Episode 7 is the new-teacher episode. Nicole Beyer, in her 23rd year teaching, is starting her first year with Essential Elements at Creekside Middle School in Zeeland, Michigan — and starting it under COVID guidelines that ban indoor playing entirely. Steve Smith walks through what to do the first time you log into EEi, with three buckets of advice: acclimate, use the resources, keep the first recording stupid-simple.
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Inside this episode
Steve Smith addresses the most-asked question of the early fall: “I’m starting EEi for the first time — what do I do first?” His three rules: get yourself a student account so you see what your kids see; have them submit one of the easiest lines first and give back super-positive feedback just on the fact that they submitted; and if a kid records a video, take ten seconds to respond — otherwise they think the teacher isn’t listening.
The anchor segment is a long visit with Nicole Beyer at Creekside Middle School in Zeeland, Michigan. Nicole walks through her path — the Highland Park, IL kid who joined band late (sixth grade), came to her high-school band camp first day as a freshman and knew “this is where I need to be,” studied at Indiana University with Kramer, Pratt, and Dr. Rousseau, taught five years in Wyoming Michigan before her program got cut, then found Creekside. Her current band: about 200 kids out of a 600-student building, three grade levels, beginners starting sixth grade. Pre-COVID: band every day. Post-COVID: every other day, two-hour blocks, NO indoor playing allowed by the health department.
Why she finally switched to Essential Elements in year 23 of teaching: the online presence. Specifically the high-quality beginner videos — how to assemble your instrument, how to buzz your lips, how to make the first sounds — which she’s planning to treat as a flipped classroom even in face-to-face mode: send the video out the night before, watch it again together at the start of class. Plus the brand-new realities of COVID-era instrument fittings (“take off your mask, I’m going to stand over here, hold this, okay… now wait, you’re spitting on me”).
Read the full transcript
Welcome
[00:01:51] Charlie: All the way from Zeeland, Michigan, our guest today is Nicole Beyer, the band director at Creekside Middle School. It’s going to be a good show.
Steve Smith on what to do when you first open EEi
[00:10:06] Charlie: Steve, welcome back. The first time a teacher opens up EEi, what should they do? Steve: Start simple. Get yourself a student account so you can see what it looks like from the student side. Then have them do a simple assignment — just submit one of the easiest lines. The first time the feedback should be: hey, you submitted it, awesome, great job. Super positive feedback just on the fact that they submitted. Don’t overcomplicate.
(Note: the machine transcript looped briefly from 17:50 to 19:50 — a short chunk-boundary hiccup; conversation resumes below.)
[00:22:49] Charlie: Thanks, Steve, we’ll catch you again next week.
Nicole Beyer — sixth-grade saxophone and the swagger
[00:24:35] Charlie: Welcome Nicole Beyer, band director at Creekside Middle School in Zeeland, Michigan. Nicole: Thank you for having me. Tim: A swagger, too. A swagger is a volunteer at the Summer Symposium for Bands of America — Nicole was part of the swag team for George Parks’ Drum Major Academy a couple of years ago.
[00:25:16] Nicole: I came to band late. I was in choir at a Catholic school, then we moved to Highland Park, a Chicago suburb with a full fine-arts program. Sixth grade, I told the band director “I think I want to play the saxophone.” He posted a note with a private-lesson teacher phone number, probably thinking I’d go away. I didn’t. Took lessons that summer, came back in seventh grade, joined band and jazz band, found my niche. First day of band camp as a freshman — my high-school director Glenn Williams (starting his final year of teaching this year) was a huge influence. I knew right then I’d found my place.
Indiana, Wyoming, then Creekside
[00:27:40] Nicole: Why Indiana University? Glenn Williams graduated from IU. I started going to summer music camp there as a high-schooler. Got to know Mr. Kramer, Mr. Pratt, Dr. Rousseau — the rest was history. Tim: Three legends right there. Nicole: Oh, and Bobby Knight was there at the time. Tim: Four legends.
[00:28:16] Nicole: My first job was a high school / middle school position in Wyoming, a suburb of Grand Rapids. A long line of IU grads were funneled there. I had a phone interview while finishing class, never been to Michigan, went the following weekend, met people, found an apartment, ran back to Bloomington, packed up, started teaching two days later. Taught there five years 6-12, team-taught everything. My last year they cut the program, put me into elementary music — not where I wanted to be — so I found another job immediately at Creekside Middle School in Zeeland. Perfect fit, especially as a band-directing mom.
Creekside band program in pre-COVID and now
[00:30:00] Nicole: Two middle schools feeding one high school. Three grade levels at Creekside; beginners start sixth grade. Pre-COVID: typical kids-have-band-every-day. Program around 200 students each year out of a 600-student building. Music isn’t required. We have band, choir, and orchestra. Very few kids in our building don’t choose music at some point through middle school — very supportive community.
[00:31:03] Nicole: Now with COVID, to help with cleaning, kids have band every other day but in a two-hour block — which can be tricky for beginners. On top of that, our health department has decided we are not allowed to play indoors yet. So the middle schools and high school bands are scrambling to figure out how to hold classes outside.
[00:31:38] Nicole: We’re starting face-to-face next Tuesday. I’ve been in PD meetings all week. We’re starting face-to-face AS IF we were virtual — teaching the kids the technology and the tools so if we go remote they already know what they’re doing. Our kids are one-to-one technology, all iPads. Delivering all face-to-face instruction over the iPad so a quick pivot to remote is seamless.
[00:33:02] Paul: You can’t play inside? Nicole: Right. I’m teaching in Michigan, so middle of October could be unpleasant. We’ve had a beautiful summer; I’m hoping it continues.
Why EEi in year 23 of teaching
[00:34:43] Nicole: The online presence was 100% the thing that got our attention. Honestly, I wasn’t looking at changing method books — this is my 23rd year teaching, everything around me is changing, I didn’t want something new as well. But the other school I teach with said “you have to look at this.”
[00:35:00] Nicole: What I loved when looking at EEi were those beginning videos for kids — how to assemble their instrument, how to buzz your lips, how to make the first sounds. Such quality videos. Even when we’re face-to-face, I’m going to treat that like a flipped classroom: send it out to kids the night before, ask them to watch the video. Then we’ll watch it again together at the start of class because I have two hours. Great resource, remote or face-to-face. Paul: And if you ever want to make your own video on a special topic, EEi will let you load it in and your kids see you. Your own digital locker.
COVID-era instrument fittings
[00:36:27] Charlie: Have you had a way to place kids on instruments yet? Nicole: Sort of. Fifth-graders came to see the band, choir, and orchestra, but we didn’t collect the “I’d like to be in band” papers. Normally I’d then head to their elementary schools and fit them. My sister’s school didn’t even get that far. Over the summer our local music store had tents in their parking lot — kids could come try instruments. We got about 60% of families to do that. Some parents filled out a Google form: “not comfortable, please sign my kid up for woodwind class or brass class.”
[00:37:31] Nicole: The past two weeks I’ve been hounding those parents — we’ve got to figure this out. This past Monday, while I was handing seventh and eighth graders practice instruments, I was also doing last-minute mouthpiece fittings for kids. Fitting in COVID time — that’s a whole new podcast. Take off your mask, I’m going to stand over here, hold this, okay… now wait, you’re spitting on me, hold on.
Signing off
[00:55:43] Charlie: Nicole, thank you for your thoughts and your contribution — look forward to chatting with you again. To our listeners, thanks for joining us. This is your host, Dr. Charlie Mangini, saying thanks for listening.
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