#musedchat Archive
Each Monday evening at 8PM EST, music teachers get together and share ideas about important topics within music education. It’s a great chance to interact directly with educators from all over the world and to get new tips and tricks to help you succeed in the classroom. The entire #musedchat discussion is organized and moderated by Joe Guarr.
Monday May 23, 2016
Phyllis! Last week of school here in Louisiana.5th grade chorus/7th&8th grade piano ... found out piano is being cut next year :(
Hi Phyllis, sorry to hear the news. That's a skill I think a lot of kids enjoy developing.
Ms. Mackey, K-5 general music, central WI. To me, success = Ss wanting to continue in music.
Welcome to the chat! Agreed, getting Ss excited about music is a big success.
Continuing in music = excitement to return to my class, pursuing lessons out of school, joining MS/HS band/orch/choir
How others view success: quality performances/concerts.
Q1: What are some goals you typically set for yourself/your students at the beginning of the year?
Hi everybody! First time back in a while. Adam from NJ
Great to see you Adam, welcome back!
A1: in beginner band, learn the concert Bb scale, clarinets down to F, trumpets can lip slur C-G, perc can flam and paradiddle
A1: 7/8 band. Develop tone and reading skills. Sharps shouldn't be scary. We try to get to A major by the end of the year.
Hi all! Sam Fritz Greenwood IN 6-8 band
Good evening to you Sam, hope you're well tonight.
Gen music k-5 & chorus. Maryland
A1:
5th - count rhythms numerically by the end of the year
3rd - read all (in-staff) treble clef note names b4 starting recorder
A1: 6th band Ab 1 8va chromatic, F descending Remington, blocks of sound - understand and can tune with a tuner
A1: for me - score study and prep better this year. Coach more than correct
A2: Do you still consider your year a success if you don't reach some of your main goals? Why or why not?
Whoops, that should've read Q2
A1: I always tried to just get them to listen to eachother. I had 3-5 chorus so it was sometimes their first ensemble
A2: it's always a success if you live through it lol. I always aimed high at the beginning better to have more goals than less
A2: Each year the students can be wildly different. Goals evolve to fit the needs of the group.
A2: success is achieved one failure at a time - so the more I fail, the closer to success I am and the more I learn (so do Ss)
A2: the goals might not be reached but have still put me ahead on the path that I want to take.
A2: Yes. Even if goals weren't met, we probs learned something differently important in the process.
Yes! In an ed. setting, we can't define failure as the opposite of success.
A2: I always think "oh man I should've taught THAT this year" but it's impossible to squeeze everything in, & that's okay.
I have seen First Attempt In Learning and I totally buy in https://t.co/8GUjMavRmU
Yes! In an ed. setting, we can't define failure as the opposite of success.
I like Edison's view. 'I haven't failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
I love ! Observed our guidance counselor teaching a lesson on it to kindergarten, made so much sense!
Next year I get to teach 15 classes each of 3rd-5th grade. By class 15 I better have it right! Ha!
I call it "building lightbulb moments" based on that very quote!
Q3: How is your success measured by those outside of your program?
A3: in a word - CONCERTS.
A3: kids talk. Word travels.
A2 Goals point a direction. It's great to achieve them, but just having them is a success in planning.
A3: how much they've improved throughout the year.
A3: At the elementary level, I often feel like I have higher musicality standards for concerts than my audience does.
Having those few snapshots throughout the year is great to demo growth. Audience sees leaps.
In my current district I only have 1 concert a year, in spring. Harder to show growth.
However, they are K-5 concerts, so the audience can see growth from grade to grade.
A2: yes, if I reach kids and they have those "A-ha" moments or if they buy into the band experience.
Q4: Success often looks different from student to student. How do you celebrate this variety of successes?
A4: compliments at their level. praise for the S who remembered not to play on a rest & the S w/ a black belt in .
A4: I have a S-DREADED band for 5 months. Something clicked-now he's last2 leave, loves band, practices, gives me homemade gifts
A4: celebrate that our each get better at something. Sometimes that means we have to be less horrible - excellence will come
A4: I've found this year that the rest of the class has been AWESOME at celebrating when Ss new to band experience success.
