Teaching this 8th grade band class is a unique experience in that they are extremely

compliant. This allows me to work on things like my pacing without suffering if it is not quite

fast enough for some of the other classes.

The first thing I notice is that I could still speak up. I think this would not be a problem

without masks, but I can tell that my voice is definitely muffled by the mask I am wearing.

Something I notice my cooperating teacher does is pull down his mask when he needs to get

students’ attention (when he is standing far away from others), as this both removes that obstacle

and lets students know he means business.

The second thing I notice is how awkward I am. Having extroverted students share at the

beginning of class was more organic for me, and selecting students to share at the beginning of

class regardless of how extroverted they are seems forced. I do want to know more about each

student, but you would never be able to tell based on my speech during this portion of the class.

As I am giving direction, it is evident I am thinking. I can hear the thought in my voice

when I tell students transpositions or which instruments play two octaves for a given scale. I

expect this thought to decrease over time to the point where it seems like it is second nature, and

I know my transposition skills are already far quicker than they were at the beginning of student

teaching.

I am more confident in stopping an exercise quickly if a group of students is left behind.

For example, the percussionists were playing an F scale exercise far too fast, and instead of

finishing the exercise like I would have at the beginning of my placement, I stopped them and

started again to give the percussionists another chance (and they were successful in staying with

the group the second time).

 I can see intent in my modeling now. Although I believe almost all beginners should try

to play more connected than they do, adding space between my articulated notes while modeling

can show contrast with slurred notes.

I move around more than I used to, but I need to remind myself to move around even

more. I could benefit from this in that I will hear more than I do now.