I am officially finished with my first day of elementary student teaching! I’ll save the reflections on my elementary placement for another entry, though… this entry will focus on my last few weeks at Miami Coral Park Senior HS.
Wind Ensemble Assessment
As I mentioned in my last post, I had the opportunity to conduct the Wind Ensemble in their Concert Band Music Performance Assessment (MPA) at the end of my seventh week at Coral Park. I conducted Sousa’s “The Fairest of the Fair” march, and the band also played Holst’s “Second Suite in F” and Gillingham’s “Council Oak.” The ensemble played extremely well on all pieces, and earned straight “Superior” ratings – enough to qualify them for the state competition later this Spring!
I was thrilled to have had the opportunity to perform with the students; it was an incredible learning experience. Their hard work on the march was evident in their performance, and it was a thrill to see the look on their faces when they found out what ratings they had earned. Here’s a video of the march, from my perspective (any comments/suggestions regarding conducting are welcome!):
Keyboard and Concert Band
The keyboard classes finished up their compositions using Noteflight near the end of my internship, and I was very pleased with most of their work. It was especially exciting to see some students log in to Noteflight to show their compositions to the class and notice that some of them had actually started other compositions outside of school! How rewarding 
The beginning concert band has become much more comfortable for me. I have finally built a rapport with these students, and they seem to respect me more now that they have seen that I am looking out not just for their musical development but for their enjoyment with the arrangements I have done. This ensemble has been another very rewarding experience!
Saying Goodbye
My biggest take-away from this internship, though, was how difficult it was saying goodbye to these students after 8 short weeks. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought I would grow this attached to one group of students in such a short time. It was a pleasure getting to work with them, and saying goodbye to them at the end of my last week was unbelievably difficult. I would love to stay in touch with them and come back to visit, but I am trying to find a safe balance between keeping in touch and not stepping on the toes of my good friend Luke who is beginning his internship there.
The biggest thrill for me was knowing I made a difference. The last day of class, I received one thank-you note from an individual student, one thank-you card from one of my keyboard classes, and this from the whole band (yes, that is my entire bed it is covering, that’s how big it was):
Band of Gold, I will miss you just as much!
Off to elementary now… reflections to come hopefully more frequently now that I have less after-school commitments!
About Andy Zweibel