I promised my creative drama class...

that I would write my blog about that class this week.  Creative Drama class is an enrichment class.  The students who are in there are put in there in a random way, and they go through a rotation through the year, from drumming class to my class and then to other enrichment classes as well.  The students in the class this quarter are all boys.  There are twenty-four of them.  They would not have chosen to be in a creative drama class if they had been asked what they wanted to learn.  No- these boys are more interested in hockey, in video games, in outdoor activities, in hunting, fishing and the like.  However, I have known these young men since last winter, so they have learned that I take the course and my work with it very seriously, even though I can have fun too.  I have taught them about the growth mindset, about resilience, grit and determination, and they have shown this throughout the quarter.

This class is all about speaking and listening skills.  We have spent a great deal of time working on speaking alone in front of the class.  They began by reading poems that they had chosen.  For example, there were poems about sports, hockey, lacrosse and soccer.  There were poems about animals and insects as well.  I enjoyed listening to the students and helping them to put more expression into their reading.  We discussed how this might help them later on.  One person said, "It could help us if we had to give a toast at a wedding. " "or a speech at a funeral" someone added.."or if we were to ask someone to marry.."  I loved that one, of course.  They thought about how they could use this skill when they were talking to a class if they became teachers, administrators, heads of companies.

The next speaking and listening work we did was to create a story together, "fortunately, unfortunately"- You sit in a circle, and the first person begins the story and then says, "fortunately.." and adds something that happened that would be fortunate, then the next person adds an "unfortunately" situation, and so forth.  We played other interesting games, and then began to work on monologues.  Now we are working on taking a subject: your room, your family, your favorite sport, your possible career path, your first experience doing something, something you are knowledgeable about, and I give them the subject as they are approaching their audience, and they have to speak about that subject for one minute extemporaneously.  We will add more time as they get better at it, and I will give them more difficult and complex themes as they get more schooled in this exercise.

At the end, they will have had a lot of experience with speaking and listening, and if they ever decide to get involved in theater or drama clubs, or anything of this kind, they will have my class and their work in this class to fall back on.  Talk to you all next time!  Enjoy your winter break!

My Dear Companion - Writing Across the Curriculum- Letters

This week in general music class we are discussing two important subjects:   Tonic, and  Loss.  The Appalachian folk song "My Dear Companion" can be found in our general music books, and we have been practicing our sight reading with this haunting but simple melody.  We learned some vocabulary while we were practicing this sight reading.  For example, the key signatures are symbols at the beginning of the piece that show what sharps and flats are being used.  This also tells us what "Do" is.

We can then identify the scale and the key and finally what the "tonic" is.  We had a discussion about the word "Tonic".  Many students knew it as a drink.  Yes, it used to be a drink that would make you feel better, in other words, you would feel more like yourself after you drank it, it was a drink with medicinal qualities.  It also means that place that you believe makes you feel like you are home, a tonic, a good place where you feel well.  So- does that not translate to the musical definition of "tonic"?  Why, of course.  The Tonic in music is the first and last note of the scale.  It is the note of the scale that is also called the "home tone" and it is often the first and last note of the song.  We begin and end at "home".  We begin at the tonic, and we spend many phrases trying to return to the tonic.  We also connected the "tonic" discussion back to the idea that when we compose music, we often start on the tonic note as well.  This helps the ear of the listener get situated before you go elsewhere and listen to new, unfamiliar material.  We are happy to begin at the "home tone" or "tonic" and we are even happier upon our return to it.  All folk songs begin and end that way, no matter what key they are in.

 We move the discussion from the "tonic" to the idea of what the song is about.  "Oh have you seen my dear companion, for she was all this world to me, I hear she's gone to some far country, and that she cares no more for me."  We decided this could be about someone breaking up, it could be about someone moving away, it could also be that someone has passed away and has gone to "a far country", which could be a euphemism for one's final resting place.  We discussed the next line, "I wish I were some swallow flying, I'd fly to a high and lonesome place."  The question I ask is, "why"?  Because, they say, "when you are really sad you don't want to be around anyone else.  When you cry, it makes other people uncomfortable, so it is best to stay alone."  And then- how do we make connections between music and our own experiences in life, our own "interpersonal interactions" as the Maine visual and performing arts standard says?  Ah- not easy.  The assignment is to write a letter to a person you know or knew, someone you argued with, or someone who died, or someone who moved away..describe your relationship, describe your memories, describe the music you might have shared.  This is a complicated and emotional assignment, but it also works on how to write a letter, how to compose and articulate ideas and memories, and it also is just about reading and writing across the curriculum.   The letters begin with Dear..and end with sincerely, fondly, etc.. I grew up writing letters, but these children did not.  So- it is, if nothing else, a history lesson, a way that music connects with social studies, with our interpersonal relationships, and how it connects with writing, to me an essential part of our teaching.

Learning Targets Reflection

I have always utilized learning targets in my classroom, just to organize my thoughts.  I have always wanted to know where I am going with a particular idea when I begin to think about creating a lesson plan.  We learned this technique when we studied curriculum development and from the beginning when teaching our subject matter.  We called them teaching objectives at that point, and we created them from the national standards for music at that time.  They were important to all of us, because they were like signposts to tell us where we were going with our class, and to help us organize our work with the students, as well as create assessments that directly related to our objectives and that related to the larger standards.  The national and state standards were the final destinations, and the learning objectives were the small waystations along the journey.

There is a sense that we are re-defining these learning objectives, and now, of course they are not called teaching objectives anymore.  But with the change of verbiage, also comes a slight change in both focus and purpose, both of which are inspirational and thought-provoking.  The teaching objectives are now learning targets, and they are always written as "I can" statements.  This is not just a change in vernacular, but a change in focus and responsibility as well.  The students are now responsible for their own learning because the statements are always on the board, they are always on our rubrics and on our assignments, and because we begin and end our lessons with them each day. They are also more responsible now, though, because the statements are not, "Students will" but instead, "I can"- who is "I"?  Students need to read those statements, and be aware that the targets are now their choice to focus themselves, their choice to meet and/or exceed, their choice to work on alone or in groups.  It is their learning, it is not our teaching that brings them to the next level of Bloom's taxonomy, or to the next target along the way.  The learning target world has shifted us from the "teacher" role to the "facilitator" role, and as that has always been my philosophy of education, I am refreshed by this particular technique, this particular focus, this very constant overall structure of teaching.

From...

Learning Targets on Parade
Susan M. Brookhart and Connie M. Moss 

A learning target describes, in language students can understand, what students will learn in today's lesson. That description can be accomplished through words, pictures, demonstrations, or other experiences;; it doesn't have to be in an "I can" statement. A learning target should

1. Describe for students exactly what they're going to learn by the end of the day's lesson.
   
2. Be in language students can understand.
   
3. Be stated from the point of view of a student who has yet to master the knowledge or skill that's the focus of the
   day's lesson.
   
4. Be embodied in a performance of understanding—what the students will do, make, say, or write during the
   lesson—that translates the description into action. A performance of understanding shows students what the
   learning target looks like, helps them get there, and provides evidence of how well they're doing.
   
5. Include student look fors (sometimes called criteria for success) in terms that describe mastery of the learning
   target rather than in terms of a score or grade. 
   

I question the word "parade" however...a parade suggests a schmorgasbord of many, many man-made things...is this not a very specific and related way of writing, reading, relating, learning, and studying, not a schmorgasbord? Hmmmm...let's talk!!!