An Interview with Mr. Dumas

Today is Monday October 25th and today in the band program I managed to get an interview with our teacher Mr. Ed Dumas, this is what we found out.
1.Did you always want to be a band teacher?  Yes, since grade 9.


2.What schools did you go to as a child? Kindergarten: none, Grades 1-4: Northern Alberta, Grades 4-7: Glenwood Elementary, Grades 8-10: Westview Junior Secondary, Grades 11-12: Maple Ridge Secondary.


3.Were you good at music as a child?  Yes and no, I always understood music well, but I needed to overcome some physical challenges while playing trumpet.


4.How many schools do you work at? I have worked at almost every school in the district at one time or another.


5.How many kids are in the band program?  There are currently over 200 kids at 12 schools.


6.What do you do during the summer when students aren't at school?  I mostly REST, plus I do the Haney Music Camp and on holidays I go camping.


7.What is your favorite part of about teaching music?  I enjoy hearing the great improvements that students make.


8.What activities do you enjoy other than music?  I like curling, gardening and golf.


9.What instruments do you play?  My main instrument is trumpet. I can play most band instruments at least a little bit.


10.Should band teachers play many instruments?  Yes they should. Band teachers need to learn what is common between the instruments, which means they should have some experience on many instruments.


11.Are you planning on continuing to teach band for many more years?  YES I would also like to teach band teachers how to do this job.


12.I know you used to teach high school band, do you find elementary school band harder or easier to teach than high school band?  I think it is different. I used to teach more than just music at high school. Elementary school band is more focused on just band, but the students need more direct help.


13.How long have you been teaching band?  This year is my 25th year!


By Matthew  

There was this one time in band class....

Today is Wednesday Oct.20, 2010 and this is the first post about the grade 6 and 7 band program that happens every Monday at 1:45 and Wednesday at 9:15 and lasts for 45 minutes on both days. In band today we had a substitute teacher today instead of our usual teacher Mr. Dumas. Today we started out playing "Go Tell Aunt Rhodie" and we kept playing through the last two rests of the song. Aside from that we started to get better at playing “Cambridge Overture” although some of us got kind of lost halfway through, the TOC said that the trumpets were a little quiet which isn't good because trumpets are quite loud. After we played “Cambridge Overture” a few times we went on to playing “Name Those Tunes” which was a lot better because we have been playing that song longer then “Cambridge Overture”. We played “Name Those Tunes” for the rest of the class time. After that we packed up and headed back to our classes for recess. 

By Matthew A. 

First Cyberday of the Year

Here are some different perspectives on our first Cyberday of the year.

Perspective 1:

After taking a walk in the forest and eating a bowl of kibble, I was ready for my first Cyberday! I have to admit I was a little worried about how things were going to go, especially since I had to work in the same house as Hannah. Elluminate went great! I could hear everything and thought it was neat to see the math lesson on the SmartBoard. I liked being able to choose the order I was going to do my work. I worked hard all day and I even had time for a bit of a nap and a game of chase your tail. I can't wait until next week!

By Buddy Dhag (Exchange Student)

Perspective 2:

My first Cyberday was today, and it was great! I loved working from home but still being able to chat with my classmates. First thing this morning I was really nervous. I kept wondering about what could go wrong because Mr. MacQuarrie said something normally goes wrong but not to panic, but that still made me worried. I kept thinking knowing my luck something will happen! Either I would forget something at school or something would go wrong with my laptop. I loved Elluminate although I couldn’t always hear Mr. Mac (due to some technical difficulties at school) but I never missed anything that was said.  

First thing in the morning, I decided to look through my planner and see what I had to do today. I had grabbed my reading book from school in the morning (which I had forgotten) and I still had 15 minutes until Elluminate started so I worked on that. I had not done any work the night before because I wanted to see how long it would take me. Then Elluminate started so I listened to that. After that, I first worked on my math. Secondly, I did my HACE Cyberbullying web.  Thirdly, I worked on my science. I liked that I did not have to work to anyone else’s speed but my own and that I could do whatever work I wanted whenever. During lunch and recess I stayed inside beating my dad on the Wii Mario Kart racing game (we are tied 1-1). It was fun to work at home but also a little weird!

By Emma

Perspective 3:

Today was my first Cyberday and it was so much fun! It’s so cool just waking up, and not getting changed. You don’t even have to eat breakfast early, you just get your laptop and start working. It is so much fun! I get my work done faster to, because I can type way faster than I get write!

When I woke up I actually got changed because I had to go out with my mom to the hospital. She said we’ll be back by 8:30 but we got home at 8:35 right when Elluminate started. At the hospital my eyes were on the clock the whole time. We just made it time, and right before it started I logged in.

I decided to do the work in the order I wrote them down in my planner. That way I can just go down the list checking them off as I do them. Last night I did my math, then my first subject today was the reading activity about the person we have to do timelines and notes about. It was the second category of questions. My Canadian athlete is Chantal Petitclerc, she’s a wheelchair racer in the Paralympics. Secondly I did the bubbl.us activity. I read the article, and then put down thirteen bubbles not realizing I was supposed to do ten. I did that really quickly, and it was really fun. After that I did the Science, questions 1-4. The questions weren't challenging because it was just a review. And last I did this, my First Day Of Cyberschool writing activity on Yoodle. Overall, my first day of Cyberschool was really exciting and seemed to go really fast.

By Michael J.

Perspective 4:

Cybering is different for everyone. Some people do math in their pajamas's, some do science on their couch and me? I do it in my desk, at school! In the morning I came to school and got ready for Elluminate. Wireless was a little wacked but everyone was able to do their work at school. I did this last year, so I pretty much know the routine and I know sometimes there can be a few glitches at the beginning. We had to go through the order on the board but after I finished math, I was going through the work in my own way. First I did math, then reading, HACE, science and finally writing. I sat in the great hall with my friend Sarah and we worked on our laptops. I really like working at school on Cyberdays because I can work through my assignments at my pace. I can get my work done with no distractions and I can put good effort into it. I wish I could Cyber at home but my parents work so I can't. Today was a good day for me and I finished all my work just before the bell!

By Jolana