Throughout my final semester as an undergraduate student, I will be student teaching with with two directors: Mr. Nathan Johnson and Mr. Bob Weil. With Mr. Johnson, I am working with the high school band at Basha High School and with Mr. Weil, I am working at three elementary schools: Hull, Carlson and Navarrete Elementary Schools. As this is only my “first week of school”, the students, at this point, have already been in classes for five weeks. Where have I been, right?! Well, luckily for me, by this point in the school year, the fifth graders are already playing up to three notes and the sixth graders are already almost half way through the reviewing process over the Standard of Excellence, Book 1. Within my first day in the classroom, I was already participating in one of six co-teaching methods known as “One Teach, One Assist”, where one of us (Mr. Weil in this case, the teacher) teaches the class and the other (my role as being the teacher candidate) assists in anything else needed, such as correcting posture, fingerings, etc. As my second day approached, the tables easily turned and I was immediately teaching both grades (fifth and sixth) at all three elementary schools we traveled at on and off, without hesitation! This may easily seem like a huge no-no to many people, which is completely understandable and acceptable. But, in my defense, there was not one second that I felt extremely uncomfortable and unprepared to take on the challenge! That’s what everyone likes to hear, right?! Hahaha! Well, in the end, I definitely wouldn’t take back teaching those students and gaining the immediate experiences I faced this week. Looking back, it all happened so quickly! Especially with each class only lasting 30 minutes! Thankfully, I was able to record all three sixth grade classes (each class from each school). First off, let’s take a quick look at my lesson plan I devised for all the sixth graders before you continue on watching my teaching videos:

Weil 6th grade 8-22

As I watch myself in these videos from the first class to the last one of day, I can immediately see a change in my teaching and confidence. Go ahead and a take a look at all three videos below before I continue on:

*Due to the safety and privacy of previous students, all photographs and video recordings have been graciously taken down as of August 4th, 2015. Please contact the creator personally to grant access if desired to view independently.*

Title of Videos:

Student Teaching w/ Weil, Hull, 6th grade (8/22)

Student Teaching w/ Weil, Carlson, 6th grade (8/22)

Student Teaching w/ Weil, Navarette, 6th Grade (8/22)

The first video was at the every beginning of the school day at Hull Elementary, and you can definitely tell everyone’s alertness and mood from this class to the class I taught at 2:30pm. Alongside that, by the time the last class of the day came in, I felt like I had a much better understanding of what I wanted to do, what needed to be done, and how to properly teach it in a way that would grab their attention and help them stay focused. One difference you can immediately see was when I gradually started the repeat-after-me exercise without telling the students anything further. That wasn’t done in my first class earlier that morning. If only we have three attempts to get everything else right in life too huh?! With the repeat-after-me exercise, you see how the students immediately picked up the rhythm and connected it to the number in the book that we were reviewing upon. Smart kiddos! Over all, I ended this week with Mr. Weil on a very good and solid note, and I definitely can’t wait to see what the future holds in store for me for the rest of the semester!