What I learned on my Summer Vacation

While sitting on the rug, I like to start the year with new things I have learned or found over the summer. It creates a culture of sharing with my students. So, it’s not about all the trips and vacations the students have done, but about learning they did.

Seating chart

I then let them choose their chair.  I let the student choose and change the seating every month. Of course, during the month if problems arise you move a student, but it rarely happens to me. I use the promethean board loaded with they names already on the board and simply move the names around to the seating.

Classroom Management

Those dreaded classroom rules. Click here for my rules. This is the least talked about and the most important. Set your rules the first day, but don’t make the first day all about rules. Know that 90% of your students will never break the rules on purpose, so the rules are for the 10%. Have less than ten rules, and briefly go over them. Have procedures about leaving the classroom, bathroom pass, and your feeling on coming late.

First day, get it done

The first day the students should leave with “something” they have done. Something they can say “this is cool.” This will also set the tone for the year. Wow the students the first day and they will wow you the rest year.

Be passionate

Show your excitement about your subject and let them “feel the love!”

Remember when parents ask “How did school go today?” Students talk about “She was nice.” It’s all about being nice the first day!

You can create a video (in less than 5 minutes) using searches. I had to fine-tune mine and there aren’t a lot of choices in music (of course I would prefer to compose my own.)

Here is my little creation – in honor of the Master’s tournament last Sunday. Current events are also my passion!

Taught/Taut Group 08/09 Golden Apple Scholars

This summer I had the opportunity to work with future teachers, the Golden Apple Scholars, part of the Golden Apple Foundation. This is a wonderful four-year program and starts with the student directly out of high school. It is highly competitive, since they live in the dorms either at DePaul or Elmhurst College for four summers they get “professional” teaching from Golden Apple Fellows and networking with each other. As part of the program, they must attend an Illinois School and teach, upon graduation in a school of need for five years. They receive a summer stipend as well as forgiveness on student loans. The students are amazing and extremely talented in so many ways. They attend for five weeks, so due to this commitment I decided that I would not attend any professional growth conferences or present at any conference for myself, aside from the Apple Distinguished Educators conference I am humbly a part of now.

As these conferences are coming and going, I feel a strong desire to still learn, still grow, and still connect. So, did I make the correct decision by staying behind and work with the new future teachers? Surprisingly I have to a bit of yes and bit of no – wishing I was bonding with all my techies. Thank goodness for ustream, so I can see see what is going on at the conferences. Then it got me to thinking – so many of us in the web 2.0 environment get upset with fellow teachers that don’t get it or don’t want to try new technologies. We don’t understand how they can constantly teach year to year the same way, while we move farther and farther into the new direction of education. As we attend these conferences, we connect and feel we are part of the new direction of education. Ironically and sadly many other teachers, stuck in 1990’s, will NOT have that feeling this summer. But, here is my charge to all of us “techies.” We MUST engage ourselves outside our bubble, search out where we can teach those newbies and be involved in the “old” way in order to help others learn the new technologies, and dramatically change  our classrooms with new instruction.

So, take and give back – isn’t that the motto of PLN? (Personal Learning Network) Take and give, a state of mind. On going, always there.

BTW the group name?? “Taught” or “taut” no slacking! That IS this group – not a slacker to be found!

Number 1

I was a vocal major in college and sang opera. Singing is the only time I really am relaxed and in the zone. My personal hero and idol is Beverly Sills. She had an amazing voice and a wonderful personal story.  I love to sing classical music, and am going to get my voice back, so on my sabbatical I am  taking jazz and musical theater. I recently put my entire junior recital on the web.

Number 2

I have produced and directed over 175 shows, but I never had a part in a show, well, one line ‘Where’s Wang Ta?” (I have a blogpost all about this) It is the main reason I have so many shows with so many casts, to give my students every opportunity to shine and perform.

Number 3

Never wanted to get married, met my husband and in six days was engaged. Got married six months later, best thing I ever did. I have been married fifteen years to the greatest guy in the world. He is the reason I can do so much. He is amazing. He’s not a musician, nor an educator, or  “even a “theater kid,” but my biggest cheerleader, even if he does not understand what I do.

Number 4

Took up golf and skiing much later in life, I should have done it sooner, learning these sports in your forties is hard. I once shot 100 and I have gone down a black diamond.

Number 5

Took flying lessons at the age the twelve, my teacher was taught by Charles Lindbergh. (Yes, THE Charles Lindbergh) My father and grandfather were private pilots. Didn’t realize how cool it was at the time.

Number 6

I love college football and watch every college game I can, so January 1 is my Mecca day. I went to a college that music and sports worked very well together. Many of my music friends were in TBDBITL,  better known as THE Ohio State Marching Band. I teach my students the fight song as part of the curriculum. Go Bucks!!!

Number 7

In the summer between my junior and senior year in high school my parents told me I had to get a job, so I quietly met with my voice teacher and tryed out for a scholarship for the cherub program at Northwestern University. I got the scholarship, my parents were thrilled. Years later they found out know that the real reason I wanted to go to camp was not to work. That summer I fell in love with music and haven’t turned back.

Personal quotes I live by

“It is those things that you don’t want to that change your life.” or “It is the right turns in life that make the difference.”

Here are seven people I would like to learn more about:

Nan Norris
Selena Ward
Brenda Muench
Karin Beil
David Fisher
Lee Korbert
Andy Zweibel

Can’t wait to hear from some of them, of course, they are very busy people and please don’t feel the pressure to participate in this activity. It’s just fun learning about people that have the same passion.

Interactive Music – www.muxicall.com

This is an incredible site that you can create music by clicking. It is a project developed my Diana Antunes, University of Averiro, to explore sound and colors. It was an experiement and the notes do not follow a stepwise matter, so I am going to have to look at this more closely so students can be successful in creating compositions.  I plan on using the site for collaboration, by playing sounds together in class.

Interactive Games http://www.kwarp.com/

Greg Leiberman, a computer science major at University of Southern California. He originally got started creating comics. What you witness is a a development of comics into gaming. I think this site will be one of my student’s favorite because you can see his early work and how he developed into gaming. You could spend hours looking at all his drawings and his games. The site is very user-friendly.

Interactive Math Game - http://www.planarity.net

Created by John Tantalo, a computer science major at Case Western Reserve. This is a math game using a planer graph. The first time I was on this site, I spent a half-hour trying to get past level four of ten levels. (I am still working on level four) Math students are really going to enjoy this one. Highly addictive.

I hope you marvel at these incredible sites with idea that talented and gifted students love to create and “allow” your students to experiment within your classes.

I quietly had dinner and as I was walking out, I saw a friendly face. There was Marj Haber, a Michigan Technology Organizer and Barton Polot, a wonderful professor from Schoolcraft College. Super music techies. They invited me over to talk, and the connection was immediate. I explained my lack of a laptop, but they were PC people. However, she had a bigger crisis than mine. Through a mess up of dates, the PC lab of computers, keyboards, and software will not arrive until 7am the next day. The first session was 9am. I assured her I would be in the lab early to help.

I got 45 minutes of sleep realizing I had no computer and all the “what if’s” I quickly ate breakfast and headed down to the convention hall. There were many people running around getting things in order. I talked to some people about the need of a Mac, with iWork 8 installed. Within five minutes, without hesitation, a Brian Roelandt, of the Communication Arts Academy handed over his computer and said – take it. Whatever you need.

As I write this it comes to mind how cool we are as music teachers. We have the skill of performing and creating music, along with the empathy of others. We all have been in the same situations of lost music, mouthpieces, tech supplies and costumes. Without thinking we jump to help of others and realize that is the important issue – to connect and make things happen. We are the YES people on staff.

Well, the story is not over. As I was driving back home, I had a small car accident at the tollbooth. Large enough to file a report, small enough to drive to the police station to file it. Yes, you guessed it, although a businessman, he was a musician, and his wife was a teacher.

So, here it goes:

Use of a Laptop: $3000
Car Accident: $1000
Being a music teacher: PRICELESS

This is spirit of Mary Hoffman,  a wonderful music professor at University of Illinois, that believes in a total music program, is a community of caring talented individuals that make the world better. We do make a difference, for our students and each other. Thank you for all you do.

When starting a new program, you can simply show how to start the program and all the basic steps to the program. If this is a project, explain it from the website with the guidelines, rules, and grading. This should only be at most twenty minutes. Move fast as the pages load. After twenty minutes, you will experience students getting restless. On the first day after the “left brain” part of the lesson, the rest of the time is an experimental day. They do not have to save; they should explore the program for the rest of the period.

The second day, spend ten minutes in “left-brain” day. Repeating the entire first lesson at a faster pace. You want to make sure everyone understands what is expected so no “re-teaching” of basic parts has to be accomplished at a later date. Not to say that you won’t have to remind student’s simple short cuts, but you don’t have to completely re-teach. Re-teaching can slow your material down. The slower and methodical you are the first day, the better. The second day move faster. Never show previous work that other students have done in the class. Students tend to copy each other and not think outside the box.