Composing a MUSIC Community
8/31/2018
The beginning of every school year is always VERY exciting! Students enjoy seeing friends they haven't seen all summer, talk about summer adventures and maybe even compare who grew taller over the summer! This year we came back to a brand new building, new classrooms and some new faces in our new halls! Something that is vital to PNA is our "community". We spend the "First 6 Weeks" focusing on our community and how we, as members of that community, want it to look like, feel like and sound like! Students achieve this by creating agreements or guidelines for themselves. These are reminders to help them live the PNA mission. Not just in the classroom but in specials like music and art, and even outside of the school walls. Quite often we see some of the same words show up: I always joke with students that this is more than just a song! (Ah, Aretha) But, the real question is "how do we show respect in the music room? what does that look like?" Ok, there's really not much homework in Music class?! Being responsible is turning in homework...right?! So what does responsibility look like when it comes to Music? Don't try to squint your eyes too hard on this on! FOCUS! Why is focusing in Music so important? Music is just FUN and playing on instruments! Yes...and No. The goal for any class environment is have fun learning. I thoroughly enjoy the genuine moments I have with the kiddos! That honest laugh and smile makes working with them a joy. (And as they say, find your JOY!) But without our agreements or guidelines, it could be a little chaotic! We are all here to learn how to read notes, play the uke, learn about Shakespeare, but if we aren't living up to the guidelines for the music room, we aren't working as a team, or a family or a community. We do A LOT of performing in one year! And that's in addition to the curriculum! WHEW! And the guidelines these students set for themselves helps us reach our goals!
So, are the first six weeks important? YOU BET!!! This is where we build the community, the foundation and give ourselves positive reminders to have a great music class! But my favorite goals, are the ones where each student realizes that the opportunities in music and drama are endless, SO... |
Specialist & Enrichment Teachers Archives
February 2021
Categories |