Jared:

Jared is a student of mine that I immediately was intrigued by. He is in almost all of my

classes. He seems to have a good background heavily raised in the church. However, he has had

several disciplinary issues within other departments. In fact, I did not meet him until my second

week because he had out of school suspension for fighting.

After getting to know him better, I see that there is a really good and motivated kid buried

beneath a hardened shell. I believe that the friends he chooses to be around cause him to act up

more often than not. He also often gets into squabbles with my cooperating teacher as they have

a history of disagreements.

He is a talented multi-instrumentalist and even plans on potentially majoring in music. I

have given him several private lessons on multiple instruments through my time here and he

truly does get better with each lesson, but he sometimes lacks the drive to practice on his own

time. He would rather be out with friends than be at home practicing.

If this were my program, I would try my best to reward the good behaviors and progress

and not get angry when he slips up from time to time. He does not respond well to negative

feedback. There is almost always a way to be constructive without being downright negative and

being negative just causes him to shut down.

I believe Jared has a bright musical future if he receives the guidance he seems to need.

I’ll be sad when I can no longer be the one providing said guidance for him.
Michael:

Michael is a student in the concert band only. He does not have an IEP, however he does

have a history of speaking out of turn and generally being a distraction.

I conversed with a few of his other teachers to get a better insight on him. According to

them, he always tries to be the loudest in the room and has to have the final word regardless of

what’s going on.

This directly reflects his attitude in band class. He responds to almost all feedback given,

even if it wasn’t at all directed towards him. He will also play out of turn just to get attention. His

peers often find his shenanigans humorous and that just encourages him.

His friend group in concert band absolutely affects him. He is somewhat seen as a

ringleader of sorts, but I genuinely think that the attention they give him actually drives his

actions.

In order to teach without simply sending him out of the room. I’ve tried to give him a

reason to be quiet. One of the most effective things has been to ask him to just be positive. This

simple reminder at least makes his interruptions less intrusive.