September & October Happenings

What a semester it has been!  August and the beginning of September was by far the worse beginning to a semester I've ever had in college.  I'm in my last two music courses for my undergrad degree, and have started the hefty education courses.  Practicum (similar to student teaching) started off okay, got worse, and has finally started to look positive!

The practicum hours have increased dramatically, and the extra hours (tutoring hours, family interaction hours, PLC meeting hours) have also increased.  Overall, I am required to get a total of around eighty-one field hours this semester alone.  Those hours being split up between three different classes, that is.  The increase of hours is what surprised me back in August, causing the semester to start off "on the wrong foot".

The semester is halfway finished and I'm almost done with the field hours, minus the normal Practicum hours that are fulfilled in the classroom.  It has been a huge blessing to have most of these hours complete!  In August I had absolutely no idea how I was going to complete everything, and it all fell into place thanks to the Lord!  I'm looking forward to see what else I can accomplish this semester with Him leading me!

My practicum placement is in a local middle school, and I absolutely LOVE it!  It's kind of ironic though... When I decided to become a teacher I had no intentions of teaching at the middle school level, the only thing that interested me was teaching elementary or high school music programs.  My experience in the classroom this semester has changed my mind; I now want to become a middle school beginning band director!

I'm really enjoying college right now, but I'm looking forward to the day I can be a full time teacher, passing on a passion for music to students of all ages.