To Be Involved or Not....

After church this morning, my husband and I attended a P.U.S.H Meeting. Our church has been having these meetings for the last few weeks. Like many businesses and organizations our church is struggling financially. We discussed many causes and solutions to cure our budget issues, but for me it all came down to one thing... People are more involved when they feel like a valued member of the group. It is all about relationships.

During this meeting, I started relating these problems to issues I see in education. I was fortunate to spend the last two years working at a great school in Alaska. It was a small school in a small and tight knit community. Concerts at schools were public events and the community was very involved in the school. Teachers were also very involved in the school outside of regular hours. With such a small staff, everyone was needed to help run after school programs and extra events. My experiences in Alaska reminded me that people put more time and energy into things when they feel valued and respected. Like I have said in other posts, I am a firm believer that life comes down to relationships.

As a first year teacher at my current district, I feel compelled to be involved in extra activities. I enjoy coaching and being involved in duties outside of teacher, but it is also a way to keep my job. I am not saying that every teacher needs to spend the majority of their life at school. I am a big believer in balance. I am suggesting that all teachers find something outside of their classroom to be involved in. Our schools should be focal points of the community. Schools would be reaching out to the community and the community should be helping at schools. Like the old saying says, "It takes a village to raise a child."

Are our schools welcoming places where teachers, staff, students and families feel valued? Are they places where people want to be? Are we all working together for a common goal or are we expecting others to do the work? Positive relationships build amazing things!

Why Twitter?

I know professional development is vital to the success of our schools, but I usually dread inservice days. As a music teacher, I rarely find these meetings to be helpful or useful. I usually end up sitting there frustrated because I could be using that time much more wisely in my classroom. Ironically, I learned about Twitter at an inservice. I have to admit this inservice and the Love and Logic session I attended last year are the two best inservice experiences I have had during my career.

Professional development is important, but at the same time inservice days tend to do little to excite me or teach me new things. This is where Twitter comes in. Twitter is like working with an entire district of music teachers and tech specialist. Plus tons or creative and innovative teachers, principals and people in general. Twitter is usually the first place I go when I have a question. Through following other teachers and participating in chats I have learned a wealth of information.

I strongly suggest Twitter to all teachers. It is a great tool to learn and a place to get new ideas.

Books I Recommend...

These are educational books and resources that I strongly recommend all teachers read. They are listen in no specific order. I enjoy reading, so I would love any recommendations on books to read.

Rhythms of the Game by Bernie Williams
How Children Succeed by Paul Tough
Teaching with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and David Funk
The End of Molasses Classes by Ron Clark
The Essential 55 by Ron Clark
The Excellent 11 by Ron Clark
The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
-I was given this book as a Wedding Gift and I found it to be exceptionally helpful as a wife and as teacher. It is not a book focused on education, but it is a great reminder that our students have different needs when it comes to praise.
Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs
-This is another book I received as a Wedding Gift. Again, it is not focused on education, but I saw a lot of parallels. Between how staff interacts and how teachers interact with students.

Class Dojo

I am piloting Class Dojo with my first grade classes. I am hoping that the extra positive reinforcement will be beneficial for them. I have decided to use only positive points and I have the points aligned to our class expectations. I am afraid that I will become to engrossed in tracking points that it will disrupt class, so I am curious to see how it goes. I explained to my students that not everything will be tracked and they will never know when I will write something down.

Class Expectations (based on the Love and Logic Philosophy)
1. I teach when there are no distractions or other problems.
2. I listen to students who raise their hand.
3. I listen to one person at a time.
4. Please treat me with the same respect that I treat you.
5. If someone causes a problem, I will do something
6. What I do, will depend on what happened and what the person is willing to do so solve the problem.

Expectations that earn points.
1. Participation
2. Raising your hand
3. Sitting respectfully
4. Talking in turn

My hope is the points will encourage my students to act the right way and will be a sign that I do notice how they act. I am curious to see how it works.

Resources I Use....

I work in a district that has a 1:1 iPad initiative for all teachers. Along with an iPad, I use a school issued desktop and a large computer monitor. At the moment, I do not have a projector in my classroom.

These are not ranked in any specific order...

1. Google Drive (App)-This is one of my favorite apps. It allows me to share documents easily and I can work from my iPad both online and off.
2. YouTube-music for lessons and uploading class videos.
3. Class Dojo-It keeps track of behavior.
4. Twitter-Some of the best PD has come during chats I have had on Twitter with other teachers and other music teachers.
5. Google-My school district is a google district. Along with the basics of email and calendar, I use Google Sites for my class webpage. I also use Google Calendar for my lesson plans.
6. MusiciansKit-I use it mainly for the voice recorder, but having a tuner and metronome is always helpful.
7. iTunes-At the beginning of the year I burned all of my curriculum CDs to my school computer and from there I out them on my iPad. I created playlists by grade level. It takes away having to change CDs and is a lot more convenient. I have a basic stereo with audio in that. Plug my iPad or laptop into.
8. Virtuoso-Having a piano that I can play while sitting on the floor with my kids is extremely useful. Plus, my kids think it is very neat that I have a piano on my iPad.
9. The Drum Dictionary- I teach percussion lesions and this app makes it very easy to show my kids rudiments of other percussion beats. They can see and the specific rudiment or beat.
10. Melody Street- A great way to introduce you get kids to the parts of an orchestra.
11. Evernote-I was recently introduced to Evernote and I am slowly using it more and more. Right now, I am mainly using it to organize articles and lesson plan materials.
12. Skitch- The ability to write on pictures is a great way to make tutorials.
13. Penultimate- use this app as a white board.
14. Reflector App-Anything on my iPad can now be seen on my computer screen.


Apps that I would like to start using more of in my classroom.
1. Haiku Deck-I have made slides about instruments and composers. It is a great way to easily find pictures about topics we are studying.
2. Rhythm Flashcards-I can see this becoming an assessment tool. It is also a different way to do rhythm reading exercises.
3. Rhythm Training-I can see this becoming another great assessment tool. It gives rhythm exercises for you to clap.
4. ABRSM Music Apps-They have rhythm, pitch and ear training exercises. I could see this becoming an assessment tool.

If I Was in Charge of a School....

I have no intention of going into administration, but this is my dream school (if money was not an issue and there were no state or federal mandates.)

1. Students would have music and art every other day on an AB rotating schedule.
2. Students would start using Kidblog in second grade.
3. Once a month there would be an all school talent show and art show during lunch.
4. Students would have PE everyday.
5. Teachers would observe each other and steal ideas from them to incoorperate into their own classrooms.
6. Observations would be about sharing ideas and getting better.
7. The lead learner (AKA principal) would teach at least one class a semester.
8. Students would have library three times a week.
9. The building would have big open rooms and the hallways would be colorful.
10. The hallways would be full of student work.
11. Each classroom would have a website.
12. Standardized tests would not exist.

This is my dream. I realize that it would not all be possible. What does your dream school look like?

At the End of the Day...

Today was one of those days that tries to shake my confidence as a teacher and I can't even name a specific reason. Its all the little things that mix together. This time of year is also a little stressful for specials teachers because the powers that be are trying to figure out our schedule, so we are often left in the dark about what/where we will be teaching next year.

I use the wall next to my desk as a place to put pictures students have given me. Over the course of this year, more and more pictures are covering that portion of the wall. This has become my positivity wall. It is a place where I can turn to when I have a "rough" day. It is a reminder of the positive things in my job.

At the end of the day, no matter how frustrated I get with the politics and the extra stuff of teaching, the only thing that matters and the thing that keeps me coming back each day and year are the kids. My positivity wall is a constant reminder of why I teach. The kids are what is important.

Student Music Portfolios

I am trying a new thing this year and I will let you know later if I decide it is actually a good thing or not. I used a file folder to make a music portfolio for each student in my school. I only have two hundred students that I am doing this with, so the management is easier then at larger schools. I am going to put all work that we do in class in that folder and give them to the kids when they leave 4th grade to go to the middle school. I found at my old school that most kids throw work away from music without ever showing their parents. This will also show the growth over their elementary music education.

I would love to hear how you are using Portfolios in your classroom!

Classroom Tour

This is my first year at this school, so it is taking me a while to get my room organized the "best" way. This is my third rearrangement so far this year. We are currently in the middle of a dance unit, so I have moved things in order to give us the most room to dance. I think one thing every teacher needs is a positivity wall. The wall next to my desk has become where I put all the pictures my kids give me. It's a great thing to look at when I am having a rough day.

Dance Unit

One of the teachers I worked with in Alaska always did a dance unit in January/February. I don't live in Alaska anymore, but I kept the idea. This is a perfect time of year to do extra movement in music. Especially with indoor recess and less break time because of the weather, it gives the kids an extra time to get some of their energy out. These are the dances I am doing with each grade. Next year I will adjust it a little, but I didn't want certain grades to miss out on certain dances, so the older grades are duplicating a lot of the dances the younger kids are doing. I will list specific folk dances once I figure that part out.

K- Chicken Dance & La Raspa
1st-Chicken Dance, Macarena & La Raspa
2nd-Chicken Dance, Macarena, Cupid Shuffle, Hand Jive and Great Big House. They also do a project where they create their own version of the Chicken Dance.
3rd-Chicken Dance, Macarena, Cupid Shuffle & Hand Jive. They are also doing a project where they create their own version of the Macarena.
4th-Chicken Dance, Macarena, Cupid Shuffle, Hand Jive and Electric Slide. They also do a project where they create their own version of the Cupid Shuffle or Electric Slide.

During this unit we talk about introductions, rhythm, steady beat and form. We figure out each for most of the dances.

Innovation Week Reflection

Both of my fourth grade classes participated in "Innovation Week." They could do anything they wanted as long as it was related to music. The only stipulation was that they had to be able to prove to me that they accomplished something. 

I was very nervous before this project because the idea of basically letting 25 students go loose in my room was a little nerve racking. My students completely impressed me. They worked on task and created great works, all with little or no help from me. It was all student driven. 

It was great to witness as a teacher, 25 kids working on different projects. This is a project I strongly encourage all music teachers to do. It was a great learning experience for me and my students. 

Projects Completed

-Drum Set piece

-Guitar piece

-Piano piece

-Piano variations on Twinkle Twinkle

-Recorder/Hand Drum ensemble

-Orff Ensemble

-Play (acting and script)

Project 100

Project 100

For the last 100 days of school, each class is making a slide show that shows their favorite things about music. I pick one student from each class to take a picture each day they have music class. The only rule is that they cannot take a picture of a person, unless we are playing a game or activity. By the end of the project each student will be able to take 2-3 pictures, depending on the size of their class and how many music classes they have this semester. The kids are having a great time and love being able to take a picture on a smart phone. So far, our favorite things are drum set and recorder.

Innovation Week

Innovation Week
Let me start by saying this is not something I came up with. I heard about this idea during an in-service at the beginning of this school year.

During Innovation Week, the fourth graders get to pick anything musical they are interested in and they get to focus on that for two music days. Before the project started, I gave the 4th graders the planning sheet and they had to pick what project to focus on. The only rule is they have to prove to me at the end of the two days that they learned something. They can show this by writing a song/piece, playing an instrument, writing a play/musical. The possibilities are endless.  I created a rubric because I was anticipating problems, but I had no behavior issues what so ever.  The students were totally engaged and excited about what they were working on.


Innovation Week Planning Sheet
Innovation Week Grading Rubric

Composer of the Month

                                           Composer of the Month (COM)

                                  

Each month we study a new composer and every two months we study a different time period.  During our monthly study of a composer we answer twelve questions (they were the most popular questions when we did our KWL). I try to incorporate different projects and activities, so it does not get to be too repetitive. We listen to performances played on traditional instruments and more contemporary arrangements. My kids are big fans of "The Piano Guys." Grades K-4 all do composer of the month activities; K & 1 is mostly listening and group discussions, while 2-4 includes more projects and activities.

I created a three year rotation of composers. This ensures that all the major composers are being covered (most of them twice duing their elementary career) and it makes the workload more manageable.  

3-Year Composer Cycle (Google Document)

12 Questions
1. Did s/he have kids?
2. Was s/he married?
3. How much music did s/he write?
4. How did s/he die?
5. What were his/her hobbies?
6. When did s/he start playing/composing music?
7. What was his/her favorite instrument?
8. What was his/her life like?
9. Was s/he famous when s/he was alive?
10. Was s/he healthy?
11. Did s/he teach music?
12. Did s/he travel?