influenced lots of other bigwigs in the music world, including:




Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, and




Janis Joplin.

So, middle schoolers, you can claim that the blues has nothing to do with rock, but I beg to differ.

icky

One of the less positive aspects of teaching is that it exposes you to countless germs and viruses and illnesses and cooties . . . and I'm currently sitting in bed with a headache and a killer sore throat and possibly a fever. Gross.

video update!

just getting started

Two thoughts so far for today:

1. Thank God for prep periods.

2. We aren't even through first period and someone lost a sock outside of the band room.  Really, guys? How do you lose a sock, and only one sock, by 8:30 AM?  

Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be

We have about 36 kids in the sixth grade beginner band, and even though we've been in school for a few weeks, they are just now trying out and selecting their instruments. They spent the first few days watching instrument demonstrations and learning the instrument families, since it was a few years since most of them last had a general music class. The majority couldn't identify more than one or two instruments, and even now, some are confusing a trumpet with a baritone with a tuba, etc.

Although I know teachers who don't enjoy working with beginners, I've always really liked it. Since they're trying something hands-on and brand new, most beginners are excited, eager, and enthusiastic; this energy makes for a good class dynamic anywhere, but is especially (wow, I'm on a roll with "e" words) uplifting when most kids you encounter are apathetic. I also like the idea that since I'm their first music teacher, they come in as a clean slate, so to speak - they have no bad habits or preconceptions. I feel like I can set some kind of musical precedent, and if their first experiences are positive, they have a greater chance of continuing. Also, beginners make progress so quickly, since they're learning new concepts all of the time, and it's nice to see your teaching and their learning in immediately tangible ways.

Of course, helping kids try instruments has its less than pleasant moments, most of them involving spit. Half of the kids that attempt to buzz their lips will spray saliva in twelve different directions. . . and it's more or less guaranteed that at some point, while taking apart an instrument, spit is going to leak onto you. Gross. It should be pointed out here that I have a spit aversion to start with, so middle school spit from multiple children is pretty icky to me.

We've been trying instruments for three class periods and are just now finishing up. I can't imagine how one teacher without an assistant could possibly get 36 kids through this process. Helping a student try an instrument for the first time needs to be a one-on-one experience, and even when pushed through as quickly as possible, it still takes a bit of time.

One of our seventh grade classes has students of such different levels that they virtually cannot play the same music, so my host teacher and I will be splitting the group and each working with half. In another class, we have an eighth grader that played in orchestra for two years but switched to play flute in band after orchestra was dropped. She clearly cannot play the advanced music that the eighth grade band is playing, so one teacher has been working individually with her while the other takes the rest of the band. It's really difficult to run an entire band program with one director, and it makes it harder when students never have private lessons.

A few entertaining anecdotes from today:

~

seventh grade percussionist: "Are drum sticks edible?"

me: "I think you'd break your teeth."

percussionist: (after a moment of deep thought) ".....yeah, I guess you're right."

~

Mr. Johnson, my host teacher, and I have been teaching a unit on the blues. Today, Mr. Johnson was explaining the concept of the 12 bar blues to a class of eighth graders. He pulled out his guitar and played the chord progression for everyone to hear, then told them that blues music is often improvised. We talked about the fact that the topics of blues songs are generally sad, but often end up cheerful/comical at the end. Once the students heard and were familiar with the chord progression, Mr. Johnson asked if anyone had topic that we could use as inspiration for a blues song.

A kid in the back immediately shouted BLUE CHEESE! and there was a class effort in throwing out blues lyrics about moldy cheese. The song was hilarious and everyone, even the kids who try to act like they hate life and school and the universe, were laughing. After we finished the song, a boy raised his hand and said he had a new song. Mr. Johnson played the chord progression and right away, the kid started singing about how his girlfriend left him for a basketball player because he was too short. He made it straight through a good two verses or so. . . it was both impressive and one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Personally, I think I should hold a contest and see who can come up with the best blues name for me. With Lightnin' Hopkins, Leadbelly, and Howlin' Wolf as competition, I suddenly want a cool nickname.

what this is all about

I've been student teaching for about three weeks or so at this point and probably should have started this blog then, but I've been consistently busy with teaching and work and life as a whole. Now that I've had a little time to settle into a routine of sorts, I figured I could get this up and running with it serving a few purposes. . . . one being an outlet for me and a way to help organize and reflect on my thoughts, another being a tool for communication with others. It's hard to keep everyone in the loop with the billions of things that I'm doing in Albuquerque, so this will be a central location where I can share info with anyone who is interested.

Co-workers, friends and other teachers ask me frequently if my experience so far has been what I thought it would be, and I'm never quite sure how to answer, since I don't think I knew exactly what to expect in coming here. I think I had a very general idea of the situation I'd be in: kids who can't afford their own instruments, uninvolved parents, low test scores, etc. However, there's a big difference between theoretically knowing that a kid can't buy an instrument and turning them away from guitar class because we simply don't have enough guitars for everyone who would like to play. It's sad when a kid tells you that she doesn't have her saxophone because her dad put it in the pawn shop, and she doesn't know when she'll get it back. It's easy to talk about money issues when their effects seem distant and impersonal; it's a different story when you have to deny a 12 year-old the opportunity to play music because they can't buy an instrument and the school district can't/won't purchase more. Anyone can make a band sound good when most of the players are taking private lessons and playing on new, well-maintained instruments that they take home and practice. These kids have never worked with a teacher one-on-one, are playing instruments held together with duct tape, and have the attention span of a fruit fly. It's an accomplishment to get them to play at the same time.

That said, working here is a reality check and a challenge, but it's not a negative experience; it's really the opposite. You can enter every day feeling sorry for the students and letting the issues overwhelm you, or you can enter and decide that you're going to give it what you've got and if it only reaches one kid. . . . . well, that's one more than yesterday. At least one kid had a better day, and even though they don't let you know that it matters, it does.

There are funny moments, too. A little lizard got trapped in the band room the other day, and we tried to scoop him up and get him outside by using a cup and a piece of paper. It turns out that the edge of the cup hit his tail, and it FELL OFF. I shrieked and the little green, inch-long slice of lizard tail kept twitching on the ground. Apparently, he'll grow it back and will be just fine, but it creeped me out.

In Wisconsin, everyone screams when you get a mouse in your classroom. Here, it's lizards (and their tails).