Working Towards a Dream

Extended Practicum is going very well this semester!  The placement I'm at is so similar to the dream job I want someday.  My dream job is to become a middle school band director/music teacher, and this placement fulfills those two positions.  My schedule this semester allows me to be in the school every morning of everyday throughout the week, and all day on Monday's; which has allowed me to gain some much needed experience.

The past few Monday's I've been given the opportunity to lead each band throughout the entire class period; this has been such a learning experience.  I've been able to lead the bands through breathing exercises, warm-ups, chorals, literature, sight reading, and have taught them a few new rhythms.  I'm looking forward to the days of leading my own band program!

Spring break is upon us and as I see all of my Facebook friend's posts about vacationing and relaxation, while I'm fulfilling the last few hours of this Practicum experience.  Yes, I'd love to be on a beach somewhere right now without a care in the world, but I'm also having a great time teaching!  I already feel like a teacher and my career hasn't even begun.

To many more years of excitement and fun!

Looking Back

This year has flown by and all of the teaching experiences I've had have been quite amazing.  The two highlights of teaching this past year were working with the Stewart County High School marching band over the summer, and volunteering with FUMC UMK program throughout the fall.  Along with those  two programs, I also had the privilege to do my Practicum at Calloway County Middle School, help with the McCracken County High School marching band, and further my own musical skills and experience.

The all girl/one boy drum line.  Such sweet kids.

Working with Stewart County was a completely new experience for me; I've never been to or worked a band camp that was actually held at a camp site.  They had one week of percussion camp, one week of pre-camp, and the following week was band camp.  The campsite was in the middle of nowhere-Tennessee where no one had cell service, and everyone got a quiet night's rest.  There were two other bands sharing the site with us, but there was enough room for each band to have their own field and warm-up area.  I think that having band camp at a campsite was very beneficial because we were able to practice all day and not have to worry about anyone commuting home each night.  The schedule was very busy; the students started at 6 a.m. with stretching, and went until 9:30 p.m., with breaks for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a few hours off in the afternoon for free time.  Because of the long schedule, they were able to complete the majority of their show and accomplish a great amount of team-building.

This group of kids was one of the most hard-working groups I've ever worked with, and they had some of the greatest attitudes towards everything.  What really shocked me the most was their use of manners.  Everyone used "please, thank you, yes mam/no mam", and called me "Ms. Stephanie".  They had a successful season from what I could tell, and I'm really looking forward to where this band program goes.

The next highlight was volunteering with FUMC UMK program throughout the fall; you can read all about it in previous posts.  They were such kind children and I'm glad I had the opportunity to lead them in music.

The last highlight was having my practicum placement at Calloway Middle School.  Mr. Suiter is the band director there, and he leads a fantastic group of students.  I was only there from the middle of September through the week before Thanksgiving, but I learned so much during those few months.  The students were also very well mannered, hard-working, and kind kids.  Before being placed there I didn't really want to work with the middle school age group...I was afraid I wouldn't know enough or teach them wrong.  After the first day of Practicum I made my mind up to become a middle school band director!  The way Mr. Suiter teaches his students was very inspiring to me, and I hope to one day be as good a teacher as him.  I could go on and on talking about how great it was to be there, but I don't want to bore anyone... I know their band program is going to go far, and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to experience just a little bit of what they do.

This past year was a huge learning experience for me, and I'm eager to see what all I'll learn and experience in this last year of college.  Where my next Practicum placement is, and where my Student Teaching placements are doesn't matter to me; it's about what I can learn from them and what I can give to those students and teachers.

I Wanna Be...

This past Sunday, November 24th, was the final day of UMK, and they presented their play titled Thankful.  The previous Wednesday they did a run through of the entire play from beginning to end, and it was swell!  Ms. Kristen and Bailey had created "cheater" posters with the song lyrics just in case any child forgot, but throughout the rehearsal I rarely saw any child look at them.  As you can tell from the photo below, there were quite a few poster boards, and each poster board had lyrics on the front and back.

"Cheater" Boards

There were a few small jobs that the leaders had to do throughout the performance.  My job throughout the play was to flip the poster boards as the songs were playing, Bailey had the position of leading the hand signs, and Kristen was in charge of behavior, making sure that the children were being good as they performed.  As stated earlier, the children rarely looked at the posters, and they rarely looked at Bailey who led the hand signs.  It was great that they didn't need much help, it proved to me that they truly put in the effort of learning the songs and hand signs.

If you look closely, you can notice the music stands.

What really surprised me the most from the entire performance was how well each child knew their lines from the script.  We had two music stands positioned in front of where the children would stand, and each music stand had a script on it for the children who had speaking parts.  On Wednesday there were only a few children who needed to use the music stands to read their parts, but when Sunday rolled around we almost didn't need the music stands.  The play started at 5 pm, and we had the children arrive at 4 pm in order to have enough time to practice.  Me, Bailey, and Kristen took individual groups to rehearse their "acts" and give some encouragement.  This was probably my favorite part throughout that Sunday night; being able to see the joy and excitement on the children's faces before the performance, they were so excited to sing and perform for their family and friends!  During the hour of practice time we allowed the children to practice on the microphones, and this was a great relief because I could tell that every child who had a speaking part had their parts completely memorized.

My view from the posters.

As people filed into the sanctuary, we gathered the children and had them sit on the first few pews.  At five o'clock the preschoolers, who are in a different group then we are, performed one short song called God Is Bigger.  Once they moved from the alter, the UMK group moved into position and the performance started.  The entire performance was fantastic!  The children did their best and the audience seemed to love it.  One of my good friends came to the performance, and afterwards she told me that she got teary eyed because of how adorable they were and how great they did.

Overall this project has been one great professional learning experience.  I've taught a few band camps and given lessons in the past, but I've never experienced putting together and running a small play such as this.  The main age groups I've always worked with have been 6th through 12th grade, so working with such a young age group has helped expand my teaching and leadership skills.  My methods of behavior management and music teaching had to change in order to reach this group of young minds.  I could no longer just "explain" the how-to's of music, I had to figure out a way of teaching music that was fun, memorable, and engaging.  With the help of Kristen and Bailey from FUMC, I was able to have a great experience working with an amazing group of kids, and was given the opportunity of co-teaching/leading a project that took a couple months to put together.  This project has confirmed one of my life goals I've dreamed of; the dream of being a music leader/children's leader in a church setting.  A BIG thank you to everyone who has supported me and constantly encouraged me throughout my music career!!!!  I wouldn't be here without you all!

Kristen Schwartz and I

Twenty Days to Go!

I'm so proud of each and every child in UMK!  There are exactly twenty days left before they perform for the entire congregation of Murray First United Methodist Church, and we've already started working on the script.  Ms. Kristen, Bailey, and I, have assigned twenty-two students with speaking parts.  These speaking parts are only a few lines each, some children only having a line of small scripture to enhance the music.  The script as a whole is roughly four pages, so I believe that the children will be able to have their lines memorized by November 24th.  For the past month and a half we have been solely focusing on the music, but the normal Sunday/Wednesday schedule has been rearranged to acclimate time to practice and rehearse the speaking parts, and put the entire production together.  The Bible teaching portion for small groups has been moved from twenty minutes down to fifteen minutes, and all small groups will now be gather for the last forty-five minutes to completely focus on the production.  I'm really looking forward to how the children will do, and I have faith that they will be able to pull everything off.

(The original field experience sheet for hours)

I've really been learning a lot with this project; like early childhood management and production organization.  Each week I have noticed some improvement with the songs, and am eager to see the final production.

To the right is the sheet I have been using to keep log of every hour I've put into this project.  It's actually the sheet that we use in Practicum, but I thought it would be a good format to keep track of hours for this project.  I would have scanned this in earlier, but it's very difficult to use a scanner at the Waterfield Library...they're always taken!  That aside, I've put almost 30 hours into this project, and still counting; but in my mind it's not the hours that count, it's the experience of working alongside talented leaders and passionate children.

Last night during full group time we did an entire run through of the production, and I'm very proud of where the children are right now.  Quite a few of them already have their lines memorized and are speaking up, all while using motions!  The majority are still reading directly from the script.  After the kids left for small groups me and Kristen talked about what we could do over the next few weeks to help encourage the kids to speak up.  I suggested that we remind them on Wednesday to keep there heads up,..."chins up!"...and to speak like you're yelling "hey mom!".  Hopefully these small reminders will help them to speak their lines more confidently in a few days.

Kristen reminding the group of the rules, and to remain quite during speaking parts.

I've also noticed that most of the group has every song and the motions that go along with them memorized!  We have had the power points up and running during the songs as reminders of the lyrics, but in all honesty, they probably didn't even need them.

We will be meeting five more times over the next few weeks to clean up everything and get it running more smoothly.  I unfortunately won't be able to make it next Wednesday due to PASIC, but Bailey will be helping out that day.  I LOVE this type of involvement!  Looking forward to the performance!

“I will praise God’s name with song and exalt 

Him with thanksgiving" - Psalm 69:30

First Time for Everything

The only time I've ever wrote a script was in my Introduction to Theater class a year ago, and that was like pulling teeth from a child.  I didn't really like writing that script because it was "required", and I've never seriously considered myself creative.  As I started this project I never envisioned myself writing a script, I actually didn't have that great of a game plan at all.  A week ago I was talking to the director of the ministry and asked if they had anything for the performance other then music, and she informed me that there was no script yet.  Knowing that I had to get more hours, and the fact that I wanted to contribute more time into this project to "own" it, I offered to write a script.  I didn't know what I was getting into at first, haha.

This being said, I sat down yesterday determined to crank out a quality script that the kids could remember within a month, and one that would also enhance the music and the theme throughout.  I honestly thought it was going to be really difficult, given my experience last year in THD101.  But with every passing minute I sat behind the computer screen, I found more enjoyment with what I was typing.  After a few hours I had a four page script that included some gestures, scripture, and the music that was placed in an order that would complement the "thankfulness" theme.

The children are on fall break this week, so I won't be able to work with them.  Starting next Sunday I will select twenty kids who want speaking parts, pull them out from "large group" into smaller groups, assign parts, and begin teaching them.

This link will show the theme of each song, the order of songs with individual times/total time, and the script.  It is originally a Word document, so hopefully it shows true to it's original.  The parts are not assigned yet, so at the moment it says "Child 1, Child 2, Child 3, etc..."  Once I assign the parts, names will be put in place of "Child", and I'll have each kid highlight their own part to make it easier for them to remember what their lines are.

I'm really looking forward to starting back up and working the script with each and every child!

Date	Time In	Time Out	Today's Hours	Cumulative Hours	Work Performed
9/4/2013	5:00	7:00	2	2	Teaching at church
9/8/2013	5:00	7:00	2	4	Teaching at church
9/15/2013	5:00	7:00	2	6	Teaching at church
9/25/2013	5:00	7:00	2	8	Teaching at church
9/26/2013	7:30	8:00	0.5	8.5	Working w/music-home
9/26/2013	1:45	2:45	1	9.5	Working w/music-home
10/2/2013	2:45	3:45	1	10.5	Working w/Kristen-motions
10/2/2013	5:00	7:00	2	12.5	Teaching at church
10/3/2013	8:00	9:00	1	13.5	Working w/music-home
10/5/2013	4:30	5:30	1	14.5	Typing lyrics/making pwpts-home
10/6/2013	4:30	6:00	1.5	16	Powerpoints-home
10/7/2013	3:30	6:00	2.5	18.5	Working on script-home

Power Points All Around

Power points, power points, power points... That is what my weekend has consisted of, making power points.  Not that I dislike doing it, I actually quite enjoyed creating them!  I didn't create the power point for Jesus Loves the Little Children, which was pictured in my last post, but I have created all of the other power points to the rest of the songs.  Here are some screen shots of just a few of the title slides.

This song talks about how God doesn't look at outward appearances, but looks at the heart.

This song is actually a Chris Tomlin Song, but the kids are doing a children's version of it.

This is one of my favorite songs, it talks about how we should be thankful for everything that God has done.

Creating these power points makes me feel like I have contributed a lot to this project, and there are still quite a few things I have to do before their performance.  The next major thing I will be working on is creating a script for the performance.  I wasn't asked to, but I insisted on trying it out.  I've never wrote a script before, so this will be interesting.  The director of the ministry is currently pregnant and I am hoping that this will help her stress level out in the long run.  The next post will probably be covering the script writing process and how I handle it.  Here is to a good week ahead!!!

Date	Time In	Time Out	Today's Hours	Cumulative Hours	Work Performed
9/4/2013	5:00	7:00	2	2	Teaching at church
9/8/2013	5:00	7:00	2	4	Teaching at church
9/15/2013	5:00	7:00	2	6	Teaching at church
9/25/2013	5:00	7:00	2	8	Teaching at church
9/26/2013	7:30	8:00	0.5	8.5	Working w/music-home
9/26/2013	1:45	2:45	1	9.5	Working w/music-home
10/2/2013	2:45	3:45	1	10.5	Working w/Kristen-motions
10/2/2013	5:00	7:00	2	12.5	Teaching at church
10/3/2013	8:00	9:00	1	13.5	Working w/music-home
10/5/2013	4:30	5:30	1	14.5	Typing lyrics/making pwpts
10/6/2013	4:30	6:00	1.5	16	Powerpoints

Starting Off

"Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.  Red and yellow, black and white, they're all precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world!"  Everyone who has ever stepped inside a church at some point in their life has heard this song.  In fact, this is one of the songs that the children of FUMC will be singing in October, a few Sunday's before their actual performance in November.  They're not only learning this song in English, but in German and Spanish as well.

The past few weeks during Wednesday and Sunday night meetings, me and Bailey (the full time children's music leader) have been working with the children, teaching them songs that coincide with the lessons they learn in Bible study, and what they will be singing for the church in November.  We've not only taught them "Jesus Loves the Little Children" in multiple different languages, but we have made up motions similar to sign language that will go with this song and the rest of the ones they're learning.  The motions are very simple and easy for the kids to learn, and also help the kids learn how the songs go.  The method of teaching we've been using is rote, where either me or Bailey stand in front of the children, leading them through the songs with motions, while the power point is up for the words.

Bailey and the 5th/6th grade group during some down time.

All of the children learn rather fast!  I've been quite surprised at how fast they pick up all of the songs and motions.  Some of the other songs they're learning are; "Thankful", "You, You, You", "Get Down", "Praise You in This Storm", and the list goes on.  There are around ten songs they will be learning over the next month in preparation of their Thanksgiving performance.  The theme of the performance isn't set in stone yet, but the main idea we're focusing on is being thankful for what God has given us.

Here is a record of hours I've worked with the kids, worked on the music, and collaborated with others so far.

Date	Time In	Time Out	Today's Hours	Cumulative Hours	Work Performed
9/4/2013	5:00	7:00	2	2	Teaching at church
9/8/2013	5:00	7:00	2	4	Teaching at church
9/15/2013	5:00	7:00	2	6	Teaching at church
9/25/2013	5:00	7:00	2	8	Teaching at church
9/26/2013	7:30	8:00	0.5	8.5	Working w/music-home
9/26/2013	1:45	2:45	1	9.5	Working w/music-home
10/2/2013	2:45	3:45	1	10.5	Working w/Kristen-motions
10/2/2013	5:00	7:00	2	12.5	Teaching at church
10/3/2013	8:00	9:00	1	13.5	Working w/music-home