Browning- Teaching by Myself

Last week, before my internship my co-teacher Rachel texted me that she was sick and she was coming to class but couldn't talk at all. I was very nervous when I went in because I had to execute her whole lesson plan by myself without verbal assistance, having never taught music classes by myself. The kids were very patient with me and when Rachel want dot talk to me and give me notes she'd write it down for me. This experience gave me a great opportunity find places where I succeed and where I need to grow, which ties perfectly to learning outcome 1, identifying my own strengths and develop areas for growth. I learned that I am great at engaging with the kids and the also relate to me more becauseI'm closer to their age. I learn one thing I need to do better is taking command of the room, but I hope next semester I will continue to grow and become a better teacher.

CAS- Walking over Thanksgiving Break

Over Thanksgiving Break every year I visit my grandparents in Burke, Virginia. Going there is a nice escape from living in such a big and loud city like Houston. Outside of their house is a kind of hidden trail that takes you through the back of the neighborhood, behind all the houses and through the trees. It is such a beautiful and kind of secluded trail, so I take the opportunity almost every day I'm there to take a walk by myself and take that time to reflect on my day and think about things I need to do and just really take that time for myself, since over Thanksgiving break, there are 10 people living at my grandparents house. I feel that my daily walk ties into Learning Outcome 4, showing commitment to and perseverance in a fieldwork experience. The consistency of my walks shoes commitment to
leading a healthy lifestyle and taking tome to myself to reflect.

CAS- Carrie Audition

Yesterday night, I had an audition for the musical Carrie. Carrie is a musical, based on a movie from the 1980's,  about a girl raised by a highly religious mother and is bullied at school. I auditioned at the theatre where I have done all of my past productions, like Hair, which I wrote about a few blogs back. For auditions, I need to prepare a cut of a musical theatre song and read lines from different characters from the show that are given to me. My song went pretty well and I feel that I did well with my vocals and acting. I got a lot of laughter during the song, good laughter due to my (hopefully) subtle but humorous acting choices. The line reading went okay. I felt I could have done better, which ties into Learning Outcome 1, Identifying own strengths and develop areas for growth. I identified my strengths, like my vocals and acting during the song, but recognized areas for growth during the lines. But overall, the audition went well and I hope I get cast in the show!

CAS Learning Outcomes

THE SEVEN LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR FIELDWORK AT THE UPPER LEVEL

In order to satisfy the Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) component for the IB Diploma, students’ documentation and reflection on their fieldwork must demonstrate achievement of each of these learning outcomes at least once during their Upper Level years at Post Oak School:

Learning Outcome 1:  

Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth.

Learning Outcome 2:

Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

Learning Outcome 3:

Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a fieldwork experience.

Learning Outcome 4:

Show commitment to and perseverance in a fieldwork experience.

Learning Outcome 5:

Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.

Learning Outcome 6:

Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

Learning Outcome 7:

Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

Browning

This week of my internship was more difficult than some of the others. It is the week after Halloween and we are on the verge of holiday time, so many of the kids were very hyper and a little inattentive. Also, many of the kids forgot to being their instruments, and to add onto it, we haven't seen the kids in two weeks, so their skills were a little rusty. My co-teacher and I had to use a lot of learning outcome 4, working collaboratively. Despite some setbacks and possible obstacles we faced today, we tried our best to catch the kids up and let them have fun and learn. We had to review things over and over to catch them up and we had to sacrifice our personal instruments for the kids. Today was hard, but the teamwork between me and my co-teacher helped us create a great (but stressful) class!

Browning

Today I went to my internship and the 4th graders walked into the classroom with their ukuleles. They all sat down and one of my students told me that a new student was joining the class. Of course it was SO convenient to have a new student who had never picked up a ukulele come into class. I was stressing, thinking about how I can catch up one new student to the skill level of all of the other students who have been playing and practicing for weeks. This situation resonates with learning outcome 2, undertaking new challenges. Mt co-teacher and I had to restructure the lesson to help teach the new student everything we had done over the pat 6 weeks while still helping and teaching the other students. She caught up quickly and I can tell she is going to be a great student

CAS- Hair

For my fall production at the theatre I act at, we are doing Hair. Hair is a musical about hippie counterculture in the late 1960's. This show is different than any show Ive done because it feels so real. The entire cast in the show is a tribe and we all need to act accordingly. I am a person who loves blocking and a set plan, but this show has pushed me top just feel and connect with other people, which is just as, or even more powerful than staging effective and intentional blocking. This show has expanded my horizons and pushed me out of my comfort zone and has helped me improve a lot as an actor. To me, this experience aligns with learning outcome one, increasing awareness of strengths and areas for growth. I have been pushed during this process to challenge me physically, it has pushed my ways of thinking and pushed my thought processes. Even though Hair is set in the 60's it is extremely relevant today than ever. We are facing issues of social injustice now, that are very similar to issues that were occurring in the 60's. For example, the characters in the show are standing up for social beliefs by protesting at the pentagon, which parallels to recent events that are happening now in our supreme court, which are causing people to protest on the steps of the supreme court. So as I said, this show is using my physically. It is pushing my technique and acting and showing me places I can improve, but most of all it is pushing my mind and hopefully will bring an intense, but beautiful story form the 60's, back into today's generation and portrayed in a powerful and organic way. 

Browning Week 5

Today was my fifth week of my internship tis week. I took off last week, due to the PSAT, so I was super excited to see my students again! The students had clearly improved a lot over the past two weeks that I didn't see them, so we gave them some more advanced material. This week, I got to take on even more of a teacher role and teach and lead a majority of the exercises this class. It felt great to be able to full lead these kids in music, my biggest passion. To me this ties in with learning outcome 2, developing new skills. I have taught for Hope Stone for a long time, but today is first day that I have really felt like a full fledged teacher, getting to teach and lead new chords and scales.

CAS and Internship Week 4

This past Wednesday was my fourth week of my internship. This week was the first week the kids got to take their instruments home and use them. The fourth graders were on a field trip so we didn't have ukulele class, but the fifth graders had guitar. This week, Im connecting my experience to Learning Outcome 5, Showing perseverance and commitment in activities. In my guitar class, there is one boy who doesn't speak English, only Spanish. Sometimes he has a hard time understanding the class, but he is still very determined and committed to learning guitar. He has a friend who sits next to him who translates for him, but I decided I really want to commit and make sure he was getting the most out of the class, So I am taking it upon myself to translate as much of the class as I can for him. I need to think outside of the box a lot and be creative when I think of ways to teach him, but me and his friend who also helps translate , I think are doing a good job. It takes extra time and energy to help him understand the concepts, but it is very important to me that he gets the same experience and same quality of teaching as all of the other kids.

CAS and Internship Week 3

Yesterday was my third week of my internship! The kids were great and excited because this week was the week they got to take their instruments home! I was so happy that they were so happy to take them home because I worked really hard to get the instruments. Over the summer, I raised over $2500 to get the instruments and equipment for the kids and now, seeing them so happy to take the guitars and ukuleles home feels so rewarding. This to me relates most to learning outcome number six, engaging with issues of global importance. Without Hope Stone, these kids wouldn't have any arts education at school and arts education is just as important for a child as math or science. I'm glad the kids are so happy to have music in their lives and Im glad I get to share my passion for music with these kids

CAS and Internship Week 2

This past Wednesday was the sequins week of my internship for the year. The kids came to class this week prepared and excited to learn. Rachel and I had a pretty well thought out lesson plan for the week, but had to learn to be adaptable because you never know how kids are going to feel that day or want to do. The guitar students wanted to have in impromptu jam session and wanted to talk about songwriting. When they came in the classroom, all of the ukuleles form the last class were still out of their cases and scattered throughout the room. Rachel and I have to work together and collaborate to make sure everything runs smoothly and the class is still organized and engaging fir the kids. So while Rachel jammed out with the kids and taught them about writing songs and played some of her original songs, I had time to put all of the ukuleles away and in the closet and get out all of the guitars and put them on stands to prepare for the kids to use them. This connects with learning outcome 4, working collaboratively with others. Rachel and I work together to create a smooth, engaging and fun class for the kids, so they can grow to their fullest potential.

CAS and Internship Week 1

Last week was the first day of my internship for the year.  I help teach ukulele to 4th graders and Guitar to 5th graders at Browning Elementary School, through Hope Stone Inc, a local arts outreach program. For the past two years, I've taught creative movement and theatre, but this year I'm spearheading the new music classes with my old music teacher, Rachel Hansbro.

Last month, I raised 2500 dollars for Hope Stone to get the guitars, ukuleles and the rest of the equipment for these classes. The first day went pretty well overall. The kids were very engaged and happy to be there. It was a big challenge for me because I've been playing music for years, but I have never taught music on this scale. It is difficult creating a blank slate and putting yourself in the shoes of a child who has never picked up an instrument before and starting at square one, which connects to learning outcome 2, undertake new challenges.

Overall, the first day went well and I learned as I went. I have to learn to be adaptable and be accommodating to the needs of the children. I think this will be a great year of new challenges, learning new skills and hopefully inspiring kids to learn to play music.