Yesterday Lizzy wasn't feeling at all well, so she called off and had a sub. It was uneventful and involved lots of Hairspray, so I didn't really feel like updating last night. Also I forgot until this morning when I woke up. I'm over it.
Because today was awesome. Not every class, but my time in third hour was magical. I'm not being facetious. It was wonderful and I felt like a real, effective teacher.
I always look forward to third hour, because it's our only all-female group and they're suuuuper sharp. They read quickly, they learn quickly, and they have a generally good tone.
Today my plan was to teach the first page of Dodi Li, and just show them how it repeated at various points throughout the piece.
We went through the first page a few times, putting parts together, and it went really well, so I had them go through and label the parts ABACADA and Coda. I then asked what element of music we just labeled. A moment of silence, and then a couple of girls quietly said, "Form?"
"YES! Say it again, louder!"
"Form!"
"YES!" And then we were off. "This is a specific form called rondo form. Say 'rondo form.'"
(everyone) "Rondo form!" I wasn't planning on delving into form, but at that point I felt they could handle it, so I rolled with it.
I then described rondo form and wrote out the form of Dodi Li on the board so they could see. I gave other examples such as ABACA, ABACDA, and finally ABACADAEAFGA. They got a kick out of that.
Then I erased all that, leaving only ABACADA Coda on the board. I noted that it looked almost like "Abacadabra," but not quite. One girl piped up with her own phonetic pronunciation of "Abbacadda." I affirmed her suggestion, adding "coda" to the end of it.
"Repeat after me: ABACADA Coda."
"ABACADA Coda!"
"ABACADA Coda is the form of this piece." Aside to Lizzy, "Sounds kind of like a Greek organization or something."
Then one student asked what a coda is. So I used my best vocab skills from EDU 450 and we learned about codas. And THEN someone asked what that symbol was above the last note:
"What a great question!" I replied. "It shows me that you're thinking!" I then drew the symbol on the board, and labeled it a fermata, having them repeat the word back to me. I explained that if a fermata is over or under a note, it means to hold that note until the conductor tells you otherwise.
"Basically, when you get to a fermata, Mrs. Bennett could have you hold that note...for days."
Lizzy gave the class a mischievous look as I said that.
"Nooooooooo!" The girls cried, "Don't give her any ideas!"
Lizzy and I laughed. "Don't worry," I assured, "I'm not giving her any ideas that she hasn't already had."
I then asked them to repeat back to me what a fermata means in music, and they correctly answered, "Hold the note until the conductor tells you otherwise!"
I think my Content Area Literacy professor would be proud of how I handled the vocabulary words today.
There were other successful things I did in that hour, like catching posture and tone problems every single time they became an issue. Normally I would be too wrapped up in the music to notice, but I tore myself away to watch the students. There was also a lot of circling of terms and dynamics, drawing arrows to show melodic contour in a measure, and drawing in the infamous "eyeglasses" to note when you should be paying particularly close attention to the director (this time it was at the ritardando leading into the fermata).
It was just a really successful rehearsal, and I was very excited about it.
And then fourth hour happened.
It's not that fourth hour is bad, they just move slower than third hour does for a multitude of reasons. One of those reasons is that there are a dozen or so boys in the group, over half of whom struggle with their parts. The second reason I'll mention is that the girls in fourth hour are not half as confident as the third hour ladies. I kept begging them to give me more sound because they could hit the notes, but it just wasn't working. We had to stop after basically learning page one.
Bottom line of fourth hour: I need to accept that fourth hour will always move a little slower than third hour, and also I need to make sure all the boys are on pitch and that the whole choir has a good tone before continuing. I think I let the boys overwhelm me, therefore I didn't pay close enough attention to the posture and energy of the rest of the class. I also wanted to move through as much as possible, when this time it would have been better to slow things up. Next time.
I feel like that's as good a place as any to stop for the day. Those were my two classes where the biggest lesson was learned:
Embrace flexibility in the lesson. Be willing to go farther, and also be willing to take a step back if it means ultimate success.
(entry's title courtesy of Good Day by Tally Hall)
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