Phil Kleven Week 7

Another successful week. It's hard to believe I've been teaching for seven weeks. Everyone said it would go fast, but I didn't think it would go this quickly. Fortunately I'm able to stay in my first placement through the end of the semester. I have concerts coming up and I'm enjoying getting to know the students better each day.

This week, all of my ensembles spent time preparing for upcoming concerts and contests. The middle school students have their solo/ensemble contest tomorrow morning. I was able to work with all of the middle school students on an individual or small-group basis. I enjoyed this because it felt just like what I have done over the past years in private lessons. We made many positive connections and the students were impressed that I can play all of their instruments. Sometimes they think orchestra teachers just get up and wave their arms in front of the class, but we can play too!

I was also part of high school placement auditions this week. Students who wish to audition for a higher level ensemble auditioned after school on Tuesday. Additionally, all of the incoming 8th grade students auditioned. We made it through 6+ hours of auditions, and most students are placed in groups for the next school year. This was a tough process, and as students saw their results on Thursday, some were excited, and some were devastated. It's tough to see students so upset over results, but it is part of the learning process. Since I work with the three high school groups on a daily basis, I know what performance levels are necessary to be successful in the ensemble. Unfortunately, some students just aren't ready to jump up to the highest level group. They will see it in time and may even successfully audition in the coming years. I also saw why my cooperating teacher needed to separate herself from the auditions. She had dozens of emails from parents by Thursday, but the results were determined by a third-party professional. I took note of this as a potential issue as I look towards my future job requirements.

In terms of teaching, I discovered how hard I can push students. With our concert coming up early next week, I became very demanding with the various ensembles. One group in particular has not been working hard enough and I let them know how upset I was with their work ethic. My cooperating teacher was practically doing cheerleader moves in the back of the class as I said this. She has been struggling throughout the year to motivate this group. This is the largest orchestra (over 75 students), and it is too difficult to make connections with all the students. They are getting lost in the "sea of violins". My cooperating teacher has brought this to the attention of the administration, but it seems that there won't be an additional orchestra to help reduce numbers next year.

This week, I focused on standard 6 - Reading, Writing, and Oral Communication. "The competent teacher has foundational knowledge of reading, writing, and oral communication within the content area and recognizes and addresses student reading, writing, and oral communication needs to facilitate the acquisition of content knowledge." As I get to know my students better, I'm learning their individual reading and writing needs. Through various worksheets, I've been helping students acquire and develop the "musical language" - music notes, terms, and expressive markings. Through reading, writing, and verbal exercises, students have been learning and applying new terms at all levels of learning.

Goals for next week:
1. Have a successful concert at the high school
2. Begin work on new music for our final high school concert
3. Preparing middle school students for our upcoming March concert
4. Finish edTPA (Almost done!)