Skip to main content

Student Leadership Development: Committees

Hello blog-sphere!


If I'm being honest, getting back into blogging after maternity leave has been intimidating. I have so many ideas for blog posts jotted down on my Google Keep that the thought of logging back in to blog has been an overwhelming ... from Student Led Rehearsals 2.0 to working through post-partum depression, our exciting new Jazz Band collaboration with Jesse Elder from Postmodern Jukebox to a food-for-thought piece about multitasking and everything in between.... But after this past Tuesday's first leadership meeting of the year, I have found the inspiration to push through and get some thoughts down!

Our leadership meetings are open to all, and those who are seeking a leadership position with the Cougar Marching Band are asked to come as a part of their training. I knew Tuesday's meeting was going to be a great one before we even began when 37 students came to participate! 

Last year, we worked on developing handbooks for both leadership and student members for the Cougar Marching Band. The handbooks were used as a way of explaining our procedures, clarifying expectations, and establishing a positive culture right from the beginning of our season. It was quite an accomplishment for our leadership team to draft these handbooks, having a positive impact on our groups right from the beginning of the year!


But after our handbooks were complete, it was time to consider what's next Inspired by the idea of a "band council" (a group where any student could attend and participate in ways to further instill a sense of community and pride in our program), I decided that this year's leadership focus would be on developing some leadership committees to help students to build these things based on topics and issues that are most important for them. 

We started out Tuesday's meeting by breaking up into small groups and discussing what sorts of things they might like to accomplish. Every 3-5 minutes, I would have students shuffle their groups, introduce themselves to a new set of people, and continue discussing their thoughts. After shuffling a number of times, I invited students to come up to our white board and write down any key points that came up from their discussions. From there, we organized some of the tasks into groups that possible committees would handle. 

Hearing these students talk passionately about their ideas and wanting to do more, be more for our groups is what finally got me out of my funk and inspired me to sit down and type again. Their love for music, music making, and one another was so infectious! The energy in the room was palpable; everyone could feel it, everyone was excited and ready to take their ideas and run. It was simply one of the best feelings in the world for this band director to experience. #thisiswhyiteach #proudSCteacher

After some great writing and discussion, the students and I came up with a few potential committees for the year: 
  • Social Committee (including ideas like a marching band veteran/rookie partnering program, social gatherings, etc.)
  • Community Outreach Committee (including finding opportunities to improve our community through making music, ways to bring music into community service, etc.)
  • Publicity Committee (including social media outlets, starting a YouTube channel, publicizing concerts, collaborating with athletics/student groups, merchandise, etc.)
  • Jazz Band Committee (including jazz band specific needs such as our jazz band retreat, additional performances, finding additional collaborative opportunities, etc.)
  • Handbook Committee (including updating/editing any information necessary to our current handbooks to keep them relevant for all our members.)
I can't wait to see what directions these fantastic young people take our groups! 

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Innovator's Mindset in the Band Room: Student-Led Rehearsals

It all started when this happened... George Couros came to Rochester Community Schools yesterday, inspiring hundreds of teachers in his wake. If you are not familiar with George Couros (@gcouros), he is the author of the widely recognized, highly regarded educational manifesto entitled "The Innovator's Mindset" as well regularly writing on his blog, The Principle of Change . There are many aspects of the "Innovator's Mindset" that I find appealing. We agree on many, many points: the power of positive connections, cultivating passion, and the need for teachers to give students space and voice to take charge of their learning. This tweet though, sums it up for me: When you have a compelling reason, you can learn ANYTHING. #RCSInnovate — Kristine Balinski (@MathTeacherMrsB) November 5, 2018 If students have a compelling reason to connect, they will put in the work. Teachers are the resource, students direct their own learning. As educators, espec...
1 comment
Read more

Student-Led Rehearsals Day 1: Identifying Potential Problems

Today I introduced the task at hand: Each class will be selecting, as a group, one piece to perform for our Winter Concert-- without my direction. The Goal: To perform this piece to the best of our ability; to make it "YouTube"/Social Media worthy, something that everyone at the end of the experience would be proud to share with their friends and social circle. Surprisingly, it did not scare them as much as it does me. But, I did see my fair share of skeptical eye rolls. The first step towards our goal was to identify possible problems/roadblocks in accomplishing our goal. Each class was asked to create a list on the board of potential challenges we may face before we begin. It was very interesting to observe the dynamic of each class as they navigated even this first step, communicating with one another to complete their list. Sometimes, they chose to continue the "teacher/student" paradigm where one person wrote on the board and called out to others with their...
2 comments
Read more

Remote Learning Idea #1: A (Virtual) Music Conference for Students

At the beginning of our remote learning this year, I asked students for input on the kinds of activities they most like to do independently as well as what topics most interest them. After getting a wide variety of topics, I wondered how I might be able to help address as many of them as possible in a short amount of time. The conundrum reminded me of an oft felt feeling when attending professional music conferences-- there are so many sessions I want to attend, but I can't possibly go to all of them at once.  via GIPHY OK, so follow me for a moment.... A Virtual Music Conference for Students. What if we created a music conference for students based around their interests in music? Much like a professional conference, students could choose different sessions that interested them and explore more in depth some of the topics in music we typically don't address. Would it even be possible? I think so. Here's what I think we're going to do.  First of all, it's worth...
Post a Comment
Read more