La fête d'hiver and a Nikon D90 Giveaway

Last night was the first big performance of the year! La fête d'hiver: Winter Celebration! 11 classes, 12 songs and 400+ people were there! By the grace of God, it all went smoothly. It helped that we had two rehearsals the past week. I feel very relieved that it is over though! I'm already brainstorming for "La fête de la musique" in March. I think we'll go with a similar program but I'd really like each class to get to play instruments with their songs. It would be so great if the 2nd and 3rd graders could play the new Orff barred instruments too!
In other news, my DonorsChoose field trip to the symphony in February was funded on Monday! DonorsChoose is covering the cost of the bus and 40 of the tickets. I found out about this camera giveaway today that would be wonderful to take pictures of the field trip and other DonorsChoose projects in the future. Check it out! http://www.ohsoposhphotography.com/blog/?p=5458
This is truly the season of giving and I am inspired by this photographers' desire to give back.
One of the highlights of last night was seeing all of the families of the students together and celebrating their students learning. You could really feel the shared pride and love radiating from everyone there. Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas!

Operation Glockenspiel

This morning I broke a personal rule to not go to school and work on the weekend. But it was for a very good reason: Operation Glockenspiel.This was no ordinary mission. So many different components had to fall into place but thanks to supportive administrators, understanding committee members, my good friend Jenny and my awesome husband the mission was accomplished!
In October, I applied for The French School to "host" a classroom set of 12 Orff barred instruments (mellophones, xylophones and glockenspiels)  We borrowed our friend's SUV to pick up the instruments from a storage facility and then transported them back to the school. I breathed such a sigh of relief when the instruments were safely in the classroom and we had returned our friend's car!
Now I have a classroom set of instruments! It is worth over $8000! I get to keep them until next November when the national conference will be held in St. Louis. I am really looking forward to teaching the students how to play songs with such cool instruments! A retired music teacher from the St. Louis AOSA chapter is going to come help me teach the first lessons after Christmas too!
I can't wait to see the looks on the students' faces when I tell them we have more than just tambourines and rhythm sticks to play now. I'll keep you posted on the final results of Operation Glockenspiel!

Piano Passion

Recently I started taking piano lessons. In my quest to become a better music teacher, I thought that piano would be pretty helpful. My main instrument (for about 16 years!) has been the flute. :-)
As much as I love the flute, piano is definitely a more versatile instrument. Eventually I'll be able to accompany my students in their performances instead of just being able to play scales for vocal warm ups.
This week in one of the 1st grade classes, I was blown away by one of my students. He is usually a pretty shy 6 year old but he asked me if he could play a couple songs he had learned in piano for the class. He proceeded to confidently play FROM MEMORY Ode to Joy and Jingle Bells! It was magical. By a stroke of luck, his class is singing the French version of Jingle Bells "Vive le Vent" for the Winter Concert! I asked him if he would want to play along with the class (who will be playing real jingle bells) I hope he will! I told his mom how great he was right after school. Needless to say, she was so proud! It was very inspiring for me to see a normally shy, quiet student express himself through music. This is one of the reasons why I do what I do.

Praxis Passed!

I am so happy to report that I passed the Music Content Praxis exam! Now I am a "highly qualified" French music teacher!
The teaching highlight of this last week was in a kindergarten class. I've been trying to improve transitions in my classes. It seems that after only 10 seconds of down time some students lose interest and focus!  So I experimented this week. While transitioning from teaching a new song (using the stereo) to learning half notes (on the board) I decided to sing a couple songs with the kids that we have learned the past few weeks. It worked really well! I know that I probably have heard of this method before but for some reason I hadn't tried it yet. I can't wait to see how it works with all of the grades. Bon week-end!

Piano Lab

After a mere 6 days from start to finish, I am thrilled that my new DonorsChoose project has already been funded! I am working on raising money this year to buy 10-12 full size keyboards for my classroom. Then for the older students next year (3rd and 4th graders) we can have a piano lab! The students are already getting excited and I am too! With the funding of this 1st DonorsChoose project, we now have a great start to the piano lab. We have 2 keyboards now, with stands and headphones.
DonorsChoose.org!
It is awesome!

Entertaining Exam

Yesterday I took my Music Content Knowledge certification exam. Unfortunately, I have to wait 4 weeks to find out my results. It was definitely the most unique exam I've ever taken. Since I started this blog, I've been studying (at least once a week) for this test. As my mother likes to say "Do your best and let God take care of the rest" I feel like I did that, and if I don't pass I'll review more and try try again!
The exam was unique in that there were 30 listening questions in which I had to identify composers, chords, world region, genre, performers etc. It was kind of like having your Itunes on shuffle and then answering questions about the music. :-)
In other news, my 2nd year of teaching music in French immersion is in full swing. I didn't get to go to my Level I Orff summer training course because it was canceled due to low enrollment. Dommage. Too bad. I'm going to attend all of the workshops put on by the AOSA music teachers professional organization here in St. Louis though. They are great! I always feel so encouraged and rejuvenated after them. Plus I walk away with at least 10+ interactive fun lessons! I just have to translate them into French and I have so many native speakers around at school to help me with that. :-)
Have a great week and enjoy the autumn weather!

Flying Solo

I am very blessed to have a teacher assistant, Monsieur Abdou. Most elementary music teachers do not have assistants and our school's teacher to student ratio is not the norm in public schools. Usually he helps me out for 5 of my 8 classes. On Thursday, Abdou's host family took him on an all day cycling trip. He really deserved the day off but needless to say, being alone with 20+ children ages 5-9 holding tambourines and maracas is tough. I am still learning a lot about elementary classroom management. That is a long way to say, I spend a lot of time trying to keep the children in control and on task. Having another adult in the classroom to manage the hyper children (or the ones having melt downs) is priceless.
By the grace of God, it was a successful instruction day. I wanted to let the students play percussion instruments to a song they knew really well. So I passed out maracas and tambourines for "Les cro-cro" It is an upbeat 2/4 song about crocodiles. I let them dance (on the red lines without jumping on the flip forms of course) and they did a great job of playing their instruments and staying on the beat. I could tell they were all trying hard and having fun too! This is one of the reasons why I do what I do.

Feather Theme

Last Saturday morning, I attended a workshop put on by the St. Louis chapter of AOSA (Orff-Schulwerk Association) All the teachers there were very nice and I learned so much about music education. The Orff-Schulwerk approach to music education is very focused on movement and having the children actively engaged in the music.
I was chompin' at the bit to teach the new lessons I learned at the workshop. I decided to teach a lesson on dynamics in music using  "The Feather Theme" song from Forrest Gump. I found a fabric outlet store and purchased 5 yards of different colors of chiffon and cut them into small scarves. The key concepts of the lesson were Listening and Movement. I told the students to imagine that the scarves were feathers floating in the wind. The music from the song is divided into three sections. We started out kneeling on the floor in a circle making the scarves float along the ground. Section 2 the students stood up and began to walk slowly around the room floating the scarves at the medium level (about waist high) The third section the students billowed the scarves up above their heads when the music crescendoed. All the classes loved it. I could tell they were listening carefully for the musical cues to switch levels. It looked really cool too, all the different colors and the children spinning around to the music with huge smiles on their faces. This is one of the reasons why I do what I do.

The Competition Key

In a spontaneous moment of inspiration I decided to have a competition for my classes. There is a classroom management practice from Uncommon Schools (a charter school group) called 100%. It boils down to this: 100% of the time 100% of the students are on task and engaged in the lesson. I decided to try to implement the 100% idea with my "les pieds contre le gris" flip form procedure. Periodically in each class I did a flip form check, if 100% of the students had their feet against the gray part of the flip forms, sitting up straight and quiet, the class earned a star on the board. For a 50 minute class period some of the classes only earned 3-4 stars. But (drumroll please...) on Thursday my most challenging class of all earned 5 stars and on Friday another challenging class earned 6 stars! I have found one of the keys to good behavior for some of my classes-competition! It is not very surprising considering our American culture is highly competitive. I told both winning classes that next week I will give them a surprise in music class. They were so thrilled that they won! I can't wait to give them their surprises too. I have to fork out a bit of cash (~$25) but it is worth every penny to have two of my most challenging classes competing to be good.
The kindergarten classes are learning about the planetary system this quarter so I played for them the BBC Philharmonica orchestra youtube videos of Gustav Holst's The Planets. Each class loved hearing the differences in each movement and several of the boys piped up to say that Mars sounded like Star Wars! They all asked to hear and see more of the music next week. This is one of the reasons why I do what I do.
Holst: Mars http://youtu.be/AGGlL1wexQk

On partage (We share)

When I started my position as music teacher, I was thrilled to find that the former music teacher had not spent any of the music budget yet. I asked my mentor what I should buy. She suggested rhythm instruments such as tambourines, finger cymbals, maracas and wooden rhythm sticks. So I promptly spent about $400 on instruments! The students really enjoy playing them and I know it has made music class more meaningful. However I tried to stretch the budget, we still ended up short on a few instruments. For example I only was able to order 10 sets of finger cymbals and 10 pairs of large maracas. It has been a bit challenging to explain to the younger students that they have to take turns and share some of the instruments. I finally figured out a system of rotating the instruments around the room clockwise so everyone gets a turn. It takes longer but prevents (some) of the drama.
So in the spirit of sharing, I'd like to share some French music with my readers! Here's how the giveaway will work: you have to "follow" the blog and comment on this post telling me your favorite genre of music. Then I will send you a French CD of that genre. I have pretty much every genre from childrens songs (naturally) to rap, pop and classical. Let the sharing begin! On partage!

My first Donors Choose Project

Here is the link for my first Donors Choose project! We really need a new stereo and this one is not too expensive and will work splendidly for the classes. It was not that hard (about an hour of my time) to put it together and there have already been two donations. Genial! (Awesome!)

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=550442

Sensational Strings

In addition to the Orff and Kodaly music curriculum I am using to teach the students beginner music theory, the past two months I've been teaching about les instuments à cordes It has been a slow unit (with snow days as major interruptions) but we're wrapping up the unit next week.  One incredibly unique opportunity our school has is a beginner strings program! A wonderful instructor named Mariana has started giving lessons this semester and UMSL donated several 1/4 and 1/8 size violins for our students. As of now, there are about 12 students taking private lessons!
It is a goal of mine to enroll more students in string lessons with "Madame Mariana" Many of our students come from non-classical backgrounds and it would be such a wonderful experience for them to begin an instrument at this age. 
A high point in my 1st grade classes yesterday was showing youtube videos demonstrating different string instruments. I showed them a couple videos of my brother-in-law Joshua Roman who is a cellist. After his Popper #28 video, the 1st grade students were all smiles and amazement. They even applauded! Inspiring young children to not only enjoy music but want to play musical instruments-this is why I do what I do.

POPPER PROJECT #28: Joshua Roman plays Etude no. 28 for cello by David P...

Flippin' Flip Forms

Before I began my position I observed another music teacher in the area. She is brilliant in many ways and I decided to emulate her teaching as much as possible. Through her encouragement I am using the Orff approach and I decided to redo the music classroom. Thankfully our school has dozens of "flip forms" which are kid-sized plastic risers in bright colors. So, instead of having the students sit in little black chairs along the wall (like the former teacher and current Spanish music teacher) every week, my assistant and I stack up the black chairs and roll out the flip forms. I am very grateful for his help and bring him coffee to show my gratitude.
I have a love/hate relationship with these flip forms. I like the performance mind-set it gives the students. I do not like that some students (about 3 per class) think of the flip forms as trampolines. I like the way they brighten up the room but I do not like moving them! They are a bit heavy until you "flip" them onto the side with wheels. I guess it is a little weight lifting training I won't have to do at the gym.
So in order to make my flip form class run smoothly, I have set in place some strict procedures.
1. I assign the children their spot on the flip forms.
2. They have to sit with their feet against the grey. When we stand up, they have to stay in the same spot.
3. If they jump off, slide their feet around, lay down, etc. they have to sit on a red line on the floor as a warning. 2nd infraction they move to a black chair with immediate supervision by my assistant Monsieur Abdou.
I have come to learn that with children of this age, I have to focus on being very consistent and repetitive. Even now, 4 months after introducing flip forms some students still can't handle them. As we say in French, Dommage! Too bad! Sit down on the red line.
Today, one of my most difficult 1st grade classes was amazing at sitting on the flip forms and keeping their musical instruments (tambourines and finger cymbals) on their knees when we weren't playing. It was very encouraging! Constant repetition does work.
I had another encouraging experience yesterday with a student who had been misbehaving with his finger cymbals (he put sat on them and scraped them on the flip form) I was able to keep him for a couple of minutes after class and I had him practice how to properly play his finger cymbals. He not only performed the 7 part rondo perfectly, he also sat with his feet against the grey and back straight as a rod. I'll wager that next time he comes to music class, I won't have as many issues with him! He left with a proud quiet smile. This is why I do what I do.

Un, deux, trois, Bonjour!

Bonjour!
I have never done a blog before and who knows if this will help anyone but I thought "Pourquoi pas?" Why not?
A bit of introduction:
I am an elementary music teacher. In a very unique school. A French Immersion school, where (in theory) 100% of instruction is in French. So, my position is just like any other music teacher except I teach the lessons in French and instead of singing "Let it snow" at the Winter Concert my students sing "Mon bonhomme de neige"
However, I'll be the first to admit that I am not highly qualified. At best, I am slightly qualified. I am a musician (flute) but I've never taken music theory or music education classes. But God is gracious and my parents-in-law are actually music professors! They have been helping me immensely and my violinist husband is a huge encouragement.
My goal is to become highly qualified before the next school year begins. This will mean hopefully attending some summer workshops on music education and taking the Music Content Praxis exam. I just got the study guide. Maybe this blog will help me stay on track for this intense certification process! I not only have to teach myself music theory, I need to know all the extra concepts that a four year music education degree would have given me. I do have my French K-12 certification so that is très bien!
Wow, long introduction!

Before I let you go, (thanks for reading so far!) I'll share a triumph moment from last weeks teaching. I'll try to always leave you with a positive anecdote. It is very easy for us teachers to complain and despair. I don't want to do that here.

Last week, I had the students color different string instruments to decorate our classroom. While they were working (only 2 classes were super calm) I played a youtube video of a Mozart concerto. One rowdy kindergarten boy just dropped his crayons and scooted up closer to see and listen to the string quartet. He was mesmerized, undoubtedly this music was very different from the rap he hears on the radio. This is one of the reasons why I do what I do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n8BZT_1H8M