Experience Shadowing a High School Band Teacher

Some say to make an impact on the globe you use the next generation. To create a great impact you teach them goodness and kindness, teachers are truly the key to a better future. For my job shadow experience, I went to Southgate Anderson High School to job shadow their band director, Toby Kmett. While I was there I observed what it was like to be a teacher, more specifically a full time band teacher. I say the term teacher because you may not teach band one hundred percent of the time. Who and the way you teach can change monthly.

A typical day for a band teacher may not be what you would expect. Being a band teacher still means that you may end up teaching other fine arts classes or even classes that have nothing to do with fine arts. The individual I job shadowed spent their morning with hosting a study hall for two hours. These classes are devoted to helping kids receive help that they may not understand and
I do not mind filing the required paperwork and student interaction involved in the field.

After attending the job shadow, I am still interested in pursuing this career field. The most interesting or meaningful part of the job to me was to see what improvements the students had picked up during their class under the instructors supervision. I would not mind the environment that I would have to work in and I would still pursue this career to spread the musical skills I have gathered and to be a truly good example for the next generation of young individuals.

The level of education required to enter into the field is a basic bachelors of music education degree. You can earn your four year degree or you can go for a masters in music education and training and move up the latter to even be some big director at a college or university. Another factor besides education is how many years of experience you have. These two factors determine what job you get, where it is, and how much you get