Student Teaching Binder

For past 8 weeks I have had the joy of student teaching for a High School Orchestra. Although my time with them is coming to an end, I have learned so much and grown immensely. Over the past couple of weeks, I started developing my student teaching binder, which includes a few things. This is mainly geared towards secondary ensemble settings.

The contents of my binder include,

• All of the scores for the pieces the groups are working on. I work with 7th-12th grade, and so far they have 2 pieces per ensemble.

• Extra parts in case a copy needs to be made and I don't have the original parts at my side.

• Colored sticky tabs for rehearsal spots

I started using this colored sticky tab system about a week ago because I found myself in front of the ensemble, overwhelmed and unable to choose what to work on in the moment because there were many options. I started assigning different colors to sections of the pieces. As a visual thinker and learner, this allows me to actually see which areas need work so I can stay organized and efficient. I use Post-It Note brand assorted flags.

Red= Oh no, please help, SOS, this spot is just, yikes

Orange= It has gotten better, still needs work, but it's going in the right direction

Yellow= Ok awesome, we are almost there; however, some things need to be checked

Green= Yay! I would be satisfied if we played it like this for the concert.

How this has improved rehearsal:

I noticed a difference the first day I implemented this. I introduced this system by showing them my binder, telling them that I put colored sticky notes throughout the score and the colors tell me the state that section is in. I then asked them what they think each color means; this way, they sort of come up with their own system, and we all come to an agreement on what each color means. After that, I started rehearsing, starting with the red areas. I found this was more engaging for the students and also me because we can turn it into a game of: how many tabs can we change the color of by the end of rehearsal? They can see the colors change from rehearsal to rehearsal, and it gives us a visual anchor of our progress.