[HANASHIR:6933] Re: Music Teaching Assistant

[Meris Ruzow <meris...>]

Since I play piano, I 've always enjoyed having a student aide to help me
out with hand signals, etc.  Of course having an aide is great because you
have someone who can even sing for you on days where your voice isn't great.
You must, of course, get together with her/him before school starts and talk
about the first few months.    If possible, share the holiday music with
him/her and tell him/her what the responsibilities are:  Passing out music,
standing behind the kids at times to be their strength, when singing in
rounds, he can take one side while you take the other, of course when the
little guys come in, the attitude and physical gestures are so important for
him to know.    With older kids it's especially great because here's a
student who is acting as a rold model for your older classes.    Just map
out the first few months (or weeks) and you'll see how much help an aide can
be (collecting papers, taking attendance), and most importantly, singing,
singing, singing !!
Best of luck!
Meris Ruzow
-----Original Message-----
From: Emworobey (at) aol(dot)com <Emworobey (at) aol(dot)com>
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org <hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Saturday, September 16, 2000 6:01 PM
Subject: [HANASHIR:6919] Music Teaching Assistant


>I need some advice!
>
>I teach music on Sunday mornings (Tots - 7th grade).  This year I will be
>teaching 7 consecutive classes (with very little time in between) which is
a
>bit more rigorous than the prior years' schedule when I usually taught 5-6
>classes.  To help in achieving the curriculum director's goal of every
class
>having music every week, I recently learned that I've been assigned a
>teaching assistant this year. I haven't met her yet and don't know much
about
>her except that she has a choral background.  All the other teaching
>assistants (for grades K-2 or 3, I believe) are high school students so I
>assume that she is also.   Have any of you had any experience working with
a
>TA, and if so, how have you structured the relationship?  I'm grateful for
>the help, but I really don't know how to utilize her.   I want this to be a
>mutually beneficial experience.
>
>Looking forward to your comments and suggestions!
>
>P.S. How do you keep up your stamina when teaching so many classes back to
>back?
>
>Thanks,
>Emily Worobey
>emworobey (at) aol(dot)com
>
>
>

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