So its been a few weeks...

So, just realized, wow I haven't posted in a few weeks.  Must be for one of the following reasons:
1) too busy
2) too lazy
3) nothing interesting to report
4) some form of a combination of the above 3!

School has been going well.  November is a wacky month for us, we never have 1 full teaching week either due to holiday, professional development days, or parent/teacher conference days.  I am not sure what class is up to what due to the added confusion of assemblies and trips.  My lesson groups are further behind than in the past due to missing so many lessons.  I am pulling out my hair preparing for this second grade circus we are putting on (trying to teach 9 songs in 9 weeks is not fun) for the first time -- and it seems that I am the only one even doing anything for this show -- and it wasn't even my idea!

On a positive note, my choruses are going to be very ready for the concert.  I was concerned, we have never done a December concert before (always end of January) and I wasn't sure how to simplify my program.  My 4th graders could perform tomorrow -- so I am adding sign language in for a song so we have something to work on.  My 5th graders are not as ready yet -- but we are at the clean-up phase.  The piece I am doing with all the aux percussions is finally coming together and not giving me heart palpitations/nightmares.

My whole podcast initiative is going well too.  I haven't recorded much in the last 2 weeks, but what is there is being listened to a lot.  I have had a lot of positive parent feedback as well.  At our Halloween parade (big whole-school parent event) I was called a rock star in few people's houses, an awesome-cool teacher that their kids are so lucky to have, and some other nice things.  I think my principal is even realizing how popular I am  -- just the other day he told me that I need body guards to protect me from the swarms of kids that are always trying to invade my space (I'm a rock star, what can I say?!).

So yeah that's it pretty much.  Upcoming events that might end up in blog posts:  2nd grade circus (mid-December), my winter concert (1 day before the holiday break), my holiday sing along (the day before the holiday break), HOLIDAY BREAK, auditions for the middle school musical ("13"), our All County Festival, and our All District Festival.

Ok enough rambling for now... until next time

Week in Review (10/5 - 10/9)

What a crazy week!!!  Here is a bit of a recap:


*Our part-time band director resigned Friday at the end of the day.  Spent the remainder of the week reworking the whole instrumental lesson schedule so that our part-time string teacher could take over the lessons as well.  


3 revisions and a conference call with 3 principals, director of music/art, and the ass't superintendent later, I learned:  I ROCK at making schedules, but you could not pay me to become an administrator -- no thank you sir!


*Having to tell students that their beloved band director was not coming back without any real reason (that I could share with them) out of nowhere -- really sucked!  Being able to keep some form of continuity by holding the last 2 5th grade band rehearsals, I think helped a lot!


*Never underestimate the power of a SMARTBoard in the music classroom.  In a day and age where children spend their lives on computers or in front of televisions, I guess it makes sense that by using the board for a lesson (that could have been a bit mundane) they would get all excited, completely engaged, and completely demonstrate understanding and mastery of the topic.  


4th Grade example:  A lesson on How Melodies Move, we discussed the 3 main ways they move:repeated, step, skip.  We then sang the song: "I Don't Care if the Rain Comes Down."  Then I had the students using the pens, and highlighters completely mark-up the music identifying how the melody moved.  Wow they raced to the board, couldn't wait for their turn -- and most of all, they got it!


3rd Grade example:  I am really trying to drill BAG on the staff with this year's 3rd grade because they are a low academic group.  The week before the recorders come in (last week), we learned the song "Give My Regards to Broadway."  (sheet music on the SB of course!).  Then we identified all the Bs, As, and Gs by highlighting them different colors.  Then they came up with a body position for each of the notes -- and we sang it again (slowly) and they had to do the body positions.  So, their hw was a worksheet that had them circle all Bs, square all As, and triangle all Gs -- and they got it.... they actually got it


So yay for some really cool things, Boo for some stress.
Let's see what this week has to offer....

So yeah ... not so much

So the plan today was to start working on some new great SMARTBoard lessons for the 09-10 school year.  What did I do instead? Go shopping!  Well... new clothes are important for the school year too!  Isn't that more important anyways, looking good?  Well having a varied wardrobe is.  Last year one of my 4th grade beginning sax students noticed that I liked wearing this one black sweater-vest thingy.  Now, I never wore it with the same shirt 2x in the same month and I tried to wear it once every 2 weeks -- but either way, my not so fashionable, quite immature 4th grader noticed.  So today I solved that problem -- I bought a grey sweater-vest.

Okay if you are still reading this, I applaud you since this has nothing to do with teaching or music or SMARTBoard lessons.  Well, school starts in about 2 weeks and my plan for the rest of my vacation is to record all of the chorus acompaniments for my winter concert (which is 1 day before the holiday break this year, expect many a vent about that coming up), make some SMARTBoard lessons for kindergarten and fourth grade, make up the materials for the new 4th grade units I created, revamp my whole 1st grade curriculum (whenever my MusicPlay 1st grade actually comes in), update the class website, and maybe relax.

Let's see what happens.  Tomorrow is hang out with hubby day, then Tuesday begins recording.  Should be fun -- it always an interesting experience!