3. PLC (roll call and school announcements) – Kate Shepherd gave me the opportunity to take her PLC for the week and for the practical time I am here. It has been a great opportunity to get to know some of the students that I have not currently taught in a class situation.
4. Singing in assembly – My year 8 music class had an assessment task where they had to perform Advance Australia Fair and lean on me in front of a whole school assembly. I stood on stage and helped them sing these songs. This made the students more confident and excited and helped me keep an observation of their singing for assessment purposes.
6. I made phone calls home to parents of the year 8 and 10 music classes for the students who had not paid for the performance of the Curse of the Breton Fiddle as it was compulsory for them to attend. This helped me reach the standard on communicating with parents and the community.
![LEAD IN DAY 1– 9am – 3pm Thursday 30th April 2010<br />The day started with half a dozen nervous pre-service prac teachers wandering around the Southport State High school teachers main staff room; trying to make sense of their surroundings. I knew this journey would be intense and more advantageous then I expected. <br />We were introduced to Greg Kenefake who sat us down and explained school life. It never occurred to me that this experience would thrust my mind back to 1999, when I was 12, starting high school and unsure of the world; I felt like a novice about to teach the master. <br />Greg read out our KLAs, mine being music, and at morning tea, we all searched longingly for our supervising teachers. Eryn Macdonald and Kate shepherd were the willing volunteers to take a student of the university, struggling with her own capabilities and wondering ‘can I really do this?’ It is a time in a person’s life when you manage to feel as if the world has torn itself open in front of your feet and all you have is your wits and your brain to guide you through the rocky terrain. It is a frightening moment when you see a class full of eyes and ears, waiting for you to profess the secrets of the universe. <br />We mingled and smiled and all the while you could feel the fear, excitement and energy rise as we set off on our journey with a few selected year eights to see the facility that would be our home of learning and for the next 6 weeks. <br />I met my supervising teachers and settled into disjointed, awkward conversations about life and achievements and started to explore my opportunities for teaching. A time-table was written, units of work exchanged and first impressions made.<br />The bell rang and it surprised me the day was over. It was as if I had been holding my breath the whole day and exhaled a long sigh of relief and joy at getting through the first day unscathed and a little more enlightened. <br />LEAD IN DAY 2 – Thursday 06th May 2010<br />A week after our first lead in day, I entered the school ground wondering what this day had in store. It was 9 am and I headed to PLC with Kate to mark the roll. She read out students names and announcements and my first impression of the students were that they were disinterested, even this early in the morning they made it known they didn’t want to be there. I was shocked. I had had this wonderful impression in my mind that high school was nothing like when I attended and students wanted to be there and learn and take over the world. I was wrong. I really had forgotten that adolescents think of the world through the eyes of fear, self loathing, boredom, creative identity, anger, body issues, confidence issues, learning issues, confusion, needs and wants, the opposite sex, and wanting to fit in. It was a place of bullying and sticking up for each-other, watching someone’s back and catching someone’s eye, I had really forgotten. <br /> My first observation was the year 10 music theory class<br /> Teacher: Kate Shepherd Subject: The Arts – Music theory Year:10 Period: 2, 9:15am<br />,[object Object],My second observation was the year 9 music theory class<br /> Teacher: Kate Shepherd Subject: The Arts – Music theory Year:9 Period: 3<br />,[object Object],My third observation was the year 8 music theory class<br /> Teacher: Eryn Macdonald Subject: The Arts – Music theory Year:8 Period: 4<br />,[object Object],My fourth observation was the year 8 music theory class 11th May 2010<br /> Teacher: Eryn Macdonald Subject: The Arts – Music theory Year:8 Period: 1<br />,[object Object],11th May 2010 – Prac class – year 8. <br />Although I did not do an observation on this class in this period it was a really awesome experience. I went outside to see if any of the year 8 girls needed help and after some discussion and guitar playing, I had half a dozen girls and a few boys sitting around me, asking questions and telling me how they felt about school, music, classes, teachers and life. I bonded really well with the class and learnt their names and a bit about their lives. They responded well to me and expressed their feelings about trying to find their identities at school. I tried to give them my best insight to the thoughts I had on the issue and were impressed by their insight to the world and their responses to me. It was a really joyous experience and made me excited to adopt the class as my own teaching field. <br />My fifth observation was the year 11 music theory class 12th May 2010<br /> Teacher: Eryn Macdonald Subject: The Arts – Music theory Year: 11 Period: <br />,[object Object],NAPLAN TESTING; 12TH MAY 2010 , YR 9 READING TEST / NEROLIE O’NEILLY<br />TEST CONDITIONS APPLY<br />,[object Object],ASSESSING READING SKILLS<br />,[object Object]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/leadindaysandwrittenobservations-100919234135-phpapp02/85/Lead-in-days-and-written-observations-1-320.jpg)
![Silence and co-operationTHURSDAY 13TH MAY 2010 – EXCURSION WITH YEAR 10/11 TO THE CAREER EXPO IN THE COMMUNITY<br />,[object Object]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)