remember the daylight savings switch happening the week before spring break last year. I think it just about killed me. Juvenile spring fever doesn't mix well with teacher sleep deprivation.I've got 4 or 5 kids who've worked all the way through the 2 quarters of Bill Swick's guitar method book. I've started them on Christopher Parkening's classical method. They're kind of ahead of the other kids I teach who are all over the place in terms of progress.
I took 3 days off of school right after my choir got back from festival. So, I had about a week of them not really playing the guitar while I was out. It has been difficult to get them back going strong.
I also realized a few days ago that less than half of my students are at the point in the book where they're reading eighth notes. This is making teaching them Don't Cry for Me Argentina and What'd I Say nearly impossible. We're doing our crash course in eighth notes, but I don't know if we've got enough time. They're pretty big arrangements. I know that if I'd started with this method book at the beginning of the year instead of a couple of months in, we'd be rockin'. Next year I'll have a lot bigger head start with this stuff.
At the very least I'm going to have a select group perform to open up our spring choir concert. I really think I need to have something for all of them though. They've done a lot this year and I want their parents to see their progress. I also want them to have the experience of working toward a performance again. (In December I had them perform at the Hospital.)
Another thought I'm having at the end of the school year is about returning students. If I have several students who are wanting to take my class again, I may have the opportunity to divide them into different class periods and actually teach the more advanced students together. Exciting thoughts!
Later,
Matt
