I Rock!!!
This has been a really busy first week teaching that I've had since I taught in public school. Staying busy is a good thing, it helps you focus on what is important.
Right now I am teaching seven classes. All of my classes are sold out. I have two rock history classes this semester, both with 125 students. Wow!
When I think back ten years ago, I wouldn’t have thought that I would be teaching classes this big. The hardest thing about teaching a large class isn’t the content, rather it is managing people.
For all the future teachers out there, if you can manage a class, you can teach. If you can’t, your students won’t be able to learn anything from you.
I have known teachers that know their discipline, however they couldn’t control their classes. The result is that both the teacher and student are frustrated. And neither the student nor teacher learns anything.
For the next month I am covering the Jazz History class too. I have them up to their first test. It is fun to prepare a new class. A lot of the origins of Jazz are similar to the origins of Rock. I’m looking forward to spend a bit more time on blues and ragtime than I have time for in the Rock class.
My other classes of about thirty are always fun to teach. The guitar class, intro to electronic music and music for children classes are going to be great this year. It is great to share my knowledge with them. In a few months the world will have more guitarist, people that can program sequencers and teachers that can integrate music into their classrooms.
I got to help a lot of folks with their computers this week. It is a great feeling to know that you can fix someone’s computer and save the day once again. I seemed to do that a lot now days.
This week I got to rock out at the open mike night on Thursday, play a few songs in front of Starbucks on Friday and play at the Last Rita’s Music Fest on Saturday. I had about an hour set at the music fest. I filmed it, surprise, and post it on the web.
For this set, I played most of the songs that I wrote this summer and talked about how I wrote them. And of course I had to play a few classic Herbert hits too. If you haven’t seen me rock out, this is your chance.
When a new semester begins, it is a time to look forward towards the future. I find that people either get better or get worst as time goes on. I’m always trying to be the best teacher that I can. Also I’m trying to rock harder and write the best song that I’ve ever written. And as always, trying to be the best person that I can be. One day, I get there. One day.
Herb Live at the Rita's Music Fest 9-2-06
The ROW cast for this week.
Return of Whatever (Podcast 65 9-02-06)64.mp3 9.6 megs mp3
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