REFLECTION: Look back across all your posts – what have you learned? Has your thinking changed? Where did you grow the most?

One thing I have learned a lot about this semester is transitions. I started the semester with some broad ideas about a lot of different skills and content I wanted to teach, and ideas about how to include those things in every class, but what I hadn’t thought about was how to connect those parts of the lesson together in a way that makes sense, and in a way that limits down time in the class. This is anything from using the same key for activities throughout the lesson, to choosing a specific concept like dynamics and having kids be attentive to that in each activity we do. I also have figured out more efficient ways of using all my different materials so that I don’t leave time for kids to disengage. My head of school even commented on my transitions when she came to observe, because she thought they were really smooth, and she noted that my students knew the routines of the class really well and knew what to expect, so that was great to hear.

I think I have also learned a lot about how to assess my students in an authentic way that accurately reflects what they know. It’s been helpful to try out different kinds of assessment in classes and try new versions of them if I’ve made certain things too confusing or unclear. I look forward to building up a solid set of assessments that I can reuse over the years because I know they work well, and I think I am on my way toward that. And, even though my classes are based on singing, it is really nice to be able to have written work to really be able to quantify what they know. It was also very helpful to have written work like journals and assessments to use for report-writing, because our reports for middle school are narratives, and so I could actually quote their writing or look at their assessments to explain to parents what their kids are thinking about and what they are able to do. One thing I want to work toward (and I maybe will start this with my vocal workshops class next semester) is having kids create portfolios of their work as well, with recordings of their singing, so that there is an even better picture of the work they do in my classes.

I have also thankfully learned a ton about my students! I feel a closeness and a trust with many of them that wasn’t present in September, and it feels good to be able to welcome kids into a classroom where they know they will be loved and supported and where their voices matter to me. I’m slowly getting to know their families as well, which is important for understanding them and why they are the way they are. This week I had invited the mom of one of our 7th graders to come in and share with our class, both about her Caribbean heritage and the music that her family knows, and about a children’s book she had written that was accompanied by a song with a positive message. It was such a beautiful class in general, but it also helped us understand that student’s family and their values and their heritage. I’m hoping to do more things like that so we can all know each other more deeply and celebrate each other!

Open reflection:

This week was the beginning of a new trimester for our middle school students, which meant that it was report-writing week for teachers. Since we don’t give letter grades, much of our reports are made up of anecdotal comments and narratives from class over the first trimester, so it took a long time even though I have a relatively small number of kids to write for (37). Even though the process was a little arduous, it was actually pretty fun because it meant I got to look back at my notes over the semester and think about where each of my students shows strength and progress. It helped me realize which of the kids I still don’t know very well yet, and in general it got me thinking about building relationships and how to build relationships in my one bigger class. It’s really easy to see a large class as a single entity and not see the individuals within them, and so to have to write reports about each individual person really helped me change my perspective for my 7th grade class. They had a really lovely class on Wednesday, where we got through a ton of repertoire and had time at the end to even be able to discuss how to improve some of our pieces, which allowed a number of individual voices to be heard. (They were then super rowdy Friday afternoon – so we are still growing!) But in general, I think the more I feel like I have positive, supportive relationships with individual students in the class, the more I feel like a good teacher in that class. And, building relationships takes a lot of time! I was thinking about some of the kids I work with outside of school, whom I have known for more than a year now, and there is a certain level of ease and comfort that comes when I work with them; we know each other well and they know what I expect from them but they also know we like to have a lot of fun together and that I care about them deeply. I think I already have that with some of my students who I met in September, but I need to be patient with myself in building relationships with the kids I haven’t connected super closely with yet.

However, with the kids I have really connected with, there is so much joy and depth and sharing in the learning process! In particular, there are a number of high school kids who have been really vulnerable with me in a lot of different ways. One student talks to me a lot about her faith and spirituality, and sometimes just stops by the chorus room to visit for a few minutes. Another student came in for a voice lesson this week with a new song to work on, and when she sang me the new piece, there was this huge explosion of hurt and anger that came out through the song she sang, so we had a moment to be together in that emotion. Another student let me in on the drama that is going on in her friend group, so that I would be aware of how it might affect our classes together. Two other students chose to come to work with me because they were feeling bad about their voices, and as we sang, I worked to name their strengths so that they could hear someone finally say positive things about their voices and work from a foundation of positivity. I love that part of teaching: the part where you get to be there for your students and be a person who listens and cares and brings light to them when they need it. There’s a lot of love in the chorus room, and I am working to keep building that in all of my classes!

PART I: Review the Assessment Project. What did you learn about what your students know?

As I was working on my assessment project, I realized how much the set up of the assessment matters to really understand what the kids know. For example, since my second quiz was worded a little differently and asked them for something more or different than what was on the first quiz, a few of the kids skipped those directions and ended up actually doing a little worse on the second quiz than they did on the first one, just because they assumed they knew what the directions were. Oops. I also put little lines below each interval for them to label, but it seemed like the more intuitive thing to do from the kids’ perspective was just to write in between the notes and not down on the line – and then I think kids made mistakes when they copied their answers down to the lines.

In terms of what they know, it was really interesting to read the definitions of step, skip, and leap that the kids gave on the first and second quizzes. After the first one, I realized that even though I was pretty sure they knew what those intervals meant, the students were not always able to express in their own words what the definitions of each term were. That gave me the chance to work with them and give them the tools to express the terms in their own words, and many of them were better able to express the definitions on the second quiz. In both quizzes, they generally did well with labeling steps, skips, and leaps (usually only missed one or two), and in the second quiz they had more experience with actually writing notes into a staff, so they performed better on that the second time. I hadn’t given them any specific instructions on the written notation before the first quiz, so I could tell from their quizzes that they didn’t yet know how stems worked or how/why you could only use four quarter notes in each measure. We were able to discuss those things in later classes, and then they improved that skill by the time of the second quiz.

PART II: Reflection

This week I did a lot of assessment in my classes in general because it’s the end of the middle school trimester, and since we also had our assessment project due this week it worked out nicely to do both at the same time. In 6th grade (the class I used for the assessment project), they were eager to move on from steps/skips/leaps (ha) and learn about something else, so we got to really dig into our repertoire after they finished their quizzes early in the week. They are really into The Schuyler Sisters from Hamilton, and they have so many creative ideas and they all want solos or duets in the song, which is awesome to see because I can tell they are really invested and enjoying themselves, and they are gaining confidence in their voices. We are trying really hard to give everyone a significant part to sing by themselves, and so it’s been sweet to see them be really intentional about trying to even it out for everyone. If one student realizes they have a few more lines than another student, they are all so willing to give up some of the parts they were assigned so that their peers can get a chance to shine too!

In 7th grade on Tuesday, I had them do an assessment where they labeled the solfege on a short 4 bar phrase in C major in treble clef, and then below as a sort of pre-test I asked them to label the note names (given that the first note was C). About half the class got perfect scores on both sections, about a quarter of them knew the solfege pretty well but couldn’t figure out the note names, and then about another quarter really seemed to have no idea what they were doing. Based on that, I realized I needed to be doing some more in class assessment/check-ins because some of the kids had fallen pretty far behind. So, on Tuesday, instead of singing our solfege immediately, I buzzed around the room Around-the-World style and had each kid say the name of one of the notes on the board. This felt like a good strategy for that class because it meant that no one could zone out and everyone got at least a few seconds of individual help if they needed it. (But, I did it with two sight-reading exercises and I think I should have just done it with one – ha!) They also had time on Thursday to work in the hall in small groups with Ben to correct their quizzes. Finally, I had them write a journal entry about how they’re feeling about their voices, and what they’d like to work on in chorus as we move through the year. Most of them gave really thoughtful answers about both things, and it was nice for me to see that many of them do want to work on expanding their range, not making their voices crack, and reading music and learning about solfege. A few of them also requested music games, so now I made a system where they can earn their way to a game day. (They start the day with 10 points, and they can lose points when there’s extra talking or unfocused behavior, and they can gain points back by being focused and singing well. 50 points – so 5 excellent classes or a lot of mediocre classes – earns them a game day.) I’m hoping this will change their investment as a whole, even though I don’t love using extrinsic motivation to get some of them on board.

In 8th grade and upper school, we are working on introducing the note names on the treble clef with ways to remember what the lines and spaces are. The 8th grade had taken a short quiz last week on labeling solfege, and I had given them a bonus question to see if they could look at notation and figure out what the song was (Mary Had A Little Lamb) which they DID and I was so proud of them! So, this week I knew we were definitely ready to move on and start connecting those with note names. Also, in faculty meeting this week, I found out one of my 8th grade students is really slacking off in her other classes, which surprised me because she’s such a leader in every way in my class. It seems like when it’s something she’s interested in and cares about, then she’ll work hard, but if not, she doesn’t care very much. I’m thinking about ways to motivate her to keep up with her work in other classes too.

PART I: Clements & Klinger 4.4

1. Have you ever experienced or witnessed any acts of violence within your classroom or elsewhere within the school building? If so, can you please describe the incident and how you or another teacher reacted in that situation?

I didn’t have a chance this week to discuss this with another teacher, as we only had two days of school, but my understanding is that acts of violence have been rare in our school – perhaps because there is such a free environment with the open floor plans and so much emotional support at the school. When I have heard teachers discussing certain kids who have behavioral issues, the protocol seems to be to immediately contact our head of school and stop whatever the behavior is, and then to contact parents and make a plan with the child and the school counselor.

2. Did this experience affect your classroom management plan, including rules, expectations or consequences?

Our school has relatively few consequences for unwanted behaviors (i.e. we can’t give detention, we don’t give letter grades, there are no suspensions, etc.), so if I ever witnessed any of these acts I would go right to the head of the school and contact the parents if I had concerns.

3. What should I do if I experience or witness an act of violence on school property?

If someone was in immediate danger where someone could get hurt, I would immediately call the head of school (or 911 if appropriate). If it was something more long-term and under the radar, like bullying, I would strategize with our school counselor to make a plan for the students involved – both the bullies and the bullied.

PART II: Reflection

This week we only had school Monday and Tuesday, and half of the day Monday was dedicated to our school’s Harvest Festival. It’s kind of like a pep rally/school spirit day, and the organizers had asked some of the music groups to perform. The choir groups all helped to lead a sing-along at the end of the morning, and I thought it was one of the best parts of the day! The entire school (3rd-12th grade) met in the gym for the closing section of the morning, and it was pretty powerful to all stand in there and sing together as a school. It felt like a good moment for me as a new teacher, to be present in front of the whole school and leading people in a community-oriented activity.

Besides that, I got to see my high school chorus Monday afternoon, and it’s always surprising to me how many of them are still very insecure about their voices. I have one kid who is convinced that she is tone deaf (because she had another teacher tell her that one time!!) and so I’m working to help her see she is not. She can definitely match pitch! I think maybe she’s confusing it with being able to sing harmony. She is singing alto for the song we were working on this week, and at one point she kept saying she couldn’t sing the right notes – so I went down the line of the altos and had them each sing the opening two notes, and she did it perfectly! Hopefully that’s something we can keep doing to help her know she definitely has the ability to match pitch, and then as she gets more comfortable with that she will be able to hold those notes while other people are singing theirs too.

On Tuesday I had 7th grade last period so they were as energetic as they always are at the end of the day, but we actually got a good amount of work done. The low part (6 kids) went to the adjacent room to work with my accompanist on their part, and I stayed to work with the middle and high parts, and I think that tends to be a successful tool. There are some beautiful harmony parts at the end of the song which we got to with the middle/high group, and there were some great moments there with kids saying, “Wow that sounds so good!” That’s nice for me to know that they are listening as they sing and hearing what sounds good or what sounds not so good. But, when they’re all together, they’re all so loud and I think they’re not really listening across the ensemble, but just singing out their part against the others. I think post-Thanksgiving, we’ll really try to do some listening work so they can tell when their individual parts are too loud or too soft, or when we’re way too loud as a group. (But honestly – I like having this problem more than if I had the problem of no one singing out!)

PART I: Clements & Klinger 4.2

Rapport: What do you think contributes to the relationship between your cooperating teacher and their students?

I try as much as I can to have space in the classroom for laughter, because I think that establishes a positive classroom climate and it keeps people relaxed so that we all have a good rapport with each other. I also do my best to build individual relationships with the kids so that they don’t feel like I just see their faces in my classroom every other day, but that I actually know what’s happening in their lives – even if it’s just things like knowing they have a really hard class tomorrow, or that a bunch of them are participating in the play. I think also, developing a sense of structure for the class contributes to the rapport, so that students know where there is space to be silly and where we need to focus in.

Use of Humor: How does your cooperating teacher insert humor into lessons or discussions with students either formally (from the podium, for example) or informally (talking to individual students while exiting the classroom, for example)?

It depends on the class. With my high school chorus group, I like giving them silly ways to share how their day is going (i.e. give me a fruit that describes how you’re feeling right now) and that usually gets people laughing together and having fun. With other groups, sometimes it’s through demonstrating the opposite of the sound we want because that’s so ridiculous, or sometimes it’s through responding in a slightly snarky way to students who are asking irrelevant questions. 🙂

Proximity to Students: From where in the classroom or rehearsal hall does your cooperating teacher deliver instruction? Are the interactions stationary or does your cooperating teacher move about the room?

This also depends on the class. In smaller classes I like to be seated with the students so it feels more like a team effort rather than me dictating to the class. In larger classes I definitely stand more and walk around more because there’s just a lot more going on that I want to make sure I catch – although I also think I can do a better job of this.

Decision-Making Involvement: How does your cooperating teacher involve students in everyday decisions? Are the students given opportunities to solve problems or resolve issues? Do the students have input or involvement in record-keeping tasks such as taking attendance?

I try to let students lead as much of the class as I can, because I think that helps them take ownership of the material. This would be in things like warm-ups or sight-reading, where they can come up to the front of the class and lead, if that’s what they’re comfortable with. I think in all my classes too, my students know if they raise their hand and have a legitimate question, we’ll spend time talking about problems or questions they have about the music. For example, in 7th grade this week, one student raised his hand and asked if the song we were singing was written by black people (because it sounds kind of like a spiritual and talks about freeing people). I told them it was actually written by white folks, and asked why they thought white folks would write a song like this. It led to a (somewhat focused) discussion about how white folks try to help with issues of racism, and while I don’t think we ended the conversation with a concrete conclusion, it was an issue that the kids were able to name and talk about within the class structure. Students do not help with record-keeping tasks.

PART II: Reflection

This week was generally a lot of fun! Yesterday we were able to see the middle school play together during school, which was really lovely because it allowed me to see so many of the students I teach in a totally different context. It’s helpful for me to see that so many of my 7th graders can, indeed, be focused and at least somewhat serious about a production, so I know what I can ask of them and expect of them come concert time. They had a pretty poor class on Monday this week, so on Wednesday instead of our normal classroom routine we just came in and jumped straight into repertoire, and that worked for about the first half of the class so that was nice. Nearing the end of class (and the end of the day) they got antsy and distracted as is often the case, but that’s also the point where we had a short conversation about who wrote this music and why, which I think was important. But, when we have discussion times, it often leads to people asking irrelevant questions and getting us off-task, so I think I just need to be more discerning about who I call on and when.

Vocal workshops was lovely this week, with careful risk-taking by many students and warm affirmations by peers when students shared what they had been working on. I’d really like to push a little more on their repertoire choices, to get them out of what’s comfortable for them to sing so that they can grow (in range, technique, ability to sing in different registers, etc.), but I know some of them have very specific goals for college and so they actually do need to focus on building, for example, a specific musical theatre repertoire. I feel like in this beginning part of the year it was important to allow the choice to be totally theirs, to make sure they would be invested in the class, but soon I want to push their boundaries and boxes a little more.

In 6th grade this week, the kids did a little check-in on their knowledge of steps, skips, and leaps, where I had them define each term, identify on sheet music what each interval was, and then write a short melody just using steps. It was super helpful to see where they were at individually, because now I know for sure who needs a little extra help. Also, I gave them a bonus question where they could sing the melody they wrote for me, and so two of the kids chose to do that and did it perfectly! That was a great moment, because I was watching the results of my teaching blossom right in front of me.

All of my groups are going to help lead a sing-along together on Monday in front of the entire school, and so that’s a lot of the work we did this week. Unfortunately there wasn’t a time when we could all rehearse together (classic Calhoun), so I’m just hoping it will all fall in place on Monday for Harvest Festival! Also, the Glee Club had another sweet performance at breakfast this week with great levels of risk-taking (some people singing solos while they played the keyboard, another student singing with the group for the first time in front of people), so I was very proud of them.

 

 

 

PART I: Questions from p. 65 of Clements & Klinger (I’ll answer these from my own perspective since I don’t have a CT)

1. How do you determine how many different components will be in a lesson or rehearsal?

I think about my goals for each class for the year and the semester, in terms of the musical skills I hope they will acquire, and the repertoire I hope they will get through. For skills that take a long time to build, I try to spend at least a little time every class on those skills, such as healthy vocal technique, music-reading, and sight-singing. Then we always work on repertoire as well, so we can keep building on what we learned the class before. I think it’s nice, especially for younger students, to have different activities going on throughout the class to keep them from getting bored. It’s also good, though, to keep a general routine each class so students know what to expect when they come into the room.

2. How, then, do you determine how much time to spend on each component?

I try to spend a lot of class time on repertoire, since the students are expected to perform at different points throughout the year and I want them to feel as ready as possible, so this is usually 20-25 minutes of a 45-50 minute class. I spend about 5-10 minutes on warm-ups, another 5-10 on music-reading/sight-reading, and another 5-10 on an opening video and journal response. Of course, these are also all adjusted depending on what questions the kids have or what they are interested in discussing.

3. What strategies do you use to make the transition from one portion of the lesson to the next?

I’m working on connecting the shorter activities together, like starting singing solfege patterns together while cleaning up the journals, and ideally connecting some of those patterns to the same patterns they will encounter in the sight-reading passage. Also, if we have a specific focus for the day, I try to get kids to think about that thing throughout the lesson. For example, last week in a few of the groups, we were working on distinguishing between steps, skips, and leaps. I would have them identify those intervals in the sight-reading exercise and in the solfege patterns we would sing, but then even as we were warming up, I asked them questions like, “Which one of the warm-ups we do only uses steps? Which one only uses leaps?” That way, they could work on identifying those differences in looking at the solfege ladder and the sheet music, AND in warm-ups. That helps the class feel like it is all connected.

PART II: Reflection

This week we had parent-teacher conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday for the middle school, which was mostly really lovely in terms of being able to connect with parents and have most of them really appreciate what I was doing in the class. I only ran into major drama with one of the parents, who brought up a lot of stuff about the teacher who previously had my position and had a lot of ideas about how I should (or shouldn’t) be running the class. I was frustrated after that conversation for many reasons, but thankfully got to discuss and debrief it with coworkers which helped me keep a good perspective.

Over the weekend, I sent an email to the advisors of every student in my 7th grade group with specific requests for how they can make better choices in the class. They didn’t have class until Thursday this week, which was also when I had scheduled an observation with the head of the middle school so I was nervous about how they would be in class. Then (of course) they had an excellent class! I had switched some of their seats around to help with focus, and they had gotten instructions from their advisors, and they had the head of the middle school sitting in the room, and it was the day when they don’t have class at the very end of the day but at 1:35 instead. But there was much less extra chatting, and we were able to get through so much repertoire, and a few kids who struggle a lot with staying on task were AMAZING in class and being good, positive leaders for the other kids around them. Shocking! The head of the middle school said that one of the songs in particular made her verklempt. I want to share that with the kids next week, because I think if they can see the effects of their group efforts, and how powerful it is to sing TOGETHER, they might find new motivation to sing. I think too, I spend more time than I want to in a sort of “negative” state in their class, correcting their behavior or waiting for them to be quiet, and so I want to spend some time next week praising them for the things that have gone well for them, and recognizing important individual contributions.

One thing I’ve been enjoying is teaching voice lessons for my vocal workshops class. Going into the year, I was a little nervous because I don’t have a lot of experience teaching lessons 1-on-1, but it’s been so much fun! I love the lightbulb moments where students make a connection between what’s happening in their body and what’s happening in the sound they’re producing. I also like being able to share the things that I have struggled with as a singer, and things that I STILL struggle with in my voice. I feel like it helps students be more okay with the idea of process, when I can share with them that I am still in the process of developing my voice too.

Something I am working on with 6th grade is figuring out how to have a student-centered learning environment, but also keep them from arguing with each other about what they should do. 🙂 They are working on The Schuyler Sisters from Hamilton right now, and they have all these creative ideas about how to split the song into different solos and even how to choreograph some movement while they perform – but every single time we try to hear ideas, it devolves into an argument about the best way to do it. I think I could have done a better job of setting them up for success in their conversation, like having a conversation about respectful ways of disagreeing with someone (without calling out!) and what it means to compromise so that everyone’s voices are heard and appreciated. I might take a step back with them next week and talk through some of that with them.

PART I: Clements & Klinger 3.1 and 3.2

3.1 Now that you have had a chance to discuss with your peers the personal characteristics you believe are important for effective music teaching, narrow down those traits to the top ten you most closely associate with an effective, inspirational music educator. Then determine the areas of teaching on which these traits have the most impact, such as facilitating interactions with students, motivating the class, communicating with parents, presenting new concepts, or rehearsing the ensemble.

Trait	Teaching Area Impacted
1. Empathy	Classroom culture
2. Humility	Ability to grow as a teacher
3. Music Skills	Rehearsing the ensemble
4. Communication	Presenting new concepts
5. Differentiation	Motivating all students in the classroom
6. Organization	Presenting new concepts
7. Technology	Presenting new concepts, efficiency
8. Code Switching	Classroom culture
9. Problem-Solving	Rehearsing the ensemble
10. Self-Awareness	Ability to grow as a teacher

Which of these traits do you currently possess?

Though I’m still growing in all of these, I feel like I generally have empathy, humility, and self-awareness in the classroom, and I think I possess the requisite music skills and problem-solving skills to rehearse my ensembles. I’m also a very organized person in general.

List your strategies for attaining the remaining characteristics.

Differentiation: I’m definitely not totally successful with this yet, and one of my strategies right now is working with the learning support professionals at my school to determine what the best ways are for different students to engage with and connect with the lesson.

Communication: Sometimes I assume that I will know how to explain a concept to a class and realize that I understand it in my head but I haven’t worked through how to explain it in an age-appropriate way to my students. I think doing a little bit more scripting in my lesson plans could help with that.

Technology: I am successful in using the technology available to me in the classroom, but I think I could use it more creatively or ask the school for more helpful tools than the ones I currently have.

Code-switching: I am figuring out exactly what this means for me, but one thing I definitely need to do is be aware of students who may feel like they have to code-switch a lot in the school in general, and be accepting of all students’ ways of expressing themselves so they don’t have to use energy on that.

3.2 Videotape yourself teaching a lesson or rehearsal segment that you have planned. (Although the camera should be focused entirely on you, be sure to secure the appropriate permissions from your school administration if there is a chance the students will appear on the recording.) Carefully watch and review your recording to answer the following questions:

1. What was the first thing you said or did to start this portion of the lesson or rehearsal? What was the basis for your choice?

I started by singing on Do, “Can you follow my finger?” as we were starting the solfege/sight-reading portion of the lesson, and just pointed to different patterns for them to follow. This was after their journaling time. I did this because I don’t feel like I need to speak much; I think the kids would rather jump right into singing anyway.

2. How much time (approximately what percentage of the lesson segment) did you spend giving verbal directions? Do you think it was an appropriate amount of verbal direction for this particular segment? How can you tell?

During our solfege portion, I only gave a few verbal instructions: “Can you follow my finger?” “I’ll sing a couple things and you’ll sing them back to me.” “Now I’m going to hum the pitches and I’m not going to sing the solfege. I want to see if you can sing the solfege back to me. So if I hum something like this…” “If I tell you that this is Do, what is this?”

3. Did you modify anything you planned to say or do based on student responses? Describe the changes you made.

I did: in the middle of our solfege/sight-reading section, students were asking about the movie that the teachers had watched on Monday, and I thought it was important to veer off the lesson for a few minutes to talk about the movie with them. It did break up the lesson in a way I didn’t mean for it to, but I also didn’t mind because I think the concepts in the movie are important for our students to be aware of at our school.

4. List any questions you asked the students and their responses. Were there questions that required “yes/no” replies? Questions that assumed the students had certain knowledge base?

From my response in question 2, only the last thing I said was a real question requiring a response, and it assumed that the students had a certain knowledge base. It assumed that the students would know how to look at the sight-reading exercise and be able to count up from Do to find Mi.

5. Did you feel this segment was successful? Why or why not?

Generally, yes. I think if we hadn’t had a break in between to talk about The Hate U Give, they probably would have performed better on the sight-reading exercise, but they got there eventually and they are making good progress on their reading skills, so I’m not too concerned about it.

PART II: Reflection

This week I didn’t have as many classes as I usually do, because we had a professional development day on Monday, and then the upper school was off Tuesday and Wednesday because it was the end of their first Mod (like semesters, but there are 5 of them in the year). For our professional development, we went to see The Hate U Give, and came back to debrief and discuss after the movie. It was amazing to have that as a PD day, especially because in a lot of ways, Starr’s experiences are similar to the experiences of the kids of color at our school. She is a black teenager who attends a majority-white private school, and so has to code-switch in all the different parts of her life. The images of violence and injustice in the story are both powerful and emotionally devastating, and so I found myself moved to tears many times both while reading the book and then again even more when watching the movie. It’s the kind of story that makes me question and reflect on what my job really is, and what it means to grieve the state of the world by myself and with my students, and what making music means in the midst of all of this.

7th grade was really pushing my buttons this week, and I am continuing to problem-solve. Most of them will have an email sent to their advisors over this weekend, because they continue to have trouble with calling out and talking over me or talking over each other. We’ll see if that makes any difference or not. It feels like about half the class (the half that is also in Glee Club – ha) comes in ready to sing and learn music and enjoy themselves, and the other half comes in ready to socialize and talk. This is at least partially, if not mostly, a result of the culture that the previous teacher set up, where sometimes kids would come to chorus and not sing at all because she would talk the whole time, or allow them to socialize the whole time. It’s hard to change that culture! Any suggestions are appreciated.

8th grade is having such a good time in class! I can tell that they really enjoy being there for so many reasons. It often happens that the kids end up leading the class (with gentle redirection from me if they start getting off task). They enjoy helping lead warm ups, they are writing a song together and collaborating beautifully, they created the concept of a “challenge song” (choose a pop song they all know and try to fill in some harmony parts together), and we spend a lot of time laughing together and being creative together. This week, one student mentioned a song we could try called What is Love, which has 3 harmony parts in the background and a soloist, and we could switch off on the different parts. We only have 4 kids in that class right now, so it’s a great challenge for them to each be able to hold their own part – but they are rocking it! We started yesterday and learned the beginning of the song, and so far they are really holding their own; I jump in if I notice one of the parts slipping, but in general I am very impressed by their ears! Also, the student who brought the song in came into class Friday and said, “I don’t want to be selfish, but…do you think we can do that song I asked you about?” I told her, “I already printed it out and it’s in your folders!” Her eyes lit up and she got so excited I thought she might cry! Later in class as we were learning the parts, she exclaimed, “This is giving me LIFE right now!!” I’m so excited for them, as they’re all on board with a song that’s in a style they like to sing, that also challenges them to really listen and tune in with each other to sing it well.

PART III: Lesson Plan

10.30.18 6^th Grade Chorus, 11:10-11:55

Standards:

From NYS Ensemble Standards:

MU:Cr1.1.E.5: Generate melodic, rhythmic, and timbral ideas.

MU:Cn11.1.E.5: Perform and listen to music from various times and cultures and describe how that music reflects those times and cultures.

MU:Pr4.3.E.5: Identify expressive qualities in a varied repertoire of music that can be demonstrated through prepared and/or improvised performances.

From NYSSMA Sight-Reading Levels:

Students will be able to sight-read 4- to 8-measure phrases from NYSSMA Level II (description listed below).

1. Time signature: 4/4, 2/4
2. Range: 6^th (usually Do to La or Ti to Sol)
3. Intervals: Do-Mi-Sol (ascending on quarter notes)
4. Rhythms: half notes and quarter notes
5. Rests: quarter rest

Objectives:

1. Students will listen to a performance of “Say Something” and describe what they notice and what they feel after watching the performance.
2. Students will be able to sight read an 8-bar phrase together using Do, Re, Mi, Fa, and Sol in 4/4, with minimal restarts or mistakes.
3. Students will be able to identify steps, skips, and leaps in our warm ups.
4. Students will be able to follow along in the sheet music, and notice where there are steps, skips, and leaps.

Procedures:

1. Have students pick up journals. Play opening video (Say Something) and have students answer questions written on the board.
   1. What do you notice?
   2. What do you feel?
   3. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most), how much would you like to perform this song?
2. Have some students share out their responses, and then collect journals.
3. Put 8-bar sight-reading phrase on the board.
   1. Have students first follow teacher’s finger as she points to solfege ladder. (Give them “Do.”)
   2. Then, the teacher will create patterns of solfege for the kids to sing after.
   3. Next, the teacher will hum those patterns of solfege, and the kids will sing back the syllables that they are hearing. (Some patterns should match the patterns they will find in the sight-reading exercise.)
   4. Finally, the students will sing the sight-reading exercise together.
4. Warm ups:
   1. Remind students of posture. Stretch and get bodies reading for singing.
   2. Sing ooh on scale degrees 5-4-3-2-1, starting mid-range and going down. Ask students at the end, “Does this warm-up use steps, skips, or leaps?”
   3. Ask them, what about our “ee-ah-ee” warm up? (sliding from scale degrees 1-5-1, starting lower range and going up.)
   4. Ask them, what about “Basketball”? (yah-yah-yah-yoh-yah on 1-1-135-853-1, starting lower range and going up and coming back down) – show them on the solfege ladder if they need help with this one
   5. Solfege round – unison first, then split into three groups
5. Work on The Schuyler Sisters – give out the actual sheet music, and have them sing along with the recording and work on following the music together
   1. Start with everyone learning all the sections; later we will determine soloists
   2. Have them look at specific lines and identify which intervals are steps, skips, and leaps.

Assessment:

Informal:

• Students share their thoughts and reflections in class to demonstrate their understanding of emotional expression, historical/societal context
• Students follow along in their music – teacher helps them learn how to follow as this is their first time in class looking at actual sheet music and not just lyrics

Formal:

• Students sing together to demonstrate their ability to sight-read together with minimal mistakes (allowing for corrections when mistakes are made), with minimal assistance from the teacher
• Students sing on solfege syllables after teacher hums the pitches, to see if they can pick up the solfege syllables without hearing them first from the teacher

Environment/Materials:

Students will sit in chairs in a semicircle facing the screen/mirrors. We need the following:

• Journals
• Pencils
• Projector/screen
• Solfege ladder poster
• Sight-Reading Factory
• Piano
• Sheet music for The Schuyler Sisters

*Wear listening assistance device if Zoe needs it. If Zoe needs space or time, have her sit in the back of the room and listen instead of singing along.

*Sing next to Selin when necessary to help with matching pitch.

PART I: Teaching Video Reflection

Reflect on the lesson planning you are doing this week in your teaching video. Include the lesson plan you discuss – what worked? What didn’t? Why? What help do you need?

The lesson I used for my video this week was an introduction to dynamics in my 6th grade chorus class. I think one thing that works really well in this class is giving as much time as possible for students to lead portions of the class, because that really helps them master the skills they are working on. It can get a little silly sometimes (i.e. if they’re directing dynamics but without a lot of intention), but I actually really like that we can be silly together because it keeps the kids excited and keeps them having fun, and it typically takes very minimal redirection from me to get them back on track. Those who led different portions of this class really enjoyed it, and those who didn’t yet are perhaps a little less comfortable with the skills or less comfortable being up in front of people, and so it’s easier for them to participate in the class without taking a huge leadership role. I totally understand and respect that as someone who was a shy kid as well, so for me it’s just figuring out the most gentle ways to prompt the quieter students to take on their own version of a leadership role in the class – whatever that might look like.

Something that didn’t go as well in this class was that I didn’t provide a place for the kids to track what dynamics they were choosing for the different parts of the song, so in the next lesson when we did the same kind of work but on a different song in their repertoire, I made sure they had lyric sheets and wrote the dynamics in themselves, and that helped them to remember a lot better where to be softer and where to be louder. They performed that one much better than they did the first one.

PART II: Reflection

In general, things are continuing to go pretty well in my classes, and I feel like what I’m working a lot on right now is quicker transitions between activities to keep students interested and not distracted. It’s certainly less important in smaller classes, but in my 7th grade class it’s especially crucial to keep the class fast-paced so there aren’t spaces for them to get chatty – because then it takes them a thousand years to refocus! 🙂 I’m making small steps with that, in things like collecting their journals and pencils while people are sharing about the opening video (instead of waiting until after), and having the sight-reading exercise up immediately after I close the video, and trying to create a common thread through the activities of the class so that there is a more natural connection running through everything we do in class. A small example from Friday’s class is that directly after the video, I asked the students to repeat after me and gave some 3-note solfege patterns for them to repeat back to me. I then did the same patterns on a hum, but gave the direction for them to sing back the solfege syllables to see if they could figure out (or just remember) what the patterns were. Immediately after that, I pointed to the sight-reading exercise, which started with the same intervals we had just been practicing, and that set them up a lot better to work through the sight-reading exercise more efficiently. I think if I can continue to be thoughtful and attentive in connecting those beginning-of-class exercises, it will be inherently more interesting and there will be no space for extra chatting during that process.

Something else I am working through is what it means for a student to be “engaged.” It’s been interesting to receive feedback in all the different places I teach (my school, after school programs, community youth choir program, etc.) about whether my students are engaged and how they are engaging, and it feels like this kind of nebulous thing and not everyone means exactly the same thing when they say it. I also pretty strongly feel that it’s hard to even tell if a student is engaged. It’s tricky trying to figure this out for edTPA because if a student isn’t actively speaking a lot in class and is mostly just watching and singing when they should sing, they actually are probably very engaged but someone watching who doesn’t know the students might assume they are barely participating. On the other hand, if kids are excited to be in chorus class and are singing loudly and raising their hand to help or are calling out, then they might be considered “feisty” and this isn’t necessarily seen as a positive example of engagement. However…I personally think both are great! Having been a student on both ends of the spectrum myself (depending on the class), I appreciate having that whole range in all of my classes and programs, and I’m just wondering if there are better ways to define engagement and to encourage a range of engagement in the classroom.

One super great thing that happened this week was that my middle school Glee Club decided to perform for the first time at breakfast on Thursday! Glee Club is not a class, but is a lunchtime club activity that students can choose 2 out of the 6 days of the cycle. So far I’ve been letting them choose the repertoire, and they decided on Say A Little Prayer (Aretha Franklin) for the group number, and a number of kids wanted to work on solos/duets/trios. I was trying to find a low-pressure environment for them to try performing together, and I suggested we come in early and sing in the cafeteria while people were coming in and out to get breakfast – and they were all very excited to come EARLY to school to perform! We set up with my keyboard and my guitar in a corner of the cafeteria, and a few of the students sang solos and then we ended with our group number. It started pretty softly, and by the end there was a big group of other students (of all ages!) and parents who had sat down to watch, and were doing the cell-phone-light-waving thing as the kids sang, and it was such a sweet moment. I had been talking to a coworker earlier in the week who was saying how he wished music was more part of the culture of our school – that it could just be everywhere – and that performance felt like a step in the right direction. It also felt like a moment for me personally, to start defining myself and my space and my role at the school, so that felt pretty great. One boy who saw it even asked his mom if he could join chorus class now, so we’re seeing if we can switch him into the class this late into the trimester. 🙂 I am looking forward to more community moments involving music in our school!

PART III: Lesson Plan

10.17.18 6^th Grade Chorus, 11:10-11:55

Standards:

From NYS Ensemble Standards:

MU:Cr1.1.E.5: Generate melodic, rhythmic, and timbral ideas.

MU:Cn11.1.E.5: Perform and listen to music from various times and cultures and describe how that music reflects those times and cultures.

MU:Pr4.3.E.5: Identify expressive qualities in a varied repertoire of music that can be demonstrated through prepared and/or improvised performances.

From NYSSMA Sight-Reading Levels:

Students will be able to sight-read 4- to 8-measure phrases from NYSSMA Level II (description listed below).

1. Time signature: 4/4, 2/4
2. Range: 6^th (usually Do to La or Ti to Sol)
3. Intervals: Do-Mi-Sol (ascending on quarter notes)
4. Rhythms: half notes and quarter notes
5. Rests: quarter rest

Objectives:

1. Students will watch a video of Bobby McFerrin getting his audience to sing, and will describe what they notice and feel throughout the video in their chorus journals.
2. Students will be able to sight read an 8-bar phrase together using Do, Re, Mi, Fa, and Sol in 4/4, with minimal restarts or mistakes.
3. Students will be able to verbally define the word dynamics, and will be able to recognize and perform differences in dynamics in their previously learned repertoire (Dancing Queen) including p, mp, mf, f, and crescendo and decrescendo.

Procedures:

1. Have students pick up journals. Play opening video (Bobby McFerrin) and have students answer questions written on the board.
   1. What do you notice?
   2. What do you feel?
   3. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most), how much would you like to perform this song?
2. Have some students share out their responses. What was different about this than the videos we usually watch? (The choir was the audience!)
3. Put 8-bar sight-reading phrase on the board. Play D Major scale on the piano and have them find Do. Remind them that this is like the “home tone.” Try using just pitches, ignoring rhythms. Correct any mistakes. Try using just rhythms. Then, put it together.
4. Warm ups:
   1. Remind students of good breathing techniques. Taking good full breath (not moving shoulders), breath in and hiss out as long as you can.
   2. With this good breath, ooh on scale degrees 5-6-5-4-3-2-1, starting mid-range and going down.
   3. Still thinking about breath: ee-ah-ee sliding from scale degrees 1-5-1, starting lower range and going up.
   4. “Basketball” – yah-yah-yah-yoh-yah on 1-1-135-853-1, starting lower range and going up and coming back down
   5. Solfege round
      1. Transition: here, the teacher introduces the term “dynamics” and works with the students to find a definition. The teacher introduces the terms piano, mezzo-piano, mezzo-forte, and forte, using a poster and pointing to each. The teacher asks the students to sing through the solfege round, following the dynamics the teacher points to as they go.
   6. Have students take turns directing the dynamics of the solfege round. After multiple students try it out, figure out together which dynamics feel most natural throughout the round.
   7. Sing once through Dancing Queen. After, have students note where the loudest and softest parts of the song are. Have students take turns directing the dynamics of the performance by pointing to the dynamic markings on the poster.

Assessment:

Informal:

• Students share their thoughts and reflections in class to demonstrate their understanding of what they saw and heard in the video.

Formal:

• Students sing together to demonstrate their ability to sight-read together with minimal mistakes (allowing for corrections when mistakes are made), with minimal assistance from the teacher
• Students each direct parts of class to show their ability to intentionally choose dynamics for certain parts of the round or the song.

Environment/Materials:

Students will sit in chairs in a semicircle facing the screen/mirrors. We need the following:

• Journals
• Pencils
• Projector/screen
• Sight-Reading Factory
• Piano
• Dynamics poster
• Lyric sheets for repertoire (only if the kids still need them – may be memorized at this point)

*Wear listening assistance device if Zoe needs it. If Zoe needs space or time, have her sit in the back of the room and listen instead of singing along.

*Sing next to Selin when necessary to help with matching pitch.

PART I: Clements & Klinger 2.3 (I’ll answer these as myself, since there’s no CT)

1. How does your cooperating teacher monitor student progress over time?

In middle school classes, I monitor their daily journals to see what things they start to notice in the music they listen to over time (i.e. can they tell when a song is a cappella or not, can they tell how many parts there are). I also monitor their progress in sight-reading as a group, but I’m planning a system where they will also come sight-sing for me individually so I can give kids more help or more challenge if they need it. For all groups, I informally monitor how they are doing with learning the repertoire just by listening to them sing and working on parts that they don’t have down yet. In high school I am starting to have them write in their solfege which is something I can check during or after class, and I can see how they improve over time in their accuracy and speed of writing it in.

2. How does your cooperating teacher determine grades for music classes or ensembles?

In middle school, students do not receive letter grades, so we don’t have a specific grade we have to determine for them. We still do report writing about their growth and learning, so I do a lot of informal check-ins with them but emphasize that these are not for grades. For example, with their journals, I will write a note to them every month or so to let them know how they are doing, and I give them a plus, a check, or a minus (which is really mostly for completion – are they showing up to class and participating in the activities). In high school, students do receive letter grades, so I determine grades through attendance, participation, and a few written assignments (i.e. fill in the solfege for your part in Asimbonanga).

3. Collect documents pertaining to grading policies and procedures from your student teaching site. List the documents you have collected. Compare and discuss these policies and their relationships to implementation or practicality in music classes or ensembles.

So far I actually haven’t gotten a lot of information about grading policies and procedures, but this is what is in our handbook:

Middle School
Comments are used on Middle School reports to assess student growth, performance and cognitive progress.

Upper School
Letter grades are used to evaluate scholastic progress throughout the Upper School. In those few courses in which a different reporting pattern may be used, students will be informed in advance of the procedure used by the teacher. Letter grades in conjunction with checklists and comments are used to indicate cognitive progress on Upper
School reports and transcripts: numbers are used to indicate affective performance.
Self‐evaluation is a process in which students are sometimes asked to complete a written assessment of their performance in particular classes. These may be reviewed with the cluster advisor.

As discussed in my answers above, there isn’t a lot of formal grading going on in the middle school, which is kind of nice in music classes/ensembles because we can really focus on the process and make a lot of mistakes so that we can learn without the pressure of the letter grade. In the upper school, I do need to give them letter grades, and I’ll admit that it is sort of hard to implement that in a music classroom, given the fact that everyone comes in at a different level and I can’t have any expectation of their musicianship or singing abilities. The best way for me to think about it is to think about whether students are improving from whatever their baseline was, and whether they are putting in good effort as participants in an ensemble.

PART II: Reflection

This week I noticed a lot of small successes for many of my classes and students, which was really exciting!

1. My vocal workshops class (upper school) FINALLY feels invested in the changes I’m trying to make in the class, which is a nice feeling. And honestly I expected it to take longer for them to adjust to the new set up of the class, so it felt really great on Tuesday to have four of the seven students volunteer enthusiastically to share what they had been working on in their solos. One of the things they were very intentional about when we wrote up some norms a few weeks ago was that the feedback should be both positive and specific, and they really held to that in the feedback they gave their peers. They gave specific praise about things like tone, vowels, registration, and even individual runs, and it created a really great energy in the room where it felt like if someone shared their voice, it would be received with praise and affirmation and encouragement. I followed up with some students later in the week during their lessons, and it was especially great to hear from one student who had shared with the class that she really didn’t like where her voice was right now. When I asked her what she thought of the workshop, she said it felt really good to have people giving her positive feedback when she was feeling not great about her voice, and she said (and I noticed in her lesson) that it helped her just be more confident about her singing and her song choice, and she wants to share again next week already!
2. In my 8th grade group, which only has four kids now because one had to drop, we are moving pretty naturally into a unit on songwriting. We’ve done sound circles a little bit which is definitely a big ask with so few students, because it means they all have to participate in a way where they can’t really hide behind anyone else. On Wednesday, we did some sound circles and then decided to start work on writing a song together (I had given the option for them each to work separately, but they wanted to try together), and it just started happening! There is one student who is definitely way more vocal than other students (so I’ll be looking for ways to get the voices of the other three students more involved as well), and once we had all gotten a nice pattern going with rhythm and a simple harmonic structure, she just started singing – improvising words, rhythms, and a melody all at the same time! There were definitely points where it got silly, which I don’t mind because I think it helps with the relationship-building part of being in an ensemble, but it was fabulous to see the quieter students find singing roles that really suited their desired level of engagement in the ensemble.
3. My 7th grade group is pretty crazy and almost never stops talking, but they are also all really talented musicians – and I really do mean all of them. We are learning harmony parts for Rise Up right now, but I wanted to give them a chance to try out the solos so on Tuesday after we learned the harmony for the prechorus, we just ran that a bunch of times with different soloists at the beginning each time. It wasn’t necessarily the best day for them in terms of actually learning their notes, but it was so great to hear so many of them take the courageous step to sing in front of 23 of their peers, and to watch them encourage each other to try it if they had a friend who wasn’t sure. On Thursday, we worked on Rise Up for a bit and then went back to check on Shosholoza, which is a South African piece we had started about 3 weeks ago and hadn’t reviewed yet this week. They were really quite solid on the harmonies (in 3 parts!) even though that day in particular we were missing about 6 kids who had left early for sports, and when I asked them to all sing the middle part, they all could sing it without reviewing it! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised – we learned this song with everyone learning every part, starting with the bottom, then the top, then the middle – but I was really pleasantly surprised that they could all remember which part was which and then could sing it correctly without needing to review. The challenge with this class is that they are all so good, but they force us to move so slowly because they can’t stop talking so I feel like we are working way below their ability level right now. On Thursday before class I had decided I was tired of reprimanding them because it always makes me feel really negative and annoyed, so I was intentional about choosing to keep moving even if I didn’t have everyone with me, and to laugh with them when things were amusing. As a result, I left the class in a much better mood and I think they did too – and, I think we actually accomplished more as a group than we normally do. So we’ll see if that mindset change continues to work, both for me and for them.

There are still plenty of things I notice that I could do better, or that I could fix for the next class, and I’m realizing that I think teachers are people who just get used to dealing with failure and rising from it! I was thinking to myself – I fail at things all the time, every single day in this job, and I’m strangely okay with that. I was expecting myself to fall into perfectionist tendencies like I tend to do in my academic life, but so far I’ve been able to be gentle enough with myself to really believe that failing is just learning, as long as you can move on from it.

PART I: Clements & Klinger 2.2

Without asking or looking at your cooperating teacher’s plan, observe one full class or rehearsal and list the musical objectives you think your cooperating teacher had in mind. State each as a full objective, using the language and/or wording you were taught in your methods courses. 

(NOTE: I don’t have a cooperating teacher, so instead I recorded a class and watched it back to reflect on whether my objectives were communicated clearly, and whether the students were able to meet the objectives that I set for them. Below are the objectives I had in mind.)

1. Students will be able to give and explain their reactions to the video of “Rise Up.”
2. Students will be able to sight read an 8-bar phrase together using Do, Re, and Mi in 4/4, with minimal mistakes or restarts.
3. Students will be able to explain and demonstrate good breathing habits during warm ups.
4. Students will be able to explain why Dancing Queen is important in its historical and societal context.
5. Students will be able to use expressive tools (i.e. phrasing, facial expression, etc.) while they sing to demonstrate the meaning of the song Dancing Queen.

How can you tell from your observation that these were the objectives of the lesson or rehearsal?

When I watched the video back, I think the first three objectives were clear and students were able to demonstrate all three successfully both as a group and as individuals. However, I noticed – even while I was teaching, but also in the video – that I could have set them up to be more successful with objectives 4 and 5, and that I could have better clarified what exactly I wanted them to do. When I gave them the historical context for Dancing Queen (ABBA, Mamma Mia, gay rights anthem, etc.) I did a lot of explaining and asked them what they knew about the song, but then didn’t give them much of a chance to demonstrate that they had learned and understood everything that had been explained. I think I was rushing to get to the singing part of the class, but that meant that I wasn’t able to assess whether the students could explain the significance of Dancing Queen as a song – I only knew that I could. Then, near the end of class, after watching back a recording of the students performing, I told them I noticed that when certain students were more into it or were moving with the music, I believed them more than other students who were just sitting or not really expressing the message of the song. When one student asked, “What do you mean, believed them?” I realized that I might have needed to take more time to talk about the specific expressive tools we could use in performance to make the message come across and to make our audience “believe” in what we are singing about. So I think if I hadn’t known what my objectives were, I may not have been able to figure out the last two just from observing.

How might these objectives represent a small portion of the larger music curriculum?

To me, all of the objectives are smaller portions of larger goals for the year. The first objective is generally to help kids develop their ears and be able to pick out WHY and HOW the things they hear might make them feel a certain way. The second objective falls under the category of learning to sight-read, which we will build on all year. The third objective is part of the broader goal of learning good vocal technique, which we will also work on throughout the year. The last two objectives were specific to “Dancing Queen,” but ideally we will talk about the context of all the repertoire we sing and will talk about the different tools we have available for expression in a variety of repertoire.

From this observation, how can you tell what the students already knew prior to this lesson?

I can tell that they had already learned the words, notes, and rhythms for Dancing Queen, except for a few bits of the higher harmony part, and I could tell that they had done some work with solfege beforehand because the students could find the right solfege syllables for the notes while sight-reading (even if they didn’t always actually sing the correct pitch).

How does your cooperating teacher assess student learning in this lesson?

In the lesson, I assessed students individually through their journals and through having them share out loud their emotional reactions to “Rise Up.” This showed me that they as individuals can reflect out loud or in writing about the music that they hear. I informally assessed them as a group on their sight-reading by having them read as a group, and correcting the pitches when they were not accurate. In this way, I was able to tell which students were having more trouble finding the right pitches. Sometimes their friends even helped them to match pitch if they were sitting next to them, so I can also tell who tends to be accurate in their reading and who does not. I also informally assessed their breathing techniques by watching them during warm ups, and gave some time for student answers and input when we were talking about the history of “Dancing Queen” and its importance.

PART II: Reflection

We only had two days of class this week since we were off Monday and then the middle school had an overnight trip Thursday to Friday, so I felt like I barely taught! I chaperoned the trip on Thursday and Friday which was a lot of fun, and felt important for the relationship-building part of teaching. I am learning a lot about the social groups that exist in the middle school and I now know all of the gossip and drama from the 7th grade, having stayed with 7th graders in the cabins on Thursday night. 🙂

On Tuesday I felt really good about the work we are doing in Upper School Chorus. They are picking up the sight-reading part of class very quickly, especially knowing that this is brand new to some students. This week I introduced a new song to them, first by showing them a video of a group performing the song and having them follow along with the words in their music (in Zulu), and then I asked them to write in the solfege syllables for the first page of the solo line. I did put up a “cheat sheet” for them so they could see the F major scale and the associated solfege syllables, but they were all quite successful with only one or two mistakes at most, usually for notes below the low F. Then I played it slowly with them on the piano and had them sing the solfege syllables as they went and they sang it accurately. There were of course a lot of scaffolded pieces to this lesson, but I am eager to see how they do as I start to drop those pieces and they start to really sight-read! Many of them also did our opening sight-reading individually, and two of them requested to do the sight-reading without singing. At first I was like… “What does that even mean?” And then, I realized they just meant they wanted to speak the solfege syllables but not try to sing them in front of everyone – and it was awesome! The one kid in the class who has probably the least experience singing completely nailed the syllables for the sight-reading exercise by speaking through them really quickly, which is awesome because he can scaffold that experience for any of the other students. In other words, if he can recognize what the syllable is supposed to be even if he’s not confident about singing it, other students who are less confident about recognizing the correct syllables could more confidently sing it after he listed off the syllables. I like the teamwork in that class so much!

On Wednesday I was really struggling to keep the focus and attention of the 7th grade class (nothing new) so I’m still working on strategies to keep them engaged. Probably the biggest issue is the extra talking. I will ask one student to answer a question when they’ve raised their hands, but once they’re done then other students will call out to respond and then everything crashes for a minute. I think it’s actually really good that they’re engaged in the conversation in relevant ways (usually), so it’s just finding a way to make sure all students who want to participate are heard by all the students in the room. (This made me laugh – one student told me on our overnight trip that I’m too nice to their class and I just need to punish people. Maybe she is right!) It was a frustrating class, but honestly it was all worth it for one moment: one of the kids in the class who is often distracted and off task (for legitimate reasons like ADHD) volunteered to try the sight-reading by himself (!) and, with a little help to get him started, read it PERFECTLY. The whole room erupted into applause and his face just lit up! It was such a sweet and supportive moment for the class to rally behind him the way they did. I am thinking about how to replicate these moments of teamwork/community in all my classes the way I saw them in 7th grade and upper school this week.

One random thing I need to research is: good belting/mix voice warm ups! Many of my vocal workshops kids are doing songs in those parts of their voices, and I’m so used to singing in my head voice all the time that I have very few memories of helpful belting warm ups to use in lessons with them.

PART III: Lesson Plan

Standards:

From NYC Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts – Music – Grade 8

1. Students will be able to reflect on their emotional response to a variety of traditional and non-traditional genres of music.
2. Students will be able to sight-read 4- to 8-measure phrases from NYSSMA Level II (description listed below).
   1. Time signature: 4/4, 2/4
   2. Range: 6^th (usually Do to La or Ti to Sol)
   3. Intervals: Do-Mi-Sol (ascending on quarter notes)
   4. Rhythms: half notes and quarter notes
   5. Rests: quarter rest
3. Students will be able to produce a proper tone quality with attention to breathing and vowel/consonant sounds.
4. Students analyze and describe how music develops in a cultural and historical context.
5. Students will be able to connect text and music to dramatic purpose.

Objectives:

1. Students will be able to give and explain their reactions to the video of “Rise Up.”
2. Students will be able to sight read an 8-bar phrase together using Do, Re, and Mi in 4/4, with minimal mistakes or restarts.
3. Students will be able to explain and demonstrate good breathing habits during warm ups.
4. Students will be able to explain why Dancing Queen is important in its historical and societal context.
5. Students will be able to use expressive tools (i.e. phrasing, facial expression, etc.) while they sing to demonstrate the meaning of the song Dancing Queen.

Procedures:

1. Have students pick up journals. Play opening video (Rise Up) and have students answer questions written on the board.
   1. What do you notice?
   2. What do you feel?
   3. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most), how much would you like to perform this song?
2. Have some students share out their responses.
3. Put 8-bar sight-reading phrase on the board. Play D Major scale on the piano and have them find Do. Remind them that this is like the “home tone.” Try using just pitches, ignoring rhythms. Correct any mistakes. Try using just rhythms. Then, put it together.
4. Warm ups:
   1. Ask for multiple volunteers to help explain good breathing habits. Try just getting good breath and buzzing out (or hissing out if they can’t buzz).
   2. With this good breath, ooh on scale degrees 5-4-3-2-1, starting mid-range and going down.
   3. Still thinking about breath: ee-ah-ee sliding from scale degrees 1-5-1, starting lower range and going up.
   4. “Basketball” – yah-yah-yah-yoh-yah on 1-1-135-853-1, starting lower range and going up and coming back down
5. Sing through Dancing Queen, with attention to pitch and specifically to holding harmony parts.
6. Give historical context for the song, including that it became a gay rights anthem. Have students discuss why it might have become this, noting the lyrics.
7. Watch music video, with instructions to notice how they sing it and why.
   1. Share out and discuss what they saw.
8. Stand and perform Dancing Queen again, this time with attention to expression.
   1. Reflect on what they did differently.

Assessment:

Informal:

• Students share their thoughts and reflections in class to demonstrate their understanding of emotional expression, historical/societal context
• Students sing with good breathing habits and with differing expressive tools

Formal:

• Students sing together to demonstrate their ability to sight-read together with minimal mistakes (allowing for corrections when mistakes are made), with minimal assistance from the teacher

Environment/Materials:

Students will sit in chairs in a semicircle facing the screen/mirrors.

Journals, pencils, projector/screen, Sight-Reading Factory, piano.

*Wear listening assistance device if Zoe needs it. If Zoe needs space or time, have her sit in the back of the room and listen instead of singing along.

*Sing next to Selin when necessary to help with matching pitch.