Connecting with Students

    Connecting students to each other and to new perspectives is a big idea. I worried that it might be too big for my music room. After all, I see my students 3 times over 4 weeks for only 45 minutes each time. As I considered how I could facilitate connection, I remembered something from last month.                             

    A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from someone wanting to donate a PA system to our school. We were in a position to accept such a gracious donation. I met with Ken from Blues in the Schools and Randa who donated equipment from her late husband. She expressed sorrow over never having attended one of the Blues in the Schools presentations. I thanked her for her donation and told her we would invite her to see the Blues in the Schools presentation with us. I forwarded the contact information to our school secretary for scheduling purposes and mentally moved on.

    As I think about how to truly connect with students, I thought of the following additions that would make for an even richer experience. I will show/send out this video before the presentation, possibly in a Google Form - so they can answer questions about what they know about jazz, and ask any questions they might have. 

As I was inserting this image, I saw another assembly in Nepal. This might also be a fun video to spark ideas. 

We could use Google Earth to see where Nepal is! 

Our assembly will be for the whole school (as Coronavirus allows), so I might also want to use Flipgrid to allow students to record themselves asking questions (K-1). These videos would prepare us well for having guests come to present. I might also review concert/performance expectations in the form/Flipgrid. 

Additionally, a follow-up activity/forum would be great - to share resources about the blues for the 4th and 5th graders. Maybe they could write their own lyrics and sing them with this backing track: 

In a classroom, we could allow students to "perform" their blues while we record it and share it with the Boise Blues Society. We could also share it with home - and promote more connections with parents! Students might collaborate and work in small groups to accomplish this as well. I'm excited to see the students interact with the Blues.

Connecting with Parents in Music Class

   

    I would love to have more parental involvement. To begin this process, I need to start connecting more with parents. At the beginning of next year, I will send out a google form that both gives information on what to expect in my class for the year as well as asking parents what musical background they have. This might include listing instruments they can play, indicating if they would be willing to share their talent with our music class and contact information. This form/activity would solicit parent information and involvement but more importantly, they would know they are welcome in our class. 

    I would make sure there was a spot for them to list all their children attending our school (K-5) so they would only have to fill out the form once. It would make it easy for me to see at a glance who is willing to share! From here, I would either share a calendar with various dates for them to sign up on or if we are learning in a digital format only, I would share a Flipgrid with them to easily record something I can share with the classes or maybe a Google Meet for a live event. 

      

    There would be an advantage to having a video - I could share it with multiple classes, and in Flipgrid - students could ask questions back. It would reach more students and I could feature a different parent each class period. 

       Last year I had one parent express interest in sharing her talent on the clarinet. I made sure to schedule her time to come into our class and perform as well as talk about her instrument. There is something special that happens when a parent comes into a classroom and shares - the look of pride on that little girl's face was incredible! This would allow more students to feel that - although it might be different in a virtual setting. Still - it would add something special to our classes and might be just what we need!