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WOOO HOOOO!!! Certified!!


Templejazz

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My mom just called me to say that my teaching certification came in the mail a little while ago!!

I'm finally a certified music teacher in Pennsylvania!!! :party::party::party:

Now all I gotta do is find that first REAL job!! :excited::excited:

Any other music teachers here who can share their experiences? I know there were a few on the old BNBB but I'm not sure if they trickled over here.

:)

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I always thought you were certifiable :P This certainly verifies that.

Congratulations :party:

I'm not a music teacher, but I can attest to how wonderful it is to have a music program in schools. Because we had enrolled him in piano lessons (private - from a local jazz guy) my son had enough aptitude to be selected as a 3rd grader to join the school string orchestra - that's a year early in our district. At any rate, the teacher was fabulous. He really got involved with each child's progress. I received a few phone calls with tips etc. What a great guy. He and the music program are really making a difference in my son's 3rd grade experience. my son is confident in his abilities and proud of his involvement with the orchestra.

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Congratulations, kudos, way to go :excited:

What age of Kids will you be teaching?

Thanks everybody! :)

slsmcgrew, I have my heart set on either middle or elementary level instrumental music.

My instrumental student teaching placement last Spring was very intense and very fulfilling. I enjoy working with kids at that age, and even though my primary instrument is trumpet, I like being able to pick up any secondary instrument and make it 'work'. It's fun. The advice and guidance from my cooperating teacher and supervisor was indespensable. They both helped me a great deal.

I don't feel ready to tackle high school duties just yet. It's a mighty load that I'd rather not attempt right now because I'm still discovering who I am and what I want to do besides teach.

Bill

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Congrats!!

I am not sure if you know this already but Dennis Gonzalez is a teacher and he has a thread over at Jazz Corner under Ask The Musicians. He just mentioned a band of 7th and 8th graders playing A Love Supreme so he might be able to give you some advice since you mentioned middle school.

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Congratulations Temple! I still remember my elementary and middle school music teachers very well. Very enthusiastic. It really made an impression on my friends and I. Unfortunately, I thought I was too cool to play in the high school band. As you can tell, my friends had me thinking all wrong. Now I wish I had continued to pursue music. It was an impressionable age. <_<

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Congrats again. I hope you choose or are able to get to do it in elementary school. I think it's important to instill a love of music at an early age. Plus, I've heard so many stories about musicians starting young so if they have the right person like you teaching them the love of music, who knows what contributions they could make?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Peter,

A good friend of mine in the district(he's a brass teacher) told me last week that 4-5 itinerant instrumental positions are expected to open up. He gave me the number to call and I found out the tests and interviews are being given the first two weeks of the month. Not sure of the exact schools or areas, but it doesn't really matter to me right now.

I hope I can break a leg. It's been quite a bit time since my student teaching experience ( little more than a year ) I've done as much as I can to keep up and study but I'm not as fresh as I used to be. I do have great recommendations though and I am confident in my abilities if I am fortunate enough to acquire a position. Hopefully I can come across this way to whomever will be giving the interview.

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I have a job interview on this Thursday with the School District of Philadelphia!! :o:blink::o:blink::wacko::wacko::wacko:

I feel like I'm gonna throw up.

Wish me luck!

In cases like that, what we say here in France is MERDE.

This should do the trick.

Wish I had music teachers with your enthusiasm when I was still in school.

The ones I was unfortunate to cross path with were so boring.

Good luck with the kids.

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:unsure::unsure:

Thanks for asking.

Weeell parts of it were good. The sit down interview with the staffing coordinator went really well. That took place after the musical/performance competency. That on a whole, well.....for various reasons could have and should have gone a whole lot better.

My general musicianship competency went well (chord recognition, rhythmic competency, basic piano/accompaniment skills ) Also, a mock first instrumental flute lesson with one of the interviewers went really well. The things I didn't do too well: My trumpet playing has been on an ongoing comeback for the past 3 months months after about a 6 month hiatus of sorts. Not easy and not fun to recover from something like that, so my trumpet performance for them was a bit shoddy. Also my secondary instrument performance was a bit shaky. They supplied me with a clarinet and flute and they had some 'simple' music for me to play on each. Now, I own a flute and can play it reasonably well at a beginning level, and I should have brought it w/ me cuz the thing that they had me play on SUCKED. It was brand spanking new, hardly broken in and really stiff, so my attacks were really bad. Clarinet, well let's not go there. :angry:

I also feel like I'm a bit cursed. I graduated in 2002 but didn't have certification to teach and had to get some type of job anyway to make ends meet. Naturally, they asked, "Soooo...what have you been doing for a year?" I told them the truth. They did acknowledge though, that I did my student teaching at Shawmont, up in Roxborough, really good instrumental music program with a GREAT teacher. She was a great supervising teacher. Plus my student teaching supervisor for this placement was the former instrumental supervisor for the district several years ago, and his guidance was priceless. Therefore I do have several things that I can speak for at this point.

To be eligible for the position I need to accumulate a score of 80.00 acquired from all parts of the interview, essay and musical competency. I'll find out by mail in about two weeks. I'm not holding my breath but I'm not counting myself out either. More than anything, I'm looking for more possibilities and upping my preparation as we speak so the second interview can go better than the first. I want to teach dammit!! :ph34r::ph34r:

Peace!

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