Music Teachers Chatboard

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Garland/GA I'm on a cart at one school and can totally sympathize! I still do recorders, much to the dismay of any classes on the same hall. You will figure out a plan so that the kids can get what they need!

Nov 13, 2015

anon On 11/12/15, DonnaR/CA wrote: > Do you have an association rep that could go with you, to > the principal, to protest this? I had something similar > that they tried to force on me -- to move me out of my > music room for a week for the Santa Gift Shop. My rep went > with me, and the Gift Shop got moved somewhere else. One > of th...See More

Nov 15, 2015

ATL Supt. cuts music but performs violin smashing act!

by Adam

Nov 7, 2015

Drastic cuts to Atlanta Public Schools Music Programs and Superintendent performs tasteless violin smashing parody! Sad, “Performance Irony!”

APS mission = Culture of Respect!

Never do this to a violin, even as a joke and hope younger siblings don't follow publicly displayed disrespectful example. Certainly, students would be ...See More

Defending what I do

by bec

Nov 6, 2015

We are rehearsing for a school wide veteran's day program and yesterday got the whole grade level together (6 classes) to practice on the stage. This means that some of them missed their PE class or art class and the emails are coming in about "choir" cutting in to their "specials" time. "Is this true? Please clarify."...See MoreWe are rehearsing for a school wide veteran's day program and yesterday got the whole grade level together (6 classes) to practice on the stage. This means that some of them missed their PE class or art class and the emails are coming in about "choir" cutting in to their "specials" time. "Is this true? Please clarify."

Fourth and fifth grade went to the symphony and we have been studying concert etiquette. They are writing (in class time) a short paper about concert etiquette. Admittedly, to encourage participation in our program I told them that if they came to the program and performed that they would not have to write the paper because they would be demonstrating their knowledge in a more authentic way. So now I a punishing the children who do not volunteer to come and sing.

The teachers at our school think that we don't do anything and have complained to the principal that we don't have to tutor so we now have to sub for them when they "can't be there" to tutor their own students. One teacher required a sub nine times during the sememster. Yet when I had choir scheduled at 7:15 am and woke up throwing up I had to go in anyway because no one else would be at the school to let them in and they would be standing outside unsupervised.

Last year we had a parent threatening to go district level because we moved their precious son into a different class so that he would not be constantly playing around with his best friends. He did beautifully in the new class and was finally learning and allowing others around him to learn too. But that didn't matter because we singled him out and he was the only one who had to change classes and that wasn't fair. That wasn't really true because we shifted classes often, but of course belligerent parents don't know that.

It isn't really representative of our community because many parents love music and that their children are learning and performing. But the vocal few make we wonder why I try so hard to have a good program when people just don't value it. Our Music supervisor is always trying to get us to advocate for music, but again, do the English teachers have to constantly tell parents how important their subject is? I really don't like telling people how important I am - it just seems so .....desperate?

Michele Unfortunately, I don't have any answers for you. But, I will stand up on the soap box with you and shout "Amen!" :-)

Nov 6, 2015

Charlotte Your last comment says it for me. I hate advocating purely for the sake of advocating. I do try to maintain a strong presence in the school and give my kids lots of performing opportunities in front of parents, teachers, and admin.

Honestly, other teachers always seem to be the worst offenders here. So unfortunate. Someone mentioned a job...See More

Nov 6, 2015

Elementary Music Assessment and Data Collection

by Karin

Nov 4, 2015

Hi!

I work as an elementary music teacher and my school is preparing for accreditation. For that, they need data collection and I am struggling with documenting what I observe in each class. I do assess students and put it into the grade book, but it is mostly through observation and students doing things hands-on. Other subjects collect d...See More

Mrs H You can show the rubric you use to assess performance tasks. What we do is different from the regular classroom, so our methods look different, and that's okay! Good luck!

Nov 5, 2015

Charlotte I agree. Share your rubric(s) and maybe show an example of how you keep track of your assessments. You might even do a short write-up of why assessment by observation is the primary way to track student progress in music classes.

Nov 5, 2015

Wasn't That a Mighty Day lyrics?

by Mrs H

Oct 29, 2015

I am looking for additional verses to this song, as printed in the Share the Music 3rd grade text. There's only one verse listed there. I'd like to do it with my 3rd graders for our holiday program, but it's so short! Does anyone know any more verses? I could write my own, but I want to stay authentic if I can. Thanks!

DonnaR/CA On 10/29/15, Mrs H wrote: > I am looking for additional verses to this song, as printed > in the Share the Music 3rd grade text.

I hope this is the same song I'm thinking of - I have that text, but it's at school.

1. Wasn't that a mighty day, Wasn't that a mighty day, Wasn't that a mighty day, When Jesus Christ was born. <...See More

Oct 31, 2015

Mrs H Thanks, Donna - that is what I did, and I did find these words, but this is a different song! I can't seem to find the one I'm looking for. I think I'll have to do an instrumental verse!

Nov 2, 2015

Looking for out of print Christmas program

by R Penner

Oct 25, 2015

I'm looking for a copy of the out-of-print accompaniment cassette for the children's Christmas musical "Something's Up Down in Bethlehem"

We used to have 2 music teachers and met with our choir every other day. Now I am the only teacher for 865 students who see me only once a week and choir meets before school. I was planning a program with 9 songs and am beginning to realize that this may have been too ambitious. Fourth and 5th grades meet separately once a week for what ends up bei...See More

Christmas program

by bec

Oct 22, 2015

Mrs H This has happened to me before, too, when I programmed too much music but they didn't accomplish what I had hoped. I think it's perfectly okay to cut back, especially because your time and resources are not what they once were. I put it back on me with the kids, too. I told them that we just didn't have the time to get done everything I had planned...See More

Oct 23, 2015

DonnaR/CA On 10/23/15, Mrs H wrote:

> doing more stuff less well. They seemed relieved, because > they didn't want to be embarrassed, either. And to my > knowledge, no parents complained! Good luck.

If you have to "stretch" your program a little bit, you can do a few other things (that you may have already thought of): ...See More

Oct 24, 2015

SLO

by Michelle in SC

Oct 16, 2015

Hello, all! I'm sure you all have heard of SLOs, or Student Learning Objectives. Is there anyone out here who can share some wisdom on how to write them? If so, would you please email me at michelle.[email removed].

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Garland/GA In our county, they showed some samples of what schools around us have adopted. We choose one, tweaked it to fit our county expectations, and revisit it each May to make sure it is still what we want/make changes. GA had a database for them, maybe SC does too?

On 10/16/15, Michelle in SC wrote: > Hello, all! > I'm sure you all have ...See More

Oct 22, 2015

7th grade music - Christmas Program

by Gary

Oct 22, 2015

UGH. We already have all of our Christmas music learned and memorized for the concert and now everyone is forgetting their words. The concert is not until Dec 8. I added 4 new songs so that gives us 8 songs for the 7th grade and now they are forgetting the words. I think I need to give them an mental break and start again. I try to work dynamics, p...See More

good chair test for 7th and 8th graders

by Allen Rogers

Oct 20, 2015

i need a chair test for 7th and 8th graders French horn or any dynamic exercises

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why not just use concert parts? nfm On 10/20/15, Allen Rogers wrote: > i need a chair test for 7th and 8th graders French horn or > any dynamic exercises

Oct 20, 2015