After a few discussions with Bethany, I have learned that the class that I am observing has not always been the easiest for her. She has felt as though there has been some animostiy directed to her from the kids. The ensemble I observe is mostly freshman or entry level choir members. The students in it are either obligated to take an arts credit and thought that this would be an easy class to take or don't really have an interest but needed a schedule filler. The problem with that is you get students who don't want to be there. It is very hard to motivate those who don't want to be there.
But from what I was able to observe over the course of this semester was a lot of community builiding. Especially on a day where there were only a few boys, but they decided to be class clowns. Instead of getting hot headed about what the boys were doing, and how they were wasting time by standing behind the risers or using a goofy voice, Bethany was able to just laugh with them. I think it is important to have work be the priority, but there is also more to choir than just getting through repertoire and singing it well. I think Bethany has done well to make a great community with her students, giving them a place to be a little goofy and to feel more at ease than the other pressures of school allow.
She has also discussed quite a bit at the hard hit her program has taken because of the ephasis the A.P. classes in the school. The students are basically told that if they don't take A.P. classes that they should expect to get to college. This is not true, nor should the children have so much pressure to perform academically. Yes, there should be emphasis on them doing well. There is not one good teacher out there that would not want students to exceed. But the expectations to be set so high for the kids is crippling. There is no room for mistakes or for being immature. Both things are supposed to be allowed in the age that they are. But there is no allowance made for them anymore. It is sad to hear that there is such a strain on something I find so important for the health and well-being of young people.
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