Back to the grind

Hello everyone-

After our nice week long holiday, it was back to school yesterday! Yesterday and today have been low key days for Kerry, only two classes each day. Here they are on a 10 day schedule, with each day being different during the ten days. Days 6 and 7 for Kerry just happen to be the lightest schedule load, so it has been nice. We were able to clean up all the madness left over from the concert an straighten up the music room.

Since I had some free time, I took advantage today of the opportunity to observe the elementary music teacher, Sue. I felt that just by watching a couple of lessons of hers I learned a lot about the elementary music classroom. I´m going to try to talk with her a bit tomorrow and see if there is a specific class I can come observe on a consistent basis. With a schedule that doesn´t repeat for ten days, it might be difficult. However, I would really like to teach a couple of elementary music lessons during my time here and get that experience in, since my certification is K-12.

Tomorrow I am teaching two lessons, one to the M1 and one to the M4 students. I will be teaching a lesson on songwriting to the M1 students, and a lesson on beginning music theory to the M4 students. The M4 students (13-14 year olds) have just chosen their arts concentration, and for these that I will work with tomorrow, it´s music. In M4 they can choose an arts concentration: either art, theatre, or music, and they will take more classes in those this year and next year. If a student is interested in more than one, they can still find some way to stay involved in both, though they won´t take classes in both.

I´m also taking over the choir tomorrow. I´m trying to assemble an 8 song set list for some Christmastime performances in a couple of shopping malls around the area. I´m going to create a list of about 15 tonight, and discuss them with Kerry tomorrow, to see which ones he thinks we should keep and which ones we should throw out.

The staff here has been so welcoming and friendly, and making it easy for all of us to be here. I really like it and as I thought before coming into this experience, I really might like to teach at an IB school in the near future.

Also, my phone is kind of finnicky, and people aren´t always able to get through. People here who have tried to contact me as well as some from home have been unable to reach me. If that ends up being the case, send me and email, and I will try to set up a time with you that is convenient to call and we can see if it works.

All from me for now. Have a great day!

-Emily