Hi Robert,
Sorry to be replying so late. I've been too busy to participate here
socially much of late.
-> No, I am one of 3 band Directors that works with kids ranging from
-> grades 6-12.  And yes, I have students every year who do not like the
-> fact that I expect them to put forth effort and to save their jokes
-> for after class.
I think you misunderstood my point to some extent. I was merely implying
that the students possibly had no choice about band instructors (which
you are correcting me and saying that at your school/in your district(?)
there is a choice. The students you teach could have had a different
instructor as easily as the kids who are in my 3rd period algebra class
could transfer to the teacher next door who is teaching the same
course?).
The second point was that the kids who are in band have self-selected
that course and so were more likely to be interested in the subject
matter. A lot of kids take their non-elective courses (such as math)
because they "have" to (i.e. it is a graduation requirement, or a
college entrance requirement). This certainly doesn't completely
eliminate unruly, uncooperative students from your band class. But I
would bet money that it does have some effect, and weeds out some of the
jerk students who don't seem to care about much of anything.
I am not surprised that you have kids who dislike the amount of effort
and work that you expect from them, and your approach for dealing with
it sounds very much like what I do in my classroom (I have math
detention after school for kids who don't do their work during class,
and they do get help from me during this time as well). Kids are lucky
to have teachers who care enough about them to make them work hard and
achieve something.
In reference to the thread about advantages of working with the same
students for several years, and are there any disadvantages: There are
many advantages, as have been mentioned. The only disadvantage I can
think of is when a student who dislikes a teacher is made to take
another course with that teacher. This can cause the student to be
uncooperative and disruptive, and also affect whether the student feels
like applying any effort to the coursework.
Sheila
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