A milestone, at least for my microcosmic worldview

Today was the last day for the middle school summer band. The middle school at which I am student teaching runs an annual summer band for three weeks leading up to the first day of classes. The incoming sixth graders are required to attend, so that they can learn which end of the instrument to blow into. Believe it or not, some still struggle with this. Seventh and eighth graders can also participate in a band that comes together to prepare a short concert program, which they performed tonight. It's a great idea, since it gets the beginners started on their instruments before the school year, and it gets the returning students to pull the ol' clarinetophonium out from under their bed and play it for a little while.

For most of this time, a local high school band director, who will hereafter be known as Mr. West, has been teaching the beginning brass classes. I've observed and helped out as he ran a class for trombones, one for baritones, and one for tubas. But Mr. West had to be out with his own marching band today, so responsibility for these classes fell squarely on my shoulders. It was my first time teaching entire classes alone and without supervision (a.k.a. someone to bail me out when the locals begin to riot). I wouldn't say that I was worried, but a dozen sixth graders are like a pack of piranhas; they look for weakness and then swarm for the kill. But it went well. None of the groups performed outside the usual range of expectations (beginner students can do well one day and suck the next day, both in terms of playing and behavior), and I think two of the three classes made some progress. My one concern is that I relied on raising my voice at some point in each class. That's a bad precedent to set, especially in a music class. If it becomes a contest of volume, my voice is going to lose to almost every instrument in the band. I need to find a better way to get students to focus on me.

I also need to figure out a better schedule for waking up. My gay Nazi roommate almost made me late for school for the second day in a row. He apparently likes to shit and shower at the same times I do, which could be a problem. I could probably offer to share the bathroom with him on such occasions (we could sing Deutchland Uber Alles as a duet in the shower), but I'd much rather get up 15 minutes earlier.

Anyway, if I hadn't mentioned this before, teaching is friggin' awesome. It's like being a zookeeper, except that you get to see your inmates show glimmers of humanity. However, I've got a dozen beers waiting for me, and I don't have to be at school until 10 tomorrow, so I'm gonna go relax.