I'm about to finish my 9th year of teaching and each year I've felt like I've made some sort of progress as a teacher or improved at least one aspect (classroom management, concert pedagogy, marching band stuff, etc) but I feel like I hit a wall this year.
I've been at the same school since I started...great situation with consistent admin support and very talented students feeding into my band from hard working directors in the pattern.
It's hard for me to tell if each year I'm improving, or the kids I'm getting are improving, or both...but I found it very challenging to pick concert music that would appropriately challenge the kids this year. I thought I picked music that would push them and me at the same time, but I often found myself struggling to motivate myself to work on the music, and I felt a "wall" between me and the kids, which I've never felt before. They were unsually quiet in rehearsal, which is normally a good thing, but I couldn't tell if they were quiet due to focus or disengagement. Many days I felt like I was pulling teeth, and the band sounded the worst its sounded in years at contest, even though its some of the best individual musicians ive ever had. The kids are always respectful to me but definitely not as enthusiastic as past years.
I don't know if I'm seeking advice or just seeing if anyone's been through this before. It may be that I was not great at programming this year. Was the music too hard or too easy? Not sure why everyone (myself included) became disengaged. Maybe its just a down year and next year will be better.
Thanks for letting me speak into the void
Re: Ever feel like you have regressed as a teacher?
