Staff Dynamics

Dynamics are are affected by roles and responsibilities and have a direct result on productivity.

Be Proactive

  • Do everything your staff does
  • Keep your mouth shut and listen
  • Don't offer solutions (unless asked), just pay attention
  • Don't just stand around or sit in the back of the classroom
    • If you are not in front of the class, you are still a teacher within the structure of that class setting
    • Move around the room
    • Fix hands or posture (there is always plenty of that to fix)
    • Point out wrong notes or quietly show a fingering
  • When your staff or visitors on the campus are 'talking band'; listen in on the conversation, but don't feel the need to contribute, unless asked, as you have not yet had the experience
  • Make yourself indispensable
  • When asked to do a task, especially copying, do it to the highest level.  No messy, cut off, or crooked copies!

Communication

  • If you are having anxiety or there is a misunderstanding about something, speak to your cooperating teacher as soon as possible
    • There is a right and wrong way to do this
    • Ask for time alone with whomever is involved
    • Approach it maturely by restating the situation and saying what the problem is, then work towards a resolution
    • You are with this staff for a long time and you will spend the majority of your days with them; you need to get along
  • Remember that you are part of a team; no one member of that team goes rogue and just does whatever they want
  • There is a chain of command, learn it and work within it
  • You will learn a lot by just listening and being in the right place at the right time
  • Maintain positive interactions between both students and your cooperating teachers
  • Your cooperating teacher will have a huge influence on your first teaching position; remember that and make a lasting good impression

Cooperation

  • Working within a team is synergistic - the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts
  • Everyone brings to the table certain elements of expertise
  • Work within this and nurture this
  • You may discover that you possess an area of expertise that would be greatly appreciated

Trust

  • ​​The conversations that you are privy to can sometimes be person and private in nature
    • What is said in the band office, stays in the band office
    • This is especially true in regards to a student; you, as a student teacher, would never have the need to discuss some things, but you may have a need to know if you are teaching said student
  • Never get in the middle of gossip about staff members; just excuse yourself
  • Can you be trusted to be left alone with a class or classes and accomplish the objectives set forth by the director