Blog #23

4/1/19

Something very sad happened last week. My mentor mentioned something about only having a few weeks left. I knew the year was coming to an end, but I hadn’t actually thought about it. I’ve learned a lot this year, and I feel like I still have a lot to learn. One thing I’ve noticed in the past couple weeks teaching is that I’m still forgetting the kids are in sixth grade. Even if we go over something one week, I can’t really expect them to remember it the next week. I’m just used to playing at a high school level, which is obviously very different from kids just learning instruments. And honestly, sometimes it’s really mind-numbing and boring for me to go over beginner music. Or to show them how to finger a note, even when we’ve gone over it numerous times. Again, it’s just me being used to a different level, but I have to remind myself that even though it’s boring for me, this is difficult for the kids and it’s my responsibility to help them. It’s harder for me teaching the bassoons, because it’s the last period of the day. So I’m tired, and they’re tired too, so it’s really easy for the class to become unproductive, either because everyone’s too done with the day to learn, or because we get off track.