Schools

Beyond my observations in teacher-to-teacher relationships in which I go more in-depth here, I gathered a great deal of information both in watching Nikki in the classroom and from our long conversations in the car to and from various regional schools. I got some experience dealing with students who acted out in class and, since Nikki warned me beforehand that these students might pose problems, was able to help out. In a couple of classes, she said that some of the students behaved badly and were disengaged with their instrumental learning because it was difficult and they felt resentful and defensive. Having me as an extra set of hands was very useful in these cases, because it meant I could sit with this small group all lesson and quietly help them. In the case of both the violinists and the ukelele players, I showed them how much easier it is if you hold it like so, and was there to remind them of the chords if they ever got lost. This meant not only were they getting the help they needed to remember all the positions and numbers, but they had no excuse or opportunity to give up half way. At the end of the ukelele session, a few students volunteered to play the songs they'd been working on and most of the students I was working with volunteered themselves where at the beginning of term they were refusing to play even when asked.

The early childhood class was wonderfully charming and I had a great time playing with the ball and the parachute. It was very quick and I didn't really learn anything specifically, except that I love working with children and might perhaps like to mark that experience as one to look into. I missed my old primary school students dearly from my time working at an OOSH and, depending on what my future practicums are like, would possibly like to go into kindergarten teaching.

I also had the opportunity to work on the opposite end of the spectrum with a highly gifted year 6 class. It was fantastic to see Nikki's ideas about student directed learning really take fruition, made possible by the collective enthusiasm of the entire class and the ongoing musical exposure they get from their general classroom teacher. I showed them how to play their percussion instruments well and they showed me their arrangement of the songs they'd been learning for Education Week. They showed remarkable abilities to listen critically to music even as they were playing it and adjust things like instrumentation and dynamics to create the atmosphere they wanted. This too was a lot of fun. When I enter the workforce would I prefer to teach the delightful kindergartners or the stimulating older students? I'm still not sure of the answer.