Middle School Student B Profile

Middle school student B was a second year trumpet player in the cadet band. Student B

was enthusiastic about learning, but would have a lot of trouble paying attention and staying

focused in class. He did not have a learning disability, but would often speak out of turn and

comment on things not pertinent to class.

Student B would generally stay pretty under the radar at the start of class, but then would

fall off roughly halfway through class. So we’d go through the class intro as normal, and he’d be

fine. But then as we transitioned into the actual class activity, he’d start to become very

confused. It would be at this point that student B might start to become disruptive and start to

interfere with the learning environment.

From here, usually myself or one of the other teachers in the room would engage student

B in a private chat. Generally, he would be able to do okay from here. It seems as if student B

needed a lot of individualized attention in order to stay on task. Additionally, student B would

also sometimes come to office hours either during or after school. As these sessions tended to

have less students, student B would have an easier time with the material and staying with it. In

these sessions, student B would actually learn a lot.

In terms of actual playing, student B also needed a lot of help. He would often forget

fingerings, and so we would have to start from open G and go from there. Furthermore, he buzz

would often be inconsistent so we would often just take out his mouthpiece and work with that.

However, he would often be very grateful for the help we offered him and would sound better

leaving than when he came in. This process would repeat every so often over the course of the

entire block.
 Overall, I’m glad to have worked with student B. He taught me a lot about how to be

patient, and that some students just need a little more guidance than others. Additionally, he also

taught me about new ways to help students, and that some need to review material more often

than others. It’s important to remember not to get frustrated when reteaching material, especially

when it is a very basic concept. Student B helped me understand that more than any textbook or

class ever could.