But this one is.
You know how I told you that I would tell you if I got that other job? I did. (Oh, and I get to work extra hours at the first school when I want to too.) We start next week and I am in charge of the intro to music class for 4-6 year olds. I gather that the parents are rather a force to be reckoned with at this school so I am spending the rest of the week and weekend writing up a term's worth of lesson plans, making homework sheets, and drafting a letter to the parents about What We Will Be Learning.
I'm excited, looking forward to actually setting down all my thoughts and plans about this class. It is a new, start up school so the pay is less than stellar- but I would actually do this for free- so getting paid is a bonus anyway and I have a new practice arena! With even more tykes who don't speak English!
The school has just hired a new musical director and he is amusingly nervous. I mean, I'm nervous too because it's a new school and I'm going to need to be much more goal oriented with what I am teaching the tykes. I need to be clear from the outset what I am planning on teaching them and why- so challenging and whatnot. He is just jittery though. Worried about which set of percussion to buy. Worried about what the correct rhythmic Sol-fa syllables are. Worried about the fact that he is going to be teaching primary school students when his experience is exclusively with 16+. I told him it would all be okay.
Things I would not have thought of had we not discussed it: French Sol-fa or English? (one syllable difference); fixed Do or movable? (corollary: sing on "la", Sol-fa, or letter names?); English, American, Canadian, or French duration terms?; etc.
Really interesting.
However, as this meeting was after an action packed day at the races and continued on rather more lengthily than I had anticipated- I was glad that I had packed myself snacks. (Things I've learned from my mother: Wear layers. Pack snacks. Take up space at meetings.)
I walked to the bus stop through the park as the light was fading. It is so autumnal now- brisk weather, colored leaves, flocks of geese silhouetted against the sunset.
Sweet.
Showing posts with label jobness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jobness. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tykaliciousness
I love the tykes. I really do. What I *don't* love is not yet having Internet at my flat and so having to remember cute things for longer than I normally would have to in order to blog about them. So please forgive me if this is a bit short:
They are not as little as I was remembering them. I think what has happened is that I kept thinking that they were smaller than I remembered so that they gradually shrank in my memory- making them basically giants when I actually saw them again.
All the rooms are clean, beautiful, and newly organized. The staff room has been newly painted and remodeled so that it feels like a nice place to take a break as opposed to the re purposed storage closet vibe it gave off last year.
We started by being very quiet: taping our heads, noses, bellies, and knees as quietly as we could before getting up to creep around listening to the xylophone. I have now learned that it is useful to use recognizable music for the tykes if you want them to notice when the music stops. In this case I played phrases from twinkle twinkle having the tykes freeze in place whenever the xylophone stopped playing (always at the end of phrases, I'm no dummy.) We did this very quietly a few times before playing it very loudly and stomping around.
One of the goals listed in all of the foundation stages music books that I have been reading is for the tykes to be able to differentiate between loud and quiet. Um. I think they get it already. One of those innate things?In every class when I started playing the xylophone loudly, at least a quarter of the tykes started stomping around without any instruction from me. I will say that they pay a heck of a lot more attention when they are required to be very quiet, though. Loud boisterousness lends itself to anarchy.
Linda, the new upper school music teacher, has been a great help already and suggested that I do a chant with the kids to help them differentiate between their whispering voice, talking voice, and singing voice. We then further differentiated between robot voices, monster voices, shy voices, grumpy voices, and under water voices (much hilarity there--not good to use all the time, see previous note about anarchy).
We did a quick name song, trying to get the tykes to actually sing. That is one of my goals this year- to have the tykes become confident in their own singing voices so that it doesn't end up being me simply singing at them. The teachers are all pleased that I didn't use the same name song as last year as that one got rather overdone. The response required from the tykes was just to say "hello" and wave in the correct place. Some could handle this and some couldn't. Some classes were much more accomplished and I suspect that I managed to explain it more fully in those classes.
Finally we finished up with a re-lyric-ing of twinkle twinkle that was all about sharing and bouncing a teddy bear up and down. I substituted a penguin for the teddy because, for some reason, I feel significantly less silly singing "Bounce the penguin, fun to do" as opposed to "bounce the teddy." Plus, Linda had a very cute stuffed penguin she said I could borrow.
I've been wary of using props in my tykes classes- things like finger puppets and stuffed animals and the like. But the kids responded very well to Mr. Penguin- even going so far as to demand that we sing the song again and to accuse me of providing Mr. Penguin's voice. As though he couldn't speak for himself! So now I am cautiously for using props. Or at least Mr. Penguin.
The two women who could conceivably be seen as my direct superiors are both very much for having me at school for more than one day, but it is yet to be seen whether or not we can get the Headmaster to go for it. I'm not sure how much I can push or if I should just stay out of the way. As it is I now only have a 45 minute lunch period and have 20 (!) tykes signed up for music club. Linda is attempting to reorganize her Wednesdays so that she can do music club with me, but still- we have a lot of planning to do and I don't even have a moment to put lesson plans on to the computer the way my schedule is currently set up. So hopefully they can convince the Headmaster that it really would be useful to have me around for more than one day. Fingers crossed!
The other thing I did yesterday (why was I worried that this would be a short post?) was go to my job interview for another teaching job. It is a new music school that I will tell you more about if I get the post. They were luck to get me for the interview immediately after teaching because I was so hyped up about things. I managed to talk about how I would run classes and what things I would like to try for nearly an hour. They said they were very impressed with my experience- which was both gratifying and a little mystifying- I've only had classes since February. I was very clear that I haven't taught this age group before (year one and two) but man-oh-man does it turn out that I have plans. The only real barrier that I see between me and the job is that they really would like me to work on Wednesdays during the day which I simply can't do. Eh, we'll see. If I do get the job it would only be a couple more hours a week, but it would give me an opportunity to start out work on my plans, and that would be lots of fun.
They are not as little as I was remembering them. I think what has happened is that I kept thinking that they were smaller than I remembered so that they gradually shrank in my memory- making them basically giants when I actually saw them again.
All the rooms are clean, beautiful, and newly organized. The staff room has been newly painted and remodeled so that it feels like a nice place to take a break as opposed to the re purposed storage closet vibe it gave off last year.
We started by being very quiet: taping our heads, noses, bellies, and knees as quietly as we could before getting up to creep around listening to the xylophone. I have now learned that it is useful to use recognizable music for the tykes if you want them to notice when the music stops. In this case I played phrases from twinkle twinkle having the tykes freeze in place whenever the xylophone stopped playing (always at the end of phrases, I'm no dummy.) We did this very quietly a few times before playing it very loudly and stomping around.
One of the goals listed in all of the foundation stages music books that I have been reading is for the tykes to be able to differentiate between loud and quiet. Um. I think they get it already. One of those innate things?In every class when I started playing the xylophone loudly, at least a quarter of the tykes started stomping around without any instruction from me. I will say that they pay a heck of a lot more attention when they are required to be very quiet, though. Loud boisterousness lends itself to anarchy.
Linda, the new upper school music teacher, has been a great help already and suggested that I do a chant with the kids to help them differentiate between their whispering voice, talking voice, and singing voice. We then further differentiated between robot voices, monster voices, shy voices, grumpy voices, and under water voices (much hilarity there--not good to use all the time, see previous note about anarchy).
We did a quick name song, trying to get the tykes to actually sing. That is one of my goals this year- to have the tykes become confident in their own singing voices so that it doesn't end up being me simply singing at them. The teachers are all pleased that I didn't use the same name song as last year as that one got rather overdone. The response required from the tykes was just to say "hello" and wave in the correct place. Some could handle this and some couldn't. Some classes were much more accomplished and I suspect that I managed to explain it more fully in those classes.
Finally we finished up with a re-lyric-ing of twinkle twinkle that was all about sharing and bouncing a teddy bear up and down. I substituted a penguin for the teddy because, for some reason, I feel significantly less silly singing "Bounce the penguin, fun to do" as opposed to "bounce the teddy." Plus, Linda had a very cute stuffed penguin she said I could borrow.
I've been wary of using props in my tykes classes- things like finger puppets and stuffed animals and the like. But the kids responded very well to Mr. Penguin- even going so far as to demand that we sing the song again and to accuse me of providing Mr. Penguin's voice. As though he couldn't speak for himself! So now I am cautiously for using props. Or at least Mr. Penguin.
The two women who could conceivably be seen as my direct superiors are both very much for having me at school for more than one day, but it is yet to be seen whether or not we can get the Headmaster to go for it. I'm not sure how much I can push or if I should just stay out of the way. As it is I now only have a 45 minute lunch period and have 20 (!) tykes signed up for music club. Linda is attempting to reorganize her Wednesdays so that she can do music club with me, but still- we have a lot of planning to do and I don't even have a moment to put lesson plans on to the computer the way my schedule is currently set up. So hopefully they can convince the Headmaster that it really would be useful to have me around for more than one day. Fingers crossed!
The other thing I did yesterday (why was I worried that this would be a short post?) was go to my job interview for another teaching job. It is a new music school that I will tell you more about if I get the post. They were luck to get me for the interview immediately after teaching because I was so hyped up about things. I managed to talk about how I would run classes and what things I would like to try for nearly an hour. They said they were very impressed with my experience- which was both gratifying and a little mystifying- I've only had classes since February. I was very clear that I haven't taught this age group before (year one and two) but man-oh-man does it turn out that I have plans. The only real barrier that I see between me and the job is that they really would like me to work on Wednesdays during the day which I simply can't do. Eh, we'll see. If I do get the job it would only be a couple more hours a week, but it would give me an opportunity to start out work on my plans, and that would be lots of fun.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Almost Tyke Time
You guys missed the tyke blogs, didn't you? Don't worry, the tykosity is nearly back again. This afternoon I went to meet the new upper school music teacher, the new reception year teacher, and have a meeting with my boss.
I got there a bit before people were ready so I went and had a chat with some of the tykes who were still there. It is early days yet in the year so a lot of the nursery children are only there in the morning- easing in to the whole idea of school. That meant that the tykes who were still there were tykes that I knew.
I was greeted in a variety of ways. Two tykes (who were AT holiday camp and who TOTALLY know me) forgot who I was. One tyke growled like a monster with big scary claws, and when I growled back (claws included) he buried his face in my elbow. One of the reception classes came berreling down the stairs to go to garden time and started shouting "Miss Casey! Miss Casey!" They enveloped me in hugs- which is totally why I teach this age group. The other reason I teach this age group is their pursuadability- some of the hugs were definitely from tykes I haven't met yet- but everyone else was giving Miss Casey hugs so surely that is just what one does, right?
The meeting with my boss and the new music teacher was a little bit awkward- we were all feeling a bit defensive about our work and the things we'd like to try and do- which was really silly because we're all talking about the exact same things. So here is what we've decided: where to put the music planning on the academic server (not at all clear, there are at least 4 possibilities that would make perfect logical sense), that having me at school for more than one day a week would be a good thing, and that it would be nice to get more integration between the upper school music and the early years music.
By the end of the day, Linda, the new music teacher, and I had formulated big plans. Things like integrated music clubs, a box of activity cards for teachers to help in extending music lessons throughout the week, and...um...I'm sure I've got more written down somewhere but that is what I remember.
In anycase- I have school bright and early tomorrow morning, I almost have a lesson plan ready, and I have a job interview for another early years post in the afternoon. Classy. Oh, and today I walked from Hyde park to Oxford Street to Tottenham Court Rd to King's Cross down to Angel past the Barbican and then into Shoreditch. Pretty awesome, huh?
I got there a bit before people were ready so I went and had a chat with some of the tykes who were still there. It is early days yet in the year so a lot of the nursery children are only there in the morning- easing in to the whole idea of school. That meant that the tykes who were still there were tykes that I knew.
I was greeted in a variety of ways. Two tykes (who were AT holiday camp and who TOTALLY know me) forgot who I was. One tyke growled like a monster with big scary claws, and when I growled back (claws included) he buried his face in my elbow. One of the reception classes came berreling down the stairs to go to garden time and started shouting "Miss Casey! Miss Casey!" They enveloped me in hugs- which is totally why I teach this age group. The other reason I teach this age group is their pursuadability- some of the hugs were definitely from tykes I haven't met yet- but everyone else was giving Miss Casey hugs so surely that is just what one does, right?
The meeting with my boss and the new music teacher was a little bit awkward- we were all feeling a bit defensive about our work and the things we'd like to try and do- which was really silly because we're all talking about the exact same things. So here is what we've decided: where to put the music planning on the academic server (not at all clear, there are at least 4 possibilities that would make perfect logical sense), that having me at school for more than one day a week would be a good thing, and that it would be nice to get more integration between the upper school music and the early years music.
By the end of the day, Linda, the new music teacher, and I had formulated big plans. Things like integrated music clubs, a box of activity cards for teachers to help in extending music lessons throughout the week, and...um...I'm sure I've got more written down somewhere but that is what I remember.
In anycase- I have school bright and early tomorrow morning, I almost have a lesson plan ready, and I have a job interview for another early years post in the afternoon. Classy. Oh, and today I walked from Hyde park to Oxford Street to Tottenham Court Rd to King's Cross down to Angel past the Barbican and then into Shoreditch. Pretty awesome, huh?
Monday, February 4, 2008
First day of work
Not as boring as it could have been.
I actually get trained on Thursday, but they went ahead and put me to work today anyway. (I would like to point out that I was not only awake, but dressed and at work by 8:30 this morning. Which I realize isn't impressive for a lot of people- but this is me we're talking about and I was functional before noon.)
Everyone is very nice at Finsbury Healthcare and they gave me many, many cups of tea.
I spent a lot of time filing doctors' correspondence, putting tabs on new patients' folders, and playing with letter stickers (for identifying the first 3 letters of patients' surnames.) The letter stickers are on rolls in boxes that have been taped together so that you have this two foot tall box of multicolored alphabet in front of you. That was my favorite part of the day.
I need to figure out what to wear for the job- there are so many files that they are quite difficult to get in and out of the filing cabinets which led me to sit on my knees a fair bit. I can't wear jeans, but my fancier work trousers are really not going to hold up if the get dragged across the floor as much as they were today. Khakis maybe? I've never owned any khakis. Well, that I liked.
The girl whom I'm replacing because she got promoted was being trained today in how to answer the phones. There wasn't a whole lot interesting to listen to in the office, so I was evesdropping a bunch and basically? I am really happy that I am not going to have a career in medical administration. Even though she will be talking to people and talking to people is much more up my alley than alphabetizing, I would still so much rather be in my job than her job. Finsbury Healthcare does a really good job of promoting from within, so a lot of the people working there have been there since they were doing my job as students. Which is admirable, but man am I glad that I will not be follwing in their footsteps.
Anyhow- it was a very successful first day, but I need to remember to bring snacks next time because I got very hungry. Though not thirsty- the tea took care of that.
I actually get trained on Thursday, but they went ahead and put me to work today anyway. (I would like to point out that I was not only awake, but dressed and at work by 8:30 this morning. Which I realize isn't impressive for a lot of people- but this is me we're talking about and I was functional before noon.)
Everyone is very nice at Finsbury Healthcare and they gave me many, many cups of tea.
I spent a lot of time filing doctors' correspondence, putting tabs on new patients' folders, and playing with letter stickers (for identifying the first 3 letters of patients' surnames.) The letter stickers are on rolls in boxes that have been taped together so that you have this two foot tall box of multicolored alphabet in front of you. That was my favorite part of the day.
I need to figure out what to wear for the job- there are so many files that they are quite difficult to get in and out of the filing cabinets which led me to sit on my knees a fair bit. I can't wear jeans, but my fancier work trousers are really not going to hold up if the get dragged across the floor as much as they were today. Khakis maybe? I've never owned any khakis. Well, that I liked.
The girl whom I'm replacing because she got promoted was being trained today in how to answer the phones. There wasn't a whole lot interesting to listen to in the office, so I was evesdropping a bunch and basically? I am really happy that I am not going to have a career in medical administration. Even though she will be talking to people and talking to people is much more up my alley than alphabetizing, I would still so much rather be in my job than her job. Finsbury Healthcare does a really good job of promoting from within, so a lot of the people working there have been there since they were doing my job as students. Which is admirable, but man am I glad that I will not be follwing in their footsteps.
Anyhow- it was a very successful first day, but I need to remember to bring snacks next time because I got very hungry. Though not thirsty- the tea took care of that.
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