Mary Binder

Guest Journals

Laura Filppu (MS Band)

Laura’s talk really focused on preparing us for student teaching, interviewing for jobs, and how
to approach a new job as a band/orchestra director. When student teaching, she emphasized
growing comfortable with letting go of the plan and acting spontaneously. As a new teacher, she
recommended to be yourself, be open, and to try not to change too many things all at once.
Students have to get used to a new teaching style before they can accept variations in their
routines. She explained how writing lessons plans can be difficult at the start, but that it
becomes easier as you mentally accumulate various teaching tactics and activities. Planning
discussions is always inferior to letting topics rise organically. It’s important to consider students’
interests, and to add improvisation to help with ear training. For interviews, she recommends
preparing for general education questions, particularly on hot topics like teaching students with
disabilities or English language learners.

Becky Ford (HS Band)

When we visited with Becky, her jazz band was meeting for the first time in-person since the
pandemic. Regarding classroom culture, she emphasized that the students get to decide what
their band means to them, and that new teachers should realize that there is already a culture in
place when they arrive. She keeps her class teaching very fast-paced to overcome the early
time and any distractions. This means she makes quick correction on mistakes and behavior,
and provides feedback effortlessly so the rehearsal does not stop. With jazz band, she does not
conduct much and instead lets the rhythm section have more control. She also does not assign
chairs, and she has her students set their own goals because intrinsic is the only type of
long-lasting motivation.

Alan Shull (HS Principal)

Mr. Shull provided us with a very interesting perspective, because he has been on both sides of
the interview process as a former band director and currently as a school principal. For
interviews, he recommended dressing appropriately, which includes knowing how conservative
the community is. Since admin completely vet you beforehand, it’s important be aware of your
online presence and make sure your portfolio is updated. Researching the band program to
know what you would potentially be walking into helps have a better idea of how to respond to
interview questions. The most common mistakes he has seen are a lack of preparation, being
unaware of the full implications of the job, and entering into the interview thinking you have the
job in the bag already. His advice to new teachers is to keep a balance between personal life
and job dedication and to build your own support community of music teachers, since often
there is only one music position per school.
Alice Hammel (Winding Back and Forward)
With Dr. Hammel, we practiced winding concepts to accommodate varying levels of experience.
Winding is better with specific situations and not conceptually, so this was a difficult exercise.
Once we came back together from our small groups, Dr. Hammel used an analogy about
kindness and positivity that I really enjoyed. She explained that everyone starts out with a
certain amount of “poker chips,” depending on the adversity and/or privileges they experience in
life. She stressed that we have the power to change people’s level of poker chips, so we should
always give more poker chips and never take them away. As a music teacher, you should
always make sure that every kid leaves you class with more chips than they came in with.

Bridget Fulton (MS Band, Choir, Tech)

Bridget Fulton visited us twice, once at the beginning of the semester and once toward the end.
At the time of her first visit, her classes were still all virtual, so she talked mostly about using
technology and adapting lesson plans to teach online. Her main message was that the most
important challenge when teaching virtually is to connect with students, to treat them like
people, and work to build a community. She also mentioned making sure to have multiple things
planned for each class to keep everyone focused and interested. Her technology
recommendations included Bandlab, Nearpod, Smart Music, Loom, and Planbook.
By Bridget’s second visit, her classes were back in-person or hybrid, so her advice was more
applicable to a normal setting. The comment that resonated with me the most was that your
personality has to match your teaching style. To help students with mental health, she does
daily check-ins, and makes sure to keep some routines consistent (like their warm-up
sequence).