Thinking Outside the Music Box

This JUST in: I've been having troubles getting the students quiet as quickly as I wanted them to be lately. My principal says that compared to some other teachers, it's WAY faster, but I know they can get quieter better. The method that I had been working for most of the year so far was "Eyes on me in 3...2...1" which gave them a few seconds to finish their conversations, but lately I've had to countdown two or three times before getting the quiet.

The new idea? A MUSIC BOX!

Now, I haven't tried this out yet at all and want to test it tomorrow, but here's the plan: I have a music box that my grandparents gave me that I just wound up all the way to find out it plays for just under four minutes. My plan is to wind it up at the beginning of each class so that it has full song capacity. Any time the students are getting too loud or won't settle down, I will simply open the box and let it play until they are quiet. If the box runs out of music, they will have to sit in silence for the rest of the class. If there is still music left at the end, we will get a sticker chart or some way to keep track of how many days each class has made it without running out of time.

I counted up how many school days there are left in the year (50!) and am brainstorming some kind of incentive for the silence. What I'm thinking of now is a pizza party for any classes that can get 30 days without running out of music. This won't break the bank, and I could still have the kids bring a dollar or something to offset the cost as long as they earn it!

I'll be sure to report back with whether or not this works, but I'm excited to see the outcome! If you have any thoughts, comments, or suggestions, please let me know!!

Brahms: The Board Game

At my last school where I teach only choir, each day of the week has a different theme. "Writer Wednesday" is one of the kid's favorite's because they get to learn about a new composer each month and discover neat life facts and listen to music.

For February, we studied a composer of the Romantic era...Brahms! (duh)

The first week, the kids did a scavenger hunt to gather facts from their classmates about his life, compositions, and important world events during that time period. Last week, we studied and listened to some of his first symphony. We talked about the alps and how he discovered the main melody and I even got to play my horn for some of the excerpts which they loved. This week, they are creating "Brahms: The Board Game" in groups of 4-5. They were working so hard with such great ideas, I'm letting them finish up today! I can't wait to see the final products from so many of these games.

The best part about Brahms month though? RAISIN BRAHMS! (<-Click the link if you have never seen it! Travis Whaley, I will forever be thankful for this video!)

So what will March bring us on Writer Wednesday? SOUSA! (duh, again!)

Just A Quick Note...

This was my first full teaching week in a month for the following reasons:

• Last week: No school Tuesday or Wednesday due to freezing temperatures
• Week before: No school Friday for teacher work day or Tuesday and Wednesday due to CMEA
• Week before that: No school Monday due to MLK Jr. Day

While Monday was off to a rough start, the week ended quite well. I was worried that students were going to be so out of routine that it would take the whole week just to get them back on track and used to me again, but it only took a day!

I've started implementing themed days to my three Brentwood choir classes and the kids are really enjoying the different changes of pace for each day.

Motion Monday begins with all the chairs cleared out to the perimeter of the room and we rarely use them throughout the day. Instead, we are moving around the room to the parts they are singing, using hand motions, or other movement-based ideas that we don't normally do.

Teacher Tuesday happens when the UNC students come in on Tuesdays to teach part of the lessons. Having someone else in front of the room is exciting for the kids, but it also gives me a chance to mobilize more and really listen in on individuals by standing right by them. Tuesday is also sometimes switched or combined with Technique Tuesday where we have an extended warm up to focus on specific techniques for our music even more than normal.

Writer Wednesday focuses on a composer, along with listening from that composer, in the middle of each week. Since we are approaching Valentine's Day on Monday, we've been studying Brahms because he was a composer in the Romantic Era and because of his messed up love life. The kids really are getting into it and were able to spit out information even today even though we just had only talked about him on Wednesday so far. I'm planning on letting them watch the Raisin Brahms commercial next week! :)

Theory Thursday hits the music theory and sight reading hard. They still do a tiny bit of theory each day, but Thursdays are much more intense. We clap and count four rhythm exercises and then sing and sign six solfege exercises every Thursday. So far, they have learned whole, half, quarter, eighth, and dotted rhythms and are sight reading in treble clef from do-fa. We spent the beginning of the year learning both clefs and all their notes, so now they are applying what they learned to solfege.

Free-Seat Friday or Friday Funday alternates, depending on if they have earned it in the week. Today, sixth and seventh graders were gone with their grades so I only had eighth graders. For my first class it was no big deal because they are mostly eighth graders. As a special treat for them, I challenged them with their very first piece of three-part music and they sight-read it and did great! Compared to where they started at the beginning of the year, I am so proud of these guys! My next class I only had eight left so we did the human knot to work on teamwork and then played musical chairs while moving to the music. The last class had only four students, so we did similar things. It was neat being able to bond with the eighth graders a bit because once they are completely won over, they will be able to help convince some of the younger students who will be around longer that the stubbornness won't get them anywhere!

This was a rough week for the family as well. My aunt passed away on Monday after about a year-long fight against cancer. The weekend was super emotional due to the ups and downs there, so not much rest or work was able to be taken care of. Yesterday, I received a text from my dad in the middle of the day saying that my step-grandfather had passed away after a long illness as well. Between those two events, everything was thrown way into perspective and I started realizing more and more how incredibly hard it is to be so far from home and not able to help out at all.

Along those lines, Dad is coming out!!! He's applying for a job in Boulder and has an interview at the end of the month so it will be really good to see him then! It would be so great to have some family close by too, even just to get away for an afternoon to hike in the mountains with him (and Monica).

Tonight, Tom and I got all snazzed up and headed to dinner and the Big Band Boogie Ball, hosted by one of the high schools in town. The event had jazz bands, a waltz orchestra, and a jazz choir from different middle schools, high schools, and even more professional groups around town and was held in the UNC ballroom. There were tons of people there and everyone was having a good time dancing to great live music! Tons of my students were there, including my new private student, and my middle schoolers were so funny when they saw me in a dress...I'm sure I won't hear the end of it on Monday. Yesterday, they were asking if I was going to go and then asked if I was going to wear a dress and heels since they think they have never seen me in either before. I told them they were ridiculous! Even though we were suckered ;) into holding the limbo stick, the night was tons of fun and watching The Office afterward was the perfect ending to a very FULL week.

Now to see if next week can either equal this or (hopefully) improve!!

...I guess this wasn't a quick note after all...

Choosing Sides

As the Super Bowl kickoff was getting nearer, I heard my phone beep from the kitchen island counter. I walked over to it and responded to my dad's text that simply read, "Packers or Steelers?" That was the question rolling around in people's minds across the planet. Egypt is imploding. There are deadly storms in Australia. But what was the biggest concern? Was it going to be Rogers or Roethlisberger who would prevail today?

The Packers and Steelers each claim two of the most loyal fan bases in football. Their supporters love to express their support for their teams in radical, unpredictable ways.

But here's a prediction that could have been bet on and WON: at a critical game-changing moment during the Super Bowl, television cameras were bound to flash on some extreme green-painted or black-painted fan (occasionally even on some of the players), hands clinched in a pose, eyes closed, and face intensely crunched muttering a "prayer" ...asking the Creator of the Universe to take sides in the game...

Does God take sides in the Super Bowl? Is it fair to pray for one team over another? Many believe God answers prayers, all prayers. So how does he handle sticky situations like this? Does God care about sporting prayers?

Using the Ordinary for the Extraordinary

Everything you need to fulfill your destiny is within your reach. Sometimes, these items may look ordinary, but when placed in God's hands they will become extraordinary.

Take David for example...he had a slingshot and a pile of stones. He could have thought he had no chance against Goliath with such ordinary objects, but knew how to make them extraordinary. Moses? He had a stick. Pharaoh and the others were cornering them against the sea and it looked like there was no option. Moses could have asked for something big, and that's eventually what happened, but it started with something small. He was asked to pick up a stick and hold it in the air.

Here's the key: If you do the ordinary, God will do the extraordinary. If you do the natural, you'll have help with the supernatural.

Moses held up the rod, the ordinary stick, and you know the rest of the story...

Could it be you are looking somewhere far away when the answer is close to you? Do you possibly have all you need but you are looking for something that will give you goosebumps when the answer is really ordinary?

God, open my eyes to help me realize what I have at my disposal. Help me recognize the people you put in my life, the resources, the ideas, the opportunities that help me move towards my divine destiny.

Here's the question: Do you recognize what you have? Can you see what's around you, at your disposal, within your reach? It may not seem like much, especially compared to the situation. If you just analyze what you have however, you can defeat whatever giant you are up against with the slightest of materials. As long as you recognize exactly who it is equipping you, you will have nothing to worry about! The giants may be big, but the power backing you up is much, much bigger.