And His Eyes Went Ga-Lump!

I see that Trevor has beaten me to the first blog post.  Dash it all.  I would also like to point out that when he mentions "his partner" in his post, he is referring to me.  Glad to know that you're not ashamed of me, Trevor!

Moving on to more important things! Trevor and I had the pleasure of visiting the same elementary school to get in a field experience, but I had the even greater pleasure of going 45 minutes earlier than he did! Oh, how I love 8:00 am classes.  Because we were the first class of the day, the teacher was not so stressed by this point. She was rather excited and talked about the students we were about to observe. We also had a nice and pretty humorous discussion about cats, but that's besides the point.

The students walked in and quietly went to their seats. First, these are 1st graders at eight in the morning. Second, they're going QUIETLY to their seats. Third, there were mallet instruments all over the floor, and they didn't touch a single one. Did I mention that these were 1st graders. Dear Teacher, please tell me what you have done.

After the kids enthusiastically tried to tell the most random stories I have ever heard in my life, the teacher calmed them down and asked the students if they knew what a leap was.  After a few guesses, a boy shouted, "Like a frog?" We have a winner!

I won't go into extreme detail about what happened because it was the exact same process that she did in the 8:45 class, and Trevor has already explained that well enough.  Maybe I should let him post the first blog every time...

50 million "ga-lumps" and multiple ear piercing sounds of the C-scale later, there was one particular thing I did take notice of throughout the course of the lesson. The teacher did not allow any room for a break, and I can understand why. Elementary schoolers, especially first graders, can get distracted VERY easily! You have no other option but to keep the lesson fast paced so that they can't keep up with it.  General music teachers have to do whatever they can to speed past the natural high of those kiddies.  You also have to pay close attention as well. Whenever the teacher was talking while the students were on the floor in front of the mallets, there was that one student that just loves to play the instrument when they're not supposed to. Everyone knows that student. They exist in every class. I see some of them in my college classes all the time. They never leave. In elementary school, you have to make sure to put an end to the madness really quick, or chaos will ensue. That's exactly what this teacher did. It took multiple times throughout the class period, but she got him to stop for a good 5 minutes every time she said something. Persistency. That's the key. Also, patience is a virtue. I'm not quite sure how much I would have in that situation!

Before I go, I just have to be that person and post the lyrics to the cute little song the kids sang:

"Galump went the little green frog one day! Galump went the little green frog. Galump went the little green frog one day, and his eyes went galump!"

That's quality music right there!