Joe's+journal

February 24, 2009

Creating Positive Mindset in the Music Department

Joe: Will find ways to develop increasing levels of positive environment in classes which are disenfranchised from music education.

Week ending 3/3/09: Reward system: This is the third week of the newly implemented rewards system, and the first few sessions after the "raffle." The system is set up so that each student would get recognized for participation and preparation for class, both being key components to a successful ensemble experience. In addition to each student getting recognized for carrying out their own personal responsibilities, students who prove to be positive leaders or role models in class get extra recognition (i.e. more chances in the bi-weekly raffle). In each class section, 5 tickets were drawn. While they looked forward to the drawings, the 'winners' of the drawing were certainly by chance. In fact, in most classes, the students who were expected to win did not win. At first, I was privately disappointed that the 'best' students didn't get their recognition, but after seeing the students who //did// win get excited, it made sense to me that those were the very kids that would need and appreciate the physical reward.

Espousing and experiencing justified positivity: Student Teacher:

3/31/2009 Liana... Liana is a girl who has for the past year and half been working hard to find her niche in her social circle. She is a well adjusted kid, easy to talk to, honest, smart and funny, but has been bouncing around between different groups of friends since she got to the middle school. The result has been a history of of inconsistent behaviors in class. Sometimes excellent, sometimes not so much. Last week she approached me about joining select choir. At first I gave her a little bit of a hard time, asking her why she didn't put an application in before the deadline (months ago, the group is off and running). After thinking for a minute, I asked her to write me a few words on why she felt so strongly that she should be involved in this group. Her response showed...