I Will . . .

We had a wonderful staff development day at Burks - maybe one of the best I have been to yet.  Our brilliant principals started off the day tugging on our heart-strings (and especially mine) by showing a couple of clips from Mr. Holland's Opus.  It's only my favorite inspirational movie of all time (runners up include Sister Act 1 and 2, The Sound of Music, and Mary Poppins).  I have never watched that movie without crying, and now that I'm in my fourth year of teaching music and have watched dear friends get cut due to budgets it just hits me even harder.  Thanks for the sob fest, Pam and Garry!  You definitely know how to get my attention!  :)

Gets me every time.

We also revisited and reaffirmed our belief statements and mission statement that we wrote for our school two years ago.   It is very nice to see that those statements are still true and speak to what we believe as a staff, and what I personally believe as a teacher.  Afterwards, we discussed what it looks like to live out those beliefs in our classrooms with our students.  We were challenged to create our own set of "I will . . ." statements and post them outside our doors.  These will serve as reminders to us and allow students, parents, and staff to hold us accountable.  I wanted to share mine here.  

Why I Teach Music

Taken from the the Do-Re-Mi Blog.


Why Teach Music


Music is mathematical.
It is rhythmically based of the subdivisions of time into fractions which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper.


Music is a foreign language.
Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French; and the notation is certainly not English, but a highly developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas.  
The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language.


Music is history.
Music usually reflects the environment and times of its creation, often even the country and/or racial feeling.


Music is physical education.
It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lip, cheek and facial muscles, in addition to extraordinary control of diaphragmatic, back, stomach, and chest muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.


Music is all of these things, but most of all, music is art.
It allows a human being to take all of these dry, technically boring (but difficult) techniques and use them to create emotion.  That is one thing science cannot duplicate; humanism, feeling, emotion, call it what you will.


That is why we teach music.
Not because we expect our students to major in music,
Not because we expect them to play or sing all their life,
Not so they can relax,
Not so they can have fun,
But so they will be human,
So they will recognize beauty,
So they will be sensitive,
So they will be closer to an infinite beyond this world,
So they will have something to cling to,
So they will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness, more good, in short, more life.
Of what value will it be to make a prosperous living unless you know how to live?
That is why we teach music.


author unknown

Warming Up for 2011-2012

      Instrumentalists have a routine they go through when preparing to play a rehearsal or performance.  Getting the horn out of the case, checking its parts, cleaning and oiling (if necessary), and then playing a series of notes/scales/passages all to make sure they are ready to join the group and play their best.  Whether it's conscious or not, most musicians have their own little routine that they go through each time they prepare to play.  It's their warm up.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                              I and my fellow teachers are in the middle of our "warm up" routine right now.  Most of us have been in and out of our classrooms for the last couple of weeks by now, even though our contract days officially started this past Friday.  Beginning tomorrow we have a week of professional development with a little time thrown in for classroom prep and lesson planning.  We each have our own routines that we go through as we prepare to give our best to the kids who will come through our doors in just one week.  This will be my third year at Burks Elementary and I am thrilled that I've been here long enough to establish my "warm up routine".  My instruments are clean (no more killer dust-bunnies in my xylophones!), my bulletin boards are almost finished (minus a little laminating I'll do tomorrow), and my books are organized.  All I need to do now is organize my desk and get my first weeks of lesson plans finalized and submitted!  I'm nearly finished with my warm up and I'm ready to play!  Let's get this school year started!




(x-posted to http://melaniecstewart.weebly.com/blog.html)

Summer Living

It's been an intense summer of continuing ed so far.  We finished wrapping up the school year with our kiddos on Thursday, June 3 and finished up "summer-izing" our classrooms on Friday, the 4th.  I left the next morning for Lubbock where I officially earned my Level 3 Kodaly certification (one more to go!!!!!!!).  I just got back this past Friday (yep, that's right - nearly two full weeks in Lubbock) and I'm still trying to catch up on the sleep I lost from staying up past midnight doing homework.  Whew!  Now, I must finish up the last bit of my Kindermusik training (which I plan to devote my day tomorrow to).  I've been told that I should be able to finish up in about 5 hours.  That's great news - especially since I start teaching my first classes week after next!  Hooray!

My district's summer PD extravaganza is going on this week and, if I really really wanted, I could get my 3 technology PD credit hours out of the way.  I think I'm PD-ed out though.   I earned 80 hours at Kodaly (ever so slightly more than the required 18), so I think I'm ok for now.  :)

More Kindermusik news as it comes!

Kindermusik! - 2

Yep! This is what I get to do with my free time now! What a blessing! :)

Kindermusik!

(x-posted from The Stewarts' Little Family from March 27, 2010)
 
I'm going to be a Kindermusik teacher! Hooray!!

I've been considering getting my license for Kindermusik for some time now. I have many friends that teach who have been telling me for years about how wonderful it is and how much I would enjoy the program. Over Spring Break I did a lot of reading up on it and checking out the materials on their website. I noticed that one of the teachers listed in my area on the website was looking to hire in the next 6 months. On a whim I emailed her on Friday of Spring Break just telling her that I was interested and sent her a short version of my resume. In just a few short hours I got an email back asking if we could meet that Saturday! Well we met and I now have a job (provided that I finish my certification requirements by this summer)! The sweet lady I'll be teaching for is amazing! She's a past president of the Kindermusik Educators Association, helped write the training curriculum for teachers, and has been mentoring new Kindermusik teachers for years! I couldn't have fallen into a better situation to start learning about Kindermusik. Plus, she's just a genuinely sweet person and she has a huge passion for instilling a love of music in children. She's exactly the kind of person I would want to work with!

I don't know which of her facilities I'll be teaching at, but it will most likely be two or three around the north part of the Metroplex. We're even looking into starting a program here in Providence Village - which would be fantastic! Now, all I have to do is wait for my next paycheck, order my training materials, and get started! It shouldn't take me any more than 8 weeks, which will be perfect timing to be ready for summer classes. The great thing is, this is something that I can continue even once the next school year begins since I can offer my classes on week nights or on Saturday mornings!

I don't know how or why I keep getting blessed with all of these wonderful teaching opportunities out here, but I am oh so thankful!

Donors Choose!

I have a new Donors Choose project up and running for my classroom!  Hooray!

For those of you who don't know, DonorsChoose is a website where teachers can request materials for their classrooms and students.  Teachers "shop" for the needed materials though vendors that are associated with Donors Choose.  Teachers then write a short essay explaining their situation, need, and how these materials will help their students.  Once approved, Donors Choose will post the essay and request on their website.  ANYONE can donate any amount you wish - it works just like checking out on Amazon.com!  When the project is fully funded, Donors Choose will purchase the materials and send them to the teacher's school.  Everyone that donates gets a thank you (if you donate over $100 or you are the donor who gives the last amount to fully fund you get homemade thank you cards from the students!).

You may remember that last year I was able to get two new cd players for our music room at my old school in Odessa.  I am teaching in a new district this year and I am requesting a digital video camera for my classroom.  You can view my teacher page at http://www.donorschoose.org/mrs.stewart and view my project from there.  Or you go directly to my project page at http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=362881.

Please please pass this on to anyone you think would be interested in helping us out, or if you're so inclined, donate a little yourself (even if it's $1).  Every little bit helps!

iMuchas Gracias!