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Midterms are eating my brain...
Halfway through what's definitely the most stressful midterm week I've had in a while. Already had my one actual written test, but the big project is due tomorrow for Classroom Management: a unit plan. I've yet to do one of these totally right in terms of format and such, though I did go talk to my prof about it earlier, and now I think I've more or less got the first one up to par. The other four lessons are written, I just have to edit them now. I don't think the matrix will take a very long time, and I have no idea how long it'll take to do the rationale and make the worksheets for it.
After that, there are Music History and Lit questions that need to be answered. Definitely the most boring class I've ever had the misfortune of being required to sit through *stabs Music History repeatedly*
A little worried about piano, but I have an entire week to spend at home, with the house to myself, with a piano, so I'll be able to practice to my heart's content next week. This will be good, and hopefully get me more towards where I need to be with that.
But what I'm really unhappy with right now is Conducting. Honestly, I love the art of conducting. You're in front of a group, and you have the power. Your baton (theoretically, at least) controls the group. It's sort of nerve-wracking, but at the same time, it's really fun. And my Conducting I class was a BLAST. I was with three other awesome people, each with our own little quirk and each with the ability to laugh not only at each other, but at ourselves. It was all as linear as you can get. We learned a lot in that class.
The people are still pretty cool in Conducting II (more or less), but the problem we're having now lies with what we perceive to be a basic structural flaw in the class syllabus. There's a lab choir, consisting of three people on each voice part. Each of us four in the class have two vocal pieces, one easy and one not-so-easy, and we have to teach them these songs. We get twelve minutes a class period for six weeks to accomplish this. This totals approximately seventy minutes--in reality, a group could spend an entire hour working on one section of one song and maybe get it about right.
Our concern is this: this is a test grade, but we're not being graded on how we conduct our little choir. The majority of our grade rests on how well they perform during our last rehearsal. And none of us feel horribly comfortable having our grade rely almost solely on a group of other people, especially when half the lab-choir doesn't show up, be it illness, having to be somewhere for another class, or just not feeling like showing up. Yeah, not liking this too much.
But on the bright side, I got my Conducting midterm back today--it's the one written test I have this week. I got a 92% on it! That makes me smile, even though five-lesson unit plans still make my tummy hurt -_-;;
After that, there are Music History and Lit questions that need to be answered. Definitely the most boring class I've ever had the misfortune of being required to sit through *stabs Music History repeatedly*
A little worried about piano, but I have an entire week to spend at home, with the house to myself, with a piano, so I'll be able to practice to my heart's content next week. This will be good, and hopefully get me more towards where I need to be with that.
But what I'm really unhappy with right now is Conducting. Honestly, I love the art of conducting. You're in front of a group, and you have the power. Your baton (theoretically, at least) controls the group. It's sort of nerve-wracking, but at the same time, it's really fun. And my Conducting I class was a BLAST. I was with three other awesome people, each with our own little quirk and each with the ability to laugh not only at each other, but at ourselves. It was all as linear as you can get. We learned a lot in that class.
The people are still pretty cool in Conducting II (more or less), but the problem we're having now lies with what we perceive to be a basic structural flaw in the class syllabus. There's a lab choir, consisting of three people on each voice part. Each of us four in the class have two vocal pieces, one easy and one not-so-easy, and we have to teach them these songs. We get twelve minutes a class period for six weeks to accomplish this. This totals approximately seventy minutes--in reality, a group could spend an entire hour working on one section of one song and maybe get it about right.
Our concern is this: this is a test grade, but we're not being graded on how we conduct our little choir. The majority of our grade rests on how well they perform during our last rehearsal. And none of us feel horribly comfortable having our grade rely almost solely on a group of other people, especially when half the lab-choir doesn't show up, be it illness, having to be somewhere for another class, or just not feeling like showing up. Yeah, not liking this too much.
But on the bright side, I got my Conducting midterm back today--it's the one written test I have this week. I got a 92% on it! That makes me smile, even though five-lesson unit plans still make my tummy hurt -_-;;