CJ Teaching Episode

I love teaching. It is the one area in my life where I feel absolutely confident about my abilities. When I teach I feel like the person I was meant to be, and all doubt about what I can and cannot do disappears. It was the same when I was teaching the 6th Grade Band at CJMS.

The previous day Becky had taught, and at the beginning of her teaching episode, before the students had found their seats, I tried helping to rally the players. The students had begun talking and were not focusing on finding chairs or music stands and preparing to play for their new instructor, Becky. I will admit that I raised my voice a bit, but in my mind it was to get their attention and let them know we meant business: we were not there to talk with our friends...we were there to learn, and we needed to show respect to the instructors, even if they are college students. The students did not seem upset by my raising my voice (though, really, I just tapped in to the acoustics I've learned in singing and projected my voice). On the ride back to class, however, Becky told me that I came across as yelling, and suggested that I tone it down when I teach the next day. I had her drop me off at my house, where I immediately burst in to tears around my husband, recounted the conversation, and asked him if he thought I came across as mean. Thank God for my husband, because without him I have a very difficult time calming down. He boosted my confidence and told me to just teach how I know. I have a different teaching style to Becky, and I shouldn't hold myself to her standards.

So the next day I entered the World Music classroom with the 6th Grade Saxophone players with a plan in mind. I had reviewed the music, listened to each piece dozens of times, and had narrowed each composition down to a few measures that, to my mind, appeared to be the most difficult. In the minimal time I had I was able to work through all the pieces I had planned, and even taught the students an easy way to remember a rhythm with which Mrs. Nelson said they were having difficulty. I had taught the students the rhythm at the beginning of our time together, and reviewed it at the end as well to ensure they retained that knowledge. To my great delight they did! Each student could play the described rhythm after playing other pieces for extended periods of time!

I really do love teaching. Every time I teach I feel like the person I have always dreamed of being. I always end each teaching opportunity feeling confident, successful, and beginning to form ideas of how that particular lesson can be expanded into the next. I feel completely satisfied in my career choice, and, after ten years of college, I am eager to start.