Today I begin a new "DO NOW" with my sixth grade general music students. I am asking them to define these words: "Setting", Character, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, and Resolution. If they know what they mean, then they can write a viable opera story that will meet expectations for the project. We have talked about all this before, but I am not sure that we are all on the same page.
So- this blog is for everyone looking for a definition for each one of these components of an opera story. (Or any story, really)- The setting is the place and time where the action will take place. Be sure that it is a place you are willing to be in for a long time. If you don't care about the place and time, then your listeners and readers won't care either, and won't be intrigued by your story.
The characters make an opera, as you probably have gathered at this point. You need to have at least three characters, and they should have different types of singing voices- tenor is the male higher voice, baritone or bass are the lower ones, and the female voices are soprano and mezzo and alto. If they all have the same type of voice, you won't have contrast! When they sing together, they will also sing in harmony, which is always exciting and pleasing to the audience. They must have interesting personalities that are complex, and not one-sided or easy to understand at first sight. Take the example of the Queen of the Night. She and her gang of people help to kill the serpent for the prince Tamino, and she has a beautiful and kind and thoughtful daughter, and yet, she is angry and spiteful and full of vengeance! Not so easy to understand right away, not bad at first, but maybe not a good person in the end, and not happy, anyway-
The conflict is the problem that will cause the rising action to take place. The rising action is what will continue to happen while the conflict is going on, the climax is the biggest and most exciting moment in the opera and you cannot get there too quickly or the opera will fall flat, so will a story if that is what you are writing.
Finally, the resolution is what will happen at the end, and the characters will be changed forever, as Louis is in my opera story, as Susannah is at the end of my opera story, because they have found each other and can find happiness and joy where there has always been just grit and hard work. Keep grit and hard work with your writing, and you will be changed as well. Life is art, art is life. Think on that, my artistic blog fans, and keep up the good writing and reading and listening! Ach ich fuhls!
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Mastery Connect
We are all learning to use Mastery Connect, the new program for standards-based learning. It is a challenge and a breath of fresh air. It is a challenge because you cannot teach or assess the way you always have for so many years. You cannot think in the same way as you used to about grades, and what they mean. In fact, it is a great deal like learning a new language. If you really want to learn a new language, it is essential that you learn NOT to translate from the old language to the new language.
You cannot give a test that has scores from 1-100 and then translate that into progressing, mastery and exceeds, because you will not be thinking in a standards-based way about learning. Instead, it becomes about the grade, yet again, and it is even worse, because students believe that the numbers are not well-representing the "grade". It has never been about the grade, it is about the learning! It has become about the grade for so many years, and so we are very accustomed to seeing numbers and letters for our grading, and we are also used to taking what we know and relating it to something new.
This is not the way to understand standards-based learning or assessment. We must forget about what we know, forget about 1-100, A,B,C,D, F, and instead, think, what do I want my students to learn? What do the students know about what they are learning? Have they learned it? If they have, they get a mastery level recorded in the program. Have they learned some of it? Then, they are "progressing". If they have learned it, then they get to move on. That is what learning is supposed to be about, moving on, getting better at something, going onto a higher, more complex level. If they haven't learned it, then they get to try again, they get to find another way into it, they get to have more chances to learn it in different ways.
All of a sudden, it is about learning, not about the grade they got. And that, is a breath of fresh air! If they learn to sing a song, or learn to play a song on the piano, then they can perform it, and then they get to learn a harder song, or learn how to compose a song, or learn how to analyze music, because they can read the notes. This "new" way of teaching and assessing is the way we learn things when we are small children. If we practice talking, we get good at talking, and we are able to move onto more and more complex ways of communicating with everyone around us. Did we get grades then? If we practice walking, we get good at walking and we move onto other more complex ways of moving. Did we get grades then? Of course not. We got feedback, maybe, and that is important, and we got the satisfaction of knowing we were getting good at something, and we continued to receive feedback all along the way, to help us get better at all of our skills. It is just as good a way to share information about learning as it ever was, and in fact, it is more descriptive, more thoughtful, more directed, clearer, gentler to children and parents, and more compassionate and less judgmental as well. Carry on, and keep getting smarter and more skilled all the way along!
You cannot give a test that has scores from 1-100 and then translate that into progressing, mastery and exceeds, because you will not be thinking in a standards-based way about learning. Instead, it becomes about the grade, yet again, and it is even worse, because students believe that the numbers are not well-representing the "grade". It has never been about the grade, it is about the learning! It has become about the grade for so many years, and so we are very accustomed to seeing numbers and letters for our grading, and we are also used to taking what we know and relating it to something new.
This is not the way to understand standards-based learning or assessment. We must forget about what we know, forget about 1-100, A,B,C,D, F, and instead, think, what do I want my students to learn? What do the students know about what they are learning? Have they learned it? If they have, they get a mastery level recorded in the program. Have they learned some of it? Then, they are "progressing". If they have learned it, then they get to move on. That is what learning is supposed to be about, moving on, getting better at something, going onto a higher, more complex level. If they haven't learned it, then they get to try again, they get to find another way into it, they get to have more chances to learn it in different ways.
All of a sudden, it is about learning, not about the grade they got. And that, is a breath of fresh air! If they learn to sing a song, or learn to play a song on the piano, then they can perform it, and then they get to learn a harder song, or learn how to compose a song, or learn how to analyze music, because they can read the notes. This "new" way of teaching and assessing is the way we learn things when we are small children. If we practice talking, we get good at talking, and we are able to move onto more and more complex ways of communicating with everyone around us. Did we get grades then? If we practice walking, we get good at walking and we move onto other more complex ways of moving. Did we get grades then? Of course not. We got feedback, maybe, and that is important, and we got the satisfaction of knowing we were getting good at something, and we continued to receive feedback all along the way, to help us get better at all of our skills. It is just as good a way to share information about learning as it ever was, and in fact, it is more descriptive, more thoughtful, more directed, clearer, gentler to children and parents, and more compassionate and less judgmental as well. Carry on, and keep getting smarter and more skilled all the way along!
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
MY FAVORITE QUOTATION ABOUT TEACHING
TODAY I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU MY FAVORITE QUOTATION ABOUT TEACHING. When I moved classrooms last year, I misplaced it, as it was on my wall for many years, and I had to take it down when I moved. I have just re-found it, and I plan to re-copy it and place it behind my desk as a reminder. When I first began teaching, and while I was raising my children, Haim Ginott was a huge educational philosopher and one of my many gurus for teaching and as a parent. This quotation just says it all, and shares everything I want to say about the beginning of school. It is just as relevant now as when it was written so many years ago:
I have come to the frightening conclusion I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized." Haim G. Ginott
I re-dedicate myself to this canon, I want to help my students enjoy life, and learning. I want them to see how far they can go by challenging them, but making it appear effortless at the same time. I hope for all my students that they see my classroom as an exciting, but safe environment, a place that is joyous, and more than anything else, I wish to be an instrument of inspiration that will carry them through their day. A tall order, but I will challenge myself every day to reach it. I know as an example, they will challenge themselves as well. Have a great week, and happy Wednesday to all!
I have come to the frightening conclusion I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized." Haim G. Ginott
I re-dedicate myself to this canon, I want to help my students enjoy life, and learning. I want them to see how far they can go by challenging them, but making it appear effortless at the same time. I hope for all my students that they see my classroom as an exciting, but safe environment, a place that is joyous, and more than anything else, I wish to be an instrument of inspiration that will carry them through their day. A tall order, but I will challenge myself every day to reach it. I know as an example, they will challenge themselves as well. Have a great week, and happy Wednesday to all!
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Second Week of School
I have a new way of teaching general music that began last winter. I share the same time periods with the gym and health teacher, for fifth and sixth grade. Last year we realized that if we have students every other week for two quarters, we will actually see them more, if we factor in tlts and enrichment classes and extra time after school and recess time. It was wonderful last year to have fifth graders for two quarters, and this year we are trying it with sixth graders.
Essentially, we have two first days of school, because of this. Therefore, I had Jaguars last week, and this week I have begun the first week with the Leopard team. I had a great time sharing my story and song with this team, because I had done it several times by the time I got to them. The weather has been a great deal cooler and drier this week than it was last week, so the students are not so uncomfortable in the building. We have gotten a lot accomplished, in other words.
We all composed a sixteen measure rhythm composition and performed it for the class. I have put the scoring guide on my webpage, if it helps to look at it, but everyone remembered how to compose and play their compositions. I have created all my trackers in masteryconnect, and have assessed the students using this new system. The wonderful part is that even if they all were not successful, they are able to try as many times as they need to to get to a mastery level for the project.
My granddaughter getting ready for school!
Essentially, we have two first days of school, because of this. Therefore, I had Jaguars last week, and this week I have begun the first week with the Leopard team. I had a great time sharing my story and song with this team, because I had done it several times by the time I got to them. The weather has been a great deal cooler and drier this week than it was last week, so the students are not so uncomfortable in the building. We have gotten a lot accomplished, in other words.
We all composed a sixteen measure rhythm composition and performed it for the class. I have put the scoring guide on my webpage, if it helps to look at it, but everyone remembered how to compose and play their compositions. I have created all my trackers in masteryconnect, and have assessed the students using this new system. The wonderful part is that even if they all were not successful, they are able to try as many times as they need to to get to a mastery level for the project.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
First day of school 2014-2015
Yesterday was the first day of school for the 2014-2015 school year. I was a little bit nervous, as I am every year, about the first day going well. I am always worried that my technology won't work when I need it to, that I will not find all my students in the correct place, and that I won't be able to remember what I wanted to say to my students on the first day of school! I know you all wanted to hear that, as I still remember how nervous I was as a student on the first day of school, it just never changes, does it?
I wanted to write about sharing my opera story and my song with the class, as it relates to my work this summer and to the other blog posts I have written so far. I began the classes, as I always do, with a review of the habits of work and learning and of an overview of the class for the term. I wanted my students to remember that they will have music for four days of one week, and then they will have gym for the next week, and then they will come back to music, and so forth, all the way until January.
After the "Do Now" project, which took them half of the period, and led to a discussion of what they remember from last year, and what they would like to learn in music, I talked to them about my summer work. I explained that after next week, they too will be writing an opera story. They too, will eventually write a song, and they too, will be sharing some form of this with the class in the weeks to come. I spoke a little too fast, as I always do while sharing my story, but I enjoyed sharing my work with the kids, as I have not ever really done, and I felt like I received some good feedback from them. They understood better what I might be looking for, and I also gave them the option of beginning with the idea of a place where dreams come true. In my story, the place is a cafe where dreams come true. They could begin with a deserted island where dreams come true, they could begin with a planet, a playground, a middle school classroom, whatever they wanted. They could also write their story about something completely different, as long as there are 4 or more characters, there is a plot and a subplot and some twists and turns of the tales. Good luck to all this year, I will be trying to write an update every week, on a subject that has to do with work here in General Music, hope you enjoy it! Be sure to send feedback if you wish! Happy trails!
I wanted to write about sharing my opera story and my song with the class, as it relates to my work this summer and to the other blog posts I have written so far. I began the classes, as I always do, with a review of the habits of work and learning and of an overview of the class for the term. I wanted my students to remember that they will have music for four days of one week, and then they will have gym for the next week, and then they will come back to music, and so forth, all the way until January.
After the "Do Now" project, which took them half of the period, and led to a discussion of what they remember from last year, and what they would like to learn in music, I talked to them about my summer work. I explained that after next week, they too will be writing an opera story. They too, will eventually write a song, and they too, will be sharing some form of this with the class in the weeks to come. I spoke a little too fast, as I always do while sharing my story, but I enjoyed sharing my work with the kids, as I have not ever really done, and I felt like I received some good feedback from them. They understood better what I might be looking for, and I also gave them the option of beginning with the idea of a place where dreams come true. In my story, the place is a cafe where dreams come true. They could begin with a deserted island where dreams come true, they could begin with a planet, a playground, a middle school classroom, whatever they wanted. They could also write their story about something completely different, as long as there are 4 or more characters, there is a plot and a subplot and some twists and turns of the tales. Good luck to all this year, I will be trying to write an update every week, on a subject that has to do with work here in General Music, hope you enjoy it! Be sure to send feedback if you wish! Happy trails!
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