Being a Band Teacher Activist

I try not to get worked up over things that frustrate me in my job, but this Spring concert season has brought out the activist within me yet again.

Concert Attendance at the Elementary Level
When I was going to school, it was expected of you to show up to concerts unless there was a dire emergency. There wasn’t much problem with this, and we just did what we were expected to: honor our commitments. The parents understood their children’s responsibilities and encouraged their kids to follow through.

I am finishing up my first year as an elementary band teacher, and if I could walk away with only one critical observation it would be this: the students I work with are not expected to be responsible individuals. That is a fairly broad statement, because I do have quite a few great kids who do as they are expected, and they do so with a great attitude. I am currently in my concert season, and last night I had my second of five concerts. At my first concert, approximately 1/3 of my students did not show up to the evening concert. This is after they were told that attendance at concerts was a very important part of their grade. I was troubled by these numbers, and I expressed my disappointment to my kids in their lack of attendance. At my second concert, I had a staggering 1/2 of my band not show up to the evening concert!

I’ve been stewing this around in my brain since last night: what can I do about this? Others have suggested that I fail the kids. This is a very good idea, except that my progress reports have no option for that, so all I can do is write in the comments that they have failed, which I don’t see as really affecting them much.

I don’t think it even has to do with the kids much themselves, I think this is more of a problem with the parents. From my observations, I have found that a lot of parents are just not enforcing anything a teacher says, and in turn teaching their children that it’s ok to shirk off responsibilities and commitments.

I wonder what I can do, aside from bribing the children, which is a thought that I despise, to improve my attendance in the future