Today the only class we had was first hour sixth grade, as it was the first day of exams and Lizzy has second hour planning period. I had the whole hour to work with them on a continuation of what we did yesterday.
After moving to the beat like we did yesterday (and nipping side conversations in the bud!), I asked the students a few questions about what we did yesterday, and informed them of a few things we would try to accomplish today.
I don't remember the exact moment it occurred, but at some point a student sitting right in the front row--let's call him George--decided that he was going to make a sarcastic response to everything I said. The first time or two I gave him a look and he stopped, but one comment was defiant, verging on downright mean.
My tone changed from "let's get down to business," to "defeating the huns," so to speak (...yup).
"No," I said sharply, "That was not appropriate."
The students hadn't really seen me get harsh before, so I heard a few ascending "ooooooh's" arise.
George didn't give me any more lip for the rest of the class, even if he was a bit sullen for a short while when he didn't get placed in a group with his usual buddies. However, he showed he understood the material when he started piping up with suggestions later on in class.
In the twenty minutes before class I split them into different groups than the ones they were in yesterday. Yes, there were some really confident groups yesterday, but there were also one or two super chatty ones wherein the group members got off task easily. I was careful to place one really strong leader in each group, as well as at least one person to balance them and make sure they checked their work. Today they were in six groups of four instead of five groups, making individual contributions that much more important.
The mission for the small group work was similar to yesterday, with the exception that all students had to memorize the four-measure phrase of rhythm they created. The purpose of memorization? Performing with other groups in a "battle of the bands" type situation where the rest of the class would vote on the winning group.
I walked around to each group, checking their progress. After the first round I challenged the groups to have their rhythms complete and memorized for the second time I came around. At that point I should have just given them a time limit and told all the groups to have it performance ready at the end of the time limit. However, I made a second round and checked groups for accuracy, involvement, and teamwork. Until typing just now, I was stumped by what to have them do after I visited their group a second time. It makes infinitely more sense just to have them jump right in to performing and critique. I was just erring on the side of having everyone fully prepared and successful.
When all the groups had shown me they were ready, everyone sat back in their seats and two groups volunteered to go first. I put on "Firework," by Katy Perry (which was a tad fast, but challenged them nicely), and after getting the whole class to feel the beat, the first group performed their rhythm. Classmates volunteered three things they liked, and then three things they could improve on, and the group performed it again. Then group 2 went through the same process.
The next step, which I had told them about before, was putting the two rhythms together. Group 1 performed, then I counted off group 2, and then I counted off both of the groups so that they performed their rhythms together. The class got a huge kick out of it, and the performers realized that it was actually easier to stay on the beat when they listened to the other group performing with them.
I then asked the audience to put up fingers signifying which group they thought "won" the "battle of the bands." The class voted for group 2, and I asked them for three reasons why. They replied that group 2 was more together, louder, and had no memory slips.
At this point I wish I had addressed that the students were critiquing each other not only on musical accuracy, but on expression and teamwork. I wish that I had pointed out how supportive and observant the students were being. I was so concerned about time, however, that I completely flew past that.
The second set of groups got up, and while waiting for group 4 and myself, group 3 took it upon themselves to practice their rhythm.
"What is this group doing?" I asked the class.
"Talking!" was the general answer, but amid that I heard one lonely "Practicing!" cry out.
"Exactly! Practicing!" I then launched into a side note about how professional musicians warm up before they perform, and often will quickly run through some difficult passages before they perform. It wasn't something that was part of my lesson, but the students seemed intrigued.
I ran out of time, so only four groups got to perform. However, all students who weren't performing were actively engaged and contributing to critique. There was a point during the lesson wherein I had to make a decision: is it more important for all students to experience it, or for students to be successful? I think that in this particular case, more students were successful because they really analyzed what was happening with each group's performance.
There were many things I would change, but I'm pretty happy with how today's lesson went. Overall it was a "take charge" kind of day.
