I am responsible for introducing sixty grade six students and seventy-five grade seven students to orchestral music and the understanding/appreciation for music in all its many amazing forms. I need to teach them how to play, maintain and care for the flute, trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, bass, percussion, trombone, barytone, piano or any other instrument that might be included in a regular school band. On top of that I need to help them understand basic music theory, I need to introduce them to various music styles, develop an appreciation for various musical genres and I need to prepare them for two concerts throughout the school year. I am also responsible for one class of grade eight band, another class of grade nine band and one semestre of grade ten-twelve music. On top of that, I teach grade 10/11 drama and a full year course of grade nine english.
Is it any wonder I suffer from nightmares?
Let's look at this from a practical standpoint: My week is divided up into five days of five classes each. I have two grade six groups, three grade seven groups, a group of grade eights and a group of grade nines. I see each of these groups once a week, then I see my drama class six times a week and my grade nine english class four times a week.
Confused yet? I sure was!
I have slowly made sense of this schedule over the last four months, but it doesn't make it any less ridiculous.
Essentially I have nine different groups of students (a total of almost two hundred individuals) and I need to plan lessons for each of these groups, keeping in mind the characteristics of each student, the dynamics of each class group and the curriculum that has been written for me to follow.
Can you say, "AAAAAAAAGH!"?
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