Music Substitute!

    I got my first morning call today! I had the privilege of substituting in a subject I have loved and been close to all my life: Music. I was so excited to hear that when I picked up the call. When I arrived at the school it was smaller than I expected but by the end of the day I loved it. Luckily for me, the smaller school made it easier to navigate the halls as I travelled to pick up my classes. The music teacher left a very detailed plan with plenty of extra activities in case we had time left over. It was so nice to go into a class and have such a great plan left by the teacher. My comfort in music helped me a lot while interacting with the students as well. I played the piano to get the students attention to transition from one activity to the next, and sometimes even the drums. This classroom had a lot of musical resources at my disposal I could enjoy and use to my advantage. The students were so impressed when I started playing the piano and singing for their attention rather than raising my voice. They kept asking for me to sing more!

    One thing that really stood out to me in this classroom was the teacher’s classroom management system. She had a system called REEF; Respect, Effort, Encouragement, Fun. The students could earn and loose REEF points depending on their behaviour. Each class started with three REEF points on the board, as the period progressed, depending on their behavior, they would keep the points or loose the points. At the end of the period if the students had three points they would receive three beads in their class’ clear cup kept at the front of the class. If they lost points, they would only receive however many beads they had left over at the end of the period. By the end of the month if the students earned 30 beads as a class they would get a reward. This system really seemed to work for the students; some were even telling me about how many beads they earned in the previous year. Students could also earn individual REEF points, however rather than keep them for themselves, they were allowed to give them back to the class if they chose to. This way the whole class could earn the reward rather than just the individual. I think this is also a great idea because it promotes working together and sharing. 

I really loved my time at this school and am looking forward to going back very soon!