106

September 5, 2008 at 2:46 AM

106. That's how many string players I have at the arts magnet elementary that makes up half of my job. That's about 25% of the student body. This school is successful at providing a quality education to a diverse student body in the inner city. Besides my strings classes, students have weekly art, music, dance, and creative writing. This morning, one of my beginning Suzuki students proved she had been doing her listening by playing a good chunk of Twinkle (we just started using fingers the previous class ). Her mother, a single parent who works all night at the jail, makes the effort to get her daughter to a 7:45 a.m. class three times a week. My students can't spend thousands on instruments or private lessons. I use whatever equipment I have available and we just go for it. And somehow it works.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on September 5, 2008 at 5:02 AM

I'm glad that you got this job. You'll have a lot of issues to work out, but you'll also have the enjoyment of teaching violin to kids who really want to learn. Good luck, and keep us informed of how things work out.

From Jerald Archer
Posted on September 7, 2008 at 6:39 AM

Dear Ms. Baser,
I have to tip my hat to you and your work. As a teacher myself, I get great enjoyment out of working with students that may otherwise not have an opportunity to learn music, given their enviroment. I tend to be rather "old school" in my approach and are often reprimanded for my victorian attitudes towards teaching and learning. But it produces great results in the end. It is not an uncommon task, in the course of my lessons, to go over with the student, other academic disiplines such as proper writing skills and grammar, which I feel are detrimental to successful communication skills. The areas of science and problem solving comes in a close second along with good social skills. Keep up the great work and God Bless You and your work!
Jerald Franklin Archer

From Jerald Archer
Posted on September 7, 2008 at 6:51 AM

Correction---
I acknowledge my mistake!!!The following should read:

"It is not an uncommon task, in the course of my lessons, to go over with the student, other academic disiplines such as proper writing skills and grammar, which I feel are (essential) to successful communication skills."

Pardon my error.
Jerald Franklin Archer

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106

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