To make up for probably not posting tomorrow...

This morning, I dreaded teaching until I got up in front of first hour and went through the rhythm warm-ups with them. I then continued to dread rehearsing the choirs until I got up in front of third hour and got going.

Lizzy and I talked about it after school, and she told me she still feels the same way on Mondays. It was then that the lady from Office Space popped into my head, and I was begrudgingly forced to admit that she may be right. "Sounds like somebody's got a case of the MONDAYS!"

Somehow, though, I got through the day.

Third hour seems to really respond well to me. They are the class I can be the most free with. Today our goals in Dodi Li were phrasing and words. We started off with phrasing the chorus. I pulled something we did a few times in my secondary methods class, and we all pretended like we were holding orbs around our belly buttons. The orbs could be big or small, but they had to be moving at all times.

"Let's all sing the first chorus together, and when we get to the long notes, do something interesting with your orb. You can stretch it, roll it, make it smaller, whatever. But make it unique to you." The girls really got a kick out of it.

I spotted one motion many girls were doing, which was to roll the orb when they hit a long note. We all did it together, and I asked them if the note grew, or immediately got louder. They replied that it immediately got louder.

"I also saw quite a few of you growing your orb," I then noted, "So let's all try that when we get to a long note." This time there was a definite growth in volume and energy throughout the note, and the girls could hear the difference.

Next, Part 1 pretended like they had taffy connecting their hands at the fingertips, and all they could do was stretch that taffy apart and back together. This really helped them connect their measures and keep their words from getting choppy. All the girls commented on how cool it sounded, and when we put the two parts together, some of the singers got chills.

For all but ten minutes of the rest of class (since Lizzy had an emergency phone call), we went through the words and phrasing for the words for each verse in Dodi Li. When we only had two four-measure verses left, the girls got really amped to learn the rest of the words by the end of class. Tomorrow we'll review and see how well they remembered them!

Sixth hour was flipping amazing. There were few side conversations, and none that stopped the entire class. They were also the only class all day where every single person was using hand signs and really visibly putting forth effort during sight-reading. Every other class, Lizzy had me mark down students who weren't using hand signs or weren't participating. I was so proud of sixth hour.

They also read through Festival Sanctus much quicker and more accurately than fifth hour. Seriously, they were just on today. Unfortunately, this makes it more upsetting when they're off, which is almost half the time. Hopefully they will be considerate tomorrow when Lizzy is getting evaluated during their class. Apparently they do well on those days so they aren't embarrassed in front of the Assistant Principal.

Tomorrow Lizzy and I are conducting a minor experiment with third and fifth hour. As Lizzy was doing sight-reading with fourth hour, I remembered the think-aloud we did in my Content Area Literacy class last semester. I thought, "Hmm, maybe the students could benefit from writing out their process of what they look for before they sing."

In a happy turn of fate, it turns out that Lizzy was thinking the exact same thing. When I breached the topic of think-alouds with her, she immediately responded with "I LOVE THINK-ALOUDS." And yes, it did sound like it was all in bold caps.

After throwing around dozens of ideas, we finally came to a solution for what to do. I wrote up a handout for the students to fill in with their thoughts after I go through my process when I sight-read. There are two sections on the "quiz": "Before I sing, here are two things I can look for in the RHYTHM so I can sing more successfully," and the same statement with MELODY. Their responses must be legible and a complete idea ("I'm looking for ___"), though since this was unannounced, spelling will not count (unless the answer is unintelligible: if I can't read it, I'm not grading it).

I will then take home the quizzes and grade them (only for very few points, and not weighted much), with the purpose of establishing a standard: if you are given work by me, it is just as important as work from Mrs. Micik, and it will absolutely be graded.

I won't tell them that next time this happens (because it will happen again) I won't give them points, but will merely check during class to see that they're all at least thinking about something they can be looking for, and are at least trying to get something on paper.

Why was this such a long post? Because I have a very, very long day ahead of me tomorrow. School, then I'm busy until probably around 6:30, then grading until my head falls off. I'm gonna have to try and get some of that grading done during the school day, though. Here's hoping this all works out tomorrow!

1-2-3-4

I worked with the sixth graders today on rhythm improvisation and composition with a bit of performance thrown in, while tomorrow's mini-lesson will focus on composition and performance.

First, Lizzy gave me the power of her iPod and speakers to do some finding the beat and practice rhythms with the kids. The whole activity is very physical, and the students really start to wake up if it's a song they like and they see you enjoying it as well! First we nod our heads to find the beat, then we step side-to-side on the beat (right-touch-left-touch). Next we find micro- and macro-beats with our hands, either swaying for whole or half notes, or tapping our breastbone for quarter and eighth notes.

After we do some movement and get the beat in our bodies, the teacher holds up rhythm cards and the students step to the quarter note while performing the written rhythms.

Honestly, this is probably my new favorite activity. Lizzy does this with her choirs as well as her sixth graders, and it clearly improves their sight-reading. I think this is something every choir would benefit from, if only to loosen tension and to remember music is something to move to.

The next part of my particular mini-lesson involved call-and-response rhythms: I performed a measure of rhythm, the students would repeat it back to me. After about eight of these, I called on a student to create his own measure that we would repeat. He was thrown off, but successfully created a measure. I called on a few more students who were thrown off, but the class repeated their measures back to them, and the last five or so students were very successful in saying their rhythm actually in time with the music playing!

After the song ended, I split up the students into their previous card game groups with the mission of creating four measures of rhythm in every group, two measures of which must have some kind of rest. I informed them that once every group was done, they would be performing for the class.

I realized after a few minutes that some of the students who were leaders in the card game were bashful and uncertain during this activity, so that's something I can change for tomorrow.

Generally this lesson went pretty well, but I wasn't paying close enough attention to everyone in the class while working with the performers. I also think I need to be clearer about what exactly I expect from the students when they are working, and when they are watching their classmates perform.

Lizzy has a whole playlist for just movement in the classroom, comprised of pop songs with very specific standards:

1) Moderate tempo - Students need to be able to step to each side to the beat and not be rushing or waiting. They also need to be able to perform eighth note rhythms, sometimes sixteenth notes. The tempi of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" or Smash Mouth's "All-Star" are about perfect. This rules out any Aquabats songs (too fast), and unfortunately some of my more favorite Billy Joel tunes (too slow).

2) Strong emphasis ON the beat - (Typing that made me think of the Minnesota ATP choreographer in Drop Dead Gorgeous shouting "ON THE BEAT!"...for those of you in the know.)

Good examples: "Staying Alive," by the BeeGees, and "Float On," by Modest Mouse.

Unfortunately unusable: "The Longest Time," by Billy Joel (emphasis in the "whoaa" sections on the backbeat). Also, though it has a solid tempo for this sort of thing, and might work a little later for syncopation, "Brat Pack," by The Rocket Summer. The accompaniment accents 1(2)&(34)&12&(34).

3) Clean Language - I'm talking not even one. Word.

Good examples: "Firework," by Katy Perry, and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," by The Temptations.

Unfortunately unusable: Pretty much anything by Lady Gaga. "Bad Romance" has all the elements except for number 3, and that makes me very sad.

Not-so-unfortunately unusable: Most rap and hippety-hop. However, there are of always exceptions.

I went through some of my music to try and find my own additions, and while I was disappointed in some songs for their single coarse word or too sprightly a tempo, I was pleasantly surprised at what I did find that fit the criteria:

"You & Me," by Tally Hall

"In the End," by Linkin Park

"Larger Than Life," by the Backstreet Boys

"Story of a Broken Heart," by Malbec

And a few other selections that I've of course forgotten by now. I was particularly tickled that "In the End" is as perfect as it is.

Tomorrow brings another day of scouring my music library, performing rhythms with sixth graders, and of course, writing the dreaded choir final for Thursday and Friday.

(dramatic horn cue)