While working at Ellison, I have had the privilege to work with all three of their concert ensembles and their Jazz band. My responsibilities spanned from individual lessons all the way to rehearsing the full ensemble.  While here, I have also had the privilege of being able to help one of my private lesson students achieve his goal of making All-State during the 2025/2026 school year. Along with being their instructor, I have also worked with them as a marching band tech/lesson teacher for 4 years. Ellison has consistently earned 1's at marching contests and continues to improve every year. I have grown tremendously as an educator here and will always have love in my heart for the staff and students here. 

Now, sadly, I have no pictures of my student teaching from Lake Belton High School, but don't let that diminish just how much I was able to learn, experience, and grow from this wonderful opportunity. While at Lake Belton High School, I was able to learn so much from Bobby Yerigan, Grant Shane, Jacob Guerrero, and Craig George. 

I performed group sectionals for low brass, high brass, and woodwinds. Helped co-teach all levels of the ensemble, provided musical knowledge to students from all sections of the band. Built on my relationship-building skills with the students in the band. Rehearsed and conducted the Sub Non-Varsity and Jazz 2 ensembles. Assisted with and ran sectionals for the Jazz 1, Non-Varsity, and Varsity ensembles. Helped run both Pre-Uil and UIL Concert and Sightreading contest for the middle schools in the area. Helped and assisted with the orchestra. Sent a trombone quartet to solo and ensemble, where they received a 1. And got to learn about Classroom management, Repertoire planning, ensemble rehearsal techniques, communication skills, and much more from this placement. 

I came out of my student teaching here feeling ready for any classroom that comes my way, and I am glad to have been able to grow and learn from these amazing people.  

My second placement was at Southwest Elementary with Heather Davis. I do have pictures of this, which you will find down below.  

Here, I learned more detailed aspects of lesson planning, classroom management, professional practices regarding students with IEP's, parent communication, staying professional in tough circumstances, breaking down concepts, introducing new ideas to students, and de-escalation techniques. 

Being placed at Southwest taught me how to be an effective teacher in managing student behavior and keeping the classroom under control. It also helped me develop my skills in breaking down concepts. Making ideas easier for students to understand. It also improved my capacity to help students engage in critical thinking. I will be forever grateful to Heather and to the wonderful students at Southwest.

 The Brass Band of Battle Creek Youth Brass Band Camp was a week-long camp that I attended as an intern/guest educator. This was the 3rd time out of state for something music-related and was extremely important to my growth as a music educator. 

While there, I assisted with and helped plan lesson delivery with guest professional artists and local high school band directors. I modeled and demonstrated musical ideas and techniques to students. I explained and broke down different pedagogical ideas to students to make them easier to understand. I watched, monitored, and learned from the guest professionals from the Brass Band of Battle Creek. I performed with the students during their final concert. I built meaningful relationships with the students throughout the week, making lessons more effective. And I took advice and mentorship from the professionals from the Brass Band of Battle Creek to improve my own teaching and Playing. 

I came out of this experience with an entirely new outlook on teaching. "Be the reason your student wants to succeed." My job as an educator is to put the students first and give them an education that makes them want to learn, succeed, grow, play, and most importantly, love what they do.  Student success has been my number one priority since returning from this internship, and I could not be happier with what I learned from the amazing members of The Brass Band of Battle Creek