I knew that many music classes would be outside of the timetable, but I didn't realize how long the days can get. We start every morning at 7:30am, teach during lunch every day, and have after school rehearsals at least 3 days a week. Plus, we're preparing for a music concert next week and a musical. So not including arriving early and leaving late, we are there from 7:30-5 on average. I'm finding it really tough to find time to eat lunch because so many classes are outside the timetable, and I've been encouraged to observe other classes inside the timetable. I'm also finding it difficult to observe other classes outside of my area because my music teacher has lots for me to do already.
But on a good note, the staff has been very friendly to me so far. I've been invited to see a good number of classes, and I've only been mistaken for a student once! My mentor teacher is extremely experienced in both teaching music and having student teachers, so she's been great!
I've learned a fair bit about the attendance program in SD 61 and how it just went electronic this year! I'm also learning a lot about how "attendance" and "participation" marks can be incorporated into fine arts grading so long as it is labelled correctly according to the PLO's and so long as students and parents are made aware of the expectations.
One neat idea I learned from a dance teacher is the "Compassion Card". The teacher understands that on some days, students just don't feel that great or maybe need some time to study for a test. Out of a 10-month course, she allows the students 3 unexcused absenses during the year. She calls this a "compassion" day, where she doesn't question why the student wishes to not participate in class. The student must, however, remain in the classroom for supervision purposes. This teacher keeps a business card box with cards for each student, and there are 3 punch spots. Each time the student chooses to use a "compassion" day, she punches the card. Once the card is fully punched, unexcused absences begin to affect the student's grade.
compassion cards... two big thumbs up!
ReplyDelete(test days and labs are exempt tho right?)
i think the compassion card is a really neat idea. though i was thinking about it and i don't know if it would work in a regular classroom setting like an english class. with pe and music you could have the student completely out of the "action" and not distracting fellow students, but it's not exactly easy to do that in a regular classroom. plus, i wouldn't exactly know how to deal with a student who wants to use their compassion card on a day when some sort of important material / assignment is being presented. with pe at least that doesn't really happen, and like tannis said, you can make testing days exempt. and i was also wondering how to deal with supervision, like if the pe goes outside where does the compassion card student go? has your sponsor addressed any of that kind of stuff?
ReplyDeleteit's definitely something to think about and it shows that your teacher has some with-it-ness!
glad to hear you're enjoying your school so far!