Sight Singing Assesments… ideas?

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Someone recently asked me how do I effectively assess my students’ ability to sight sing?

Well I must confess I don’t do any formal assessments but I definitely try to do in class assessments of my students abilities regularly. We have a sight singing book and some single line exercises from past regional auditions. Everyday we try to do a few examples before we get to the “meat” of the rehearsal.

The problem with the tests in my opinion is it takes too much time. After we have done an example as a class I try to have different students do the examples either by themselves in front of the class or if they are really struggling then with another student. So all the while I am assessing my students but not in any official way.

So I am asking for suggestions on a better way to do this and yet still not spend a ton of time on it either. All ideas are welcome 

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#stuffstudentssay

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Support the new twitter tag#stuffstudentssay

We all know that there are many times everyday that your students say something that you just want to share. So next time that happens jump on twitter, add the#stuffstudentssay tag and share it with all of us. Don’t use names of course but anonymous is good. 

Here  are a few twitter users/supporters

@dougbutchy @Zweibz7 @kgard @KFreesen

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Technology and Classroom Distractions

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I have heard from more than a few people that we have to be careful whattechnology we allow into the classroom so they do not get distracted by youtube or Facebook or other distractions that can be readily found on computers.

Wow what an absurd thought that we try to shelter kids from ever being susceptible to a distraction. Why don’t we change this way of thinking to teach are kids that some distractions are ok if used properly and at the right time. In fact some of these so-called distractions could actually be great learning tools if used correctly.

So I for one say lets start teaching students and not shelter them. If we don’t teach them how to harness the internet then who will?

Besides I can have a kid turn off his monitor but I can’t make his home life better with the flip of a switch, which is more distracting than Facebook will ever be.  The student needs to be engaged to do that.

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If you post it they will come.

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I know it is way over used but what a great movie. Anyway, its true I tried a little experiment where I decided to just post a lot of my thoughts. I generally start a lot of blog posts but never post them because I was nervous to put myself out there unless I was sure what I had written was good and relevant. I decided to just post anyway and not worry what other people think. guess what I have more blog hits than ever before but even more importantly I have gotten more comments than ever before as well. This is why I originally wanted to blog anyway, networking/sharing ideas.

This is why technology is important in education. Broadening our networks to allow us to learn more. So get out there and let yourself be vulnerable its kinda fun. 

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Snow Days

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Why do we love snow days so much? In my district the school plans a day towards the end of the year that if we haven’t yet taken a bad weather day then we get the later date off.

I love it! We are guaranteed a day off whether we have bad weather or not. 

But today as its snowing I look out and wish for a snow day. I would think I would rather have the day when its warmer and being able to plan for it but today  I am longing for a snow day.

Maybe I just love surprises like waking up to find out there is no school I don’t know.

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4th through 12th grades

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I teach 4th through 12th grades. This has proved to be most difficult in one respect. They all learn very differently. Can I teach them all? Yes. But can I teach them all effectively in one day. Now it gets difficult.

I have found that I tend to blur the way they learn between classes. After I just taught high school band and I have to teach 4th grade general music 10 minutes later I treat the one like the other. High school kids do not appreciate being treated like 4th graders and 4th graders do not respond like high school students.

It’s not all bad though I have learned that there are some similarities between the two even if they would never believe that. Also, I can’t blame the elementary teacher for not teaching them bad stuff or not good enough.

What is the hardest part of your teaching day?

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Extra Curricular Activities

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I teach at a very small school where most teachers have to be involved with more than one subject area to be able to provide everything a regular school offers. Since I am the only music teacher I do only have to teach this one subject even if it  is grades 4 through 12.

But I do coach Jr High Football on the side as well. This is not required I do volunteer for this because I am a die hard fan of football at nearly every level. But it does get a small stipned and only lasts two months.

I have found it is a nice opposite of music to help keep my day balanced, while I absolutely love music and am glad I have made it my career. I do need a break every once and again and football has proved to be a great resource for that.

What do you do to get a break from music?

Where Does The Time Go... Help!

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I do not know the last time I wrote a Blog. This is for a couple reasons.

First Reason

The first reason I haven't is that I haven't taken the time to do so. I think the worst excuse for not blogging is not having enough time. We all get 24 hours in hour day and what you do with that time is up to you.

Second Reason

The second reason I haven't blogged is because I haven't felt like I had anything of value to say. This also is a bad excuse because when I started this blog I had no intentions on trying to please other people. My intentions were to network with other music educators, share ideas and get help when needed. I am in the classroom Monday through Friday so if I am not coming up with anything to share with other music teachers I do not think I am doing my job well. But today I need Help.

But today I need Help.

I am now 5 weeks into the school year and less than a month from my first concert. I don't feel ready. In fact I lack so much confidence that I am working with administration on pushing back the concert a couple of weeks.

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First Concert

If I leave the concert where it is we will have our first concerts of the year 9 weeks into school. This leads me to a ask a question of all you season veterans in music eduction.

"Question"

So in the words of Dwight Schrute, "Question".

How far into the year do you like to be before your first official concert? Also, how long in between concerts do you like to have?

Tax Break For Teachers

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Thomas L. Friedman wrote recently in the NY Times an interesting article about ways to stimulate the economy.

For those of you who are not familiar with Friedman he is most recently famous for his book "The World Is Flat" where he talks about outsourcing and how this leveling the playing field world wide. Very interesting book which I highly recommend.

In this article he say's "My wife teaches public school in Montgomery County, Md., where more and more teachers can’t afford to buy homes near the schools where they teach, and now have long, dirty commutes from distant suburbs. One of the smartest stimulus moves we could make would be to eliminate federal income taxes on all public schoolteachers so more talented people would choose these careers."

So might view this as a shot against teachers not being good enough as they are and so we need to recruit better teachers. I don't believe this is what he is really saying especially since he leads with his wife being a teacher but we have all seen quality teachers leave the profession becuase they were lured into more lucrative career options.

I believe most teachers are in this profession for the right reasons but sometimes finances make it hard to stay put. I think the tax break might be a good idea to help make life a little easier and Friedman may be right this is a better stimulus then giving free money to banks or the Auto Industry.

Here is his closing statement:
"Sure, we’ll waste some money doing that. That will happen with bridges, too. But a bridge is just a bridge. Once it’s up, it stops stimulating. A student who normally would not be interested in science but gets stimulated by a better teacher or more exposure to a lab, or a scientist who gets the funding for new research, is potentially the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. They create good jobs for years. Perhaps more bridges can bail us out of a depression, but only more Bills and Steves can bail us into prosperity."

What The Future Holds

I ran across this the other day and while I am sure many of you may have already seen it I still think it is worth posting. I have discussed manytimes with my mother who is now in her 70's about how the world has changed so much from when she was in school but for the most part schools are the same. Its something to think about.

When Personal And School Life Cross

My wife and I are in the stage of life where we are making decisions for at least the next few years of our life. Now that I am in my second year of teaching and I like the school that I am in. We have decided to settle in and start our family.

While doing this we have decided to purchase a house which has raised a few questions about where we should live.

Being that I teach in a very small school in a very small town personal life and school life is very easy to cross. Right now live in another small town about ten miles away and that has really helped me to keep these two lives some what more separated.
Here are some of the pros and cons got each that we have thought of.

Pros of living where I teach:
Live close to work.
Get to know students outside of school.
Future children live in same town that I teach in.
Get to know community members and other teachers better.

Cons to living where I teach:
People have too easy acces to bring work into every other aspect of my life.
I am Mr. Gardner in everything I do.

Ready or Not...

Tomorrow students come back.

Here I begin year two as a music teacher. In many ways I feel more prepared than last year and yet I still feel unprepared.

My goal this year with this Blog is to make it more real. At the conclusion of every week I want to journal what we have accomplished and where we have fallen short. I fear doing this because I am really allowing myself to be very vulnerable but at the same time isn't that what music is all about?

So while I invite you in a very personal way to step inside my music program this year I also ask that you not judge me or my teaching style. Be patient with me while I am still learning what works for me and what doesn't, remember I am only a second year teacher. I am always open for constructive criticism and to be honest I will need lots of comments to help motivate me to regularly post.

So if you are interested in reading a BLOG like this please comment and let me know.

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To Musical Or Not To Musical

That is the question.

I took a job where musicals were a yearly tradition and didn't do a musical...


In my defense I was a first year teacher teaching 10 classes

• 2 4th Grade General Music Classes
• 5th Grade Band
• 6th Grade Band
• Jr High Choir
• Jr High Band
• High School Concert Band
• High School Jazz Band
• High School Choir
• High School Audition Choir

Something had to go and I chose the biggest thing... The Musical

Year Two

I might have worked out a way to pull off a musical this year.

In the past the used to have only one choir at the High School. Then the year before I got there the teacher split the choir into a General Choir and an Audition Choir.

See the Problem Yet?

With two seperate classes rehersals have to take place after school unless you could some how perfectly cast the scenes by class. Not happening.

You may say well then do after school rehersals thats not so bad. Well it is when over half of the studnets in the school are also the star athletes in the school.

So you have sports practices then play practice when do students do homework or sleep?

Short Answer? They don't

Not enough anyway. Teachers complained of studnets falling asleep in class and class work serverly lagging.

I could go on but I will suffice it to say that this pattern doesn't work, at least not in my district.

FFwd to this year.

We still have two seperate choirs. Audition and General Choir but....

The Audition Choir meets in a zero hour before school time slot and...

Everyone in Auditon Choir is required to be in the General Choir as well. This means that everyone is - back in one class - at the same time - during school.

Problem Solved?

Does this allow me to teach 10 classes and yet add a Musical back into the "tradition"?

Stay tuned and well find out together this year. :)

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Administration

Where I work I have two principals. One at the Elementary and one at the Jr/Sr High School.

They couldn't be more different in aproaches. The Elementary Principal was the music teacher in my position for 10 years before me.

Danger.

He has very strong opinions on how things should be run and how they shouldn't.


The good news is...

I have a great principal at the Jr/Sr High who lets me learn on my own.

Example:

There is a festival at a community college in out area that for me to take 2 groups costs over $1,000 to go to. That is a lot, especially to perform 2 songs and work with a clinician for 10 minutes.

So as a first year teacher I went and learned for myself that its not something I want to continue. When I got back I told my principal what I thought of the experience. He told me that the other principal suggested that he not let me take my groups because it was a waste of time and money.

I am very greatful for a principal that supports me and lets me discover what works for me and discover these things on my own.

Here is to great Administrators! :)

I Miss The Students

As I was thinking about my last post I realized that I rarely had thoughts of changing careers during the year. Was this because I didn't have time to think about it?

No I believe it is becasue when things got hard or just annoying the students made it worth while.

I am in it for the students!

Burnout!

I am officially on the down side of my first summer vacation as a teacher and I don't feel any more ready to get back then on the day we got out.

Am I burning out already?

In fact I have registered for a Masters Program in something other than music. I justify that it is to make myself more well-rounded and give me options while still being a teacher. But I would be lying if I said that the idea never enters my mind to just change careers completely.

Its only been one year so there is no way I will give up that fast but by the time I finish my masters I have to wonder will the draw be too much for me?