Last night I (and Jason!) took the time to mix some tracks with some songs from the Essential Elements Book II. Using GarageBand I was able to record in the melody (that the students play) and add some backround beats and such to spice things up. My 7th graders came in today unmotivated to play (as they usually do) and I said to them "I've got something fun planned for you today, but in order to do it, I need you to have some faith in me!" Of course, their first instinct was to scream out "TELL US! WE WANT TO KNOW!!" I just kept telling them to trust me and have some faith. So we started with scales and such as always and got into a song we've been working on all week. After reviewing each part I pressed the play button and this is what they heard:
They got so excited and started dancing to it. I let them have their fun the first go around, then the second time they all played without me having to say a word! Moving onto the next song I wanted to do it in sections without the track (maybe I should make some practice tracks) and then they were all like, "CAN WE PLAY IT WITH THE TRACK?!" They were all really excited when they left class today.
6th grade (while a little chatty) is doing so much better! It's truly amazing how far a little positivity and encouragement will take a young child. At the end of the class I thanked the students for working so hard today and getting so much accomplished and one student said to me "Ms. McHugh, we work hard all the time now!"
Just as an amusing side note, my students still haven't mastered the "raise your hand, without calling out my name, and wait to be called on" technique. Today a student kept calling out my name while I was talking with another student and so finally I was just started calling out the student's name. The student laughed and was like "oh...I get it." Of course then a few students in the area started calling out my name just to get me to do it to them.
Things I love:
-students stopping by my classroom (that never have before) just to say hi.
-a student in the hallway (not even my student) stating "she seems like she's a nice teacher," all because I told the student to have a great afternoon during dismissal.
-student success. It truly is the best reward of all.
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