Week 8 Lesson Review

I actually did remember to video a lesson this week as this week was a bit more on the "normal" side as far as schedules go. This week I taped my 8th grade general music class, which meets 8th period. On a side note, the video camera has been in the classroom almost as long as I have been there, yet every once and awhile students will actually notice it and comment. Because I forgot to tape last week I haven't even used it in almost two weeks, yet one student asked during class (and during the video) what the camera was for. I was surprised they pointed it out since, like I said, it's been there for weeks. Maybe they noticed the lens cap was off. Who knows?

Although this week was "normal" in terms of scheduling, it was a little different due to the fact that it was the last week of the nine weeks. For this class, it also means it is the last week of the class itself before they move back to their intervention (study hall) class. As a result, most of what is done in the class is kind of play it by ear...see how far we can get in the book before the end of the week without losing anyone. One of the things I like about the curriculum used in the 8th grade class is how flexible it is. While of course I want to get through as much as possible in 9 weeks, there is no way we can get through everything. Not only is it flexible, but it's also very engaging for students. The easiest thing for me was to keep the students engaged in this class as we were mostly playing their drums and reviewing certain rhythms. One of the rhythms we did today was a 9/8 rhythm which the students found difficult yesterday when we started it. I thought they grasped it and got about 3 people tested before the end of class. Mr. Suzelis said he didn't think they totally got it, so we spent some more time in the Thursday class working on it before I tested the rest of the class. Not only did I use the recording for an example, but also broke it down into smaller chunks and added additional sections slower. The result was a better testing!

I still need to work on classroom management, though it seems to be improving. Keeping quiet is always tough in a class like this. Of course one solution would be to take away the drums when students can't be quiet, but that wouldn't work here since they have to have the drum to practice and be tested on. In the end, I have been trying more of the "I'll wait" strategy and not undermining my own words by telling everyone to be quiet and then moving on before they actually get quiet.