Had my first ever LGPE (Large Group Performance Evaluation) today. Out of the 15 8th graders and 8 7th graders I was trying to take, I ended up having a combined group of 15 students....it was a cute little group. Overall, I was very proud of their performance. A few rough patches, but very proud of them for their hard work. I was super duper excited about their sightreading! Ended up getting a II in sightreading! Haven't listened to any feedback yet, probably won't until next week. I can say that I'm very glad to have my first ever LGPE under my belt and it can only get better from here! I learned a lot in the process and know a lot more for next year!
Missed a few posts last week, so here's one to sum everything up:
LGPE is this coming Thursday...AHHH!! I'm frantically trying to get my kids ready. On Friday I started off 8th grade by doing some touch-ups on a couple pieces. Somehow all the stars aligned and after playing through a couple sections of a piece a few kids exclaimed "Man! We sound really good today!" For the rest of the class the kids just played off of that energy and kept playing well and trying their hardest! I was super impressed with them. At the end of the class one of my viola players came up to me and said "I feel like I did really well today, and I feel like I can actually play the music and I was trying so hard!" I told her I was super proud of her! If they can play at least that well this Thursday, I will be a happy camper. No matter WHAT ratings we get!
Additionally, this same viola player approached me at the beginning of the class with some news. She auditioned about 2 weeks ago for the performing arts magnet program at the local high school. She made the decision 2 days before the last audition that she wanted to do it. So in 2 days I tried to help her prep for her first audition (UGH! MIDDLE SCHOOLERS! It's not like I've been reminding kids that the audition was coming up for weeks!). Anyhow, she took the audition and came back to me the following Monday telling me she didn't feel like she did well. This past Friday she came up to me and showed me her acceptance letter!! Super happy for her! Sadly I only have 3 students who wanted to continue playing in high school; however, all three of them auditioned for magnet programs and all three got accepted!
7th grade has been super shaky lately. Been having some serious issues getting them to listen and respect me. I decided on Thursday that I was only allowing three of them to go to LGPE with the 8th graders and the rest of them would do worksheets until after LGPE because they can't keep their mouths closed for more than two seconds....or for two seconds for that matter. They do need some serious remedial help with learning notes, so the worksheets would only benefit them. After class on Thursday I kept a kid with me to talk to him about the issues he and I were having. I explained how difficult he was making it for me to teach. So we talked for a few minutes and he finally asked "if we can have a good day tomorrow, can we please go to LGPE?" And I simply said, "we have to have more than a good day tomorrow. We are really behind on learning the music and the only way I can teach them the music and have them be successful is if he can get the whole class on my side and allow me to do so. I asked him to tell me what it would take for the class to be able to learn the music and he gave me some very good rules. Additionally I asked what he thought we should be able to do by the end of class on Friday. He suggested being able to play through one entire piece. So when we got to class on Friday I had the kid stand up in front of the class and explain everything we talked about. Afterwards I told them that Friday would be a "one strike and you're out" type of day. I was so incredibly impressed with how well they worked. We were able to get through most of one piece, but I definitely feel a lot better. But still, the only way they'll be able to go is if we can have 4 more days just like Friday.
6th grade has been especially awesome. We're getting to the point where I have to regularly tune the instruments (I've been doing spot checks and tuning the big instruments before class because the kids have a hard time NOT wasting class time). So on Wednesday I decided that I was going to time them to see how long it took to tune. I projected the timer onto the wall so they could see. We were able to do it in 3:50! After we tuned a couple girls stated "that did take long at all!" To which I responded "that's what I've been trying to tell you!!" So Thursday we timed it again....took 5 minutes because they kept playing around while we were tuning. Friday we tried again. THREE MINUTES!! By the time I got to the computer to stop it it said 3:03. I said "congratulations! 3 minutes and 3 seconds! That was an awesome improvement!" About half the class exclaimed that I finished tuning the last person at three minutes and it then took me 3 seconds to walk to the computer. My students are hilarious.
All in all, I have to say Friday was probably the first day out of the whole year thus far that I've actually had 3 wonderful classes happen on the same day. It's usually only one or two! Here's to hoping for a great week!!
I've decided to do this thing where I just sit silently and wait. For now, it's working really well. Today in 7th grade I actually felt like we got something accomplished. Not as much as we needed to, but I will take anything for now!
The hardest thing with this teaching technique, for me, is that I forget sometimes what I am saying and have to repeat what I said to remind myself. Today I did a really great job just stopping in the middle of a statement and picking up from where I left off. It's also helping me keep the pace of my teaching up.
The other thing I've started doing is assigning vocabulary words for students to define. Those students who continuously choose not to listen are given a sheet of paper and a book. The grade is 100 percent dependant upon their choice to do the assignment.
Sitting here thinking about it, it actually works well with my principal's request to the teachers. Students who choose not to participate (in p.e., music, etc.) should be given an alternate assignment. I have students who don't want to do what I'm asking, to them it's a punishment to sit and define words, to my principal it's an alternate assignment. Either way, they're learning something about music.
Today I had a 7th grader choose to constantly be off task. I gave him the sheet of paper and book and requested he define 10 words. At the end of class I asked I'd he had the assignment. He simply told me he did not do it so I responded with, "I'm sorry you chose to take a zero for class today. Maybe we can try for a better day tomorrow." After class I added the grade into the system. Zero for him, exempt for everyone else. When there's an issue later because the student is unhappy with the grade, of will be very easy for me to go back and say "well, you have a zero here because you chose not to participate. I gave you the option to do an alternate assignment."
Several 6th graders are starting to catch onto me just sitting back on my stool and folding my hands into my lap; including several students who I wouldn't have expected to catch on this quickly. Today in class we played 7 songs from the book! We also had a super productive day last Friday. I think they're actually starting to see the benefit of listening and following instructions!
The hardest thing with this teaching technique, for me, is that I forget sometimes what I am saying and have to repeat what I said to remind myself. Today I did a really great job just stopping in the middle of a statement and picking up from where I left off. It's also helping me keep the pace of my teaching up.
The other thing I've started doing is assigning vocabulary words for students to define. Those students who continuously choose not to listen are given a sheet of paper and a book. The grade is 100 percent dependant upon their choice to do the assignment.
Sitting here thinking about it, it actually works well with my principal's request to the teachers. Students who choose not to participate (in p.e., music, etc.) should be given an alternate assignment. I have students who don't want to do what I'm asking, to them it's a punishment to sit and define words, to my principal it's an alternate assignment. Either way, they're learning something about music.
Today I had a 7th grader choose to constantly be off task. I gave him the sheet of paper and book and requested he define 10 words. At the end of class I asked I'd he had the assignment. He simply told me he did not do it so I responded with, "I'm sorry you chose to take a zero for class today. Maybe we can try for a better day tomorrow." After class I added the grade into the system. Zero for him, exempt for everyone else. When there's an issue later because the student is unhappy with the grade, of will be very easy for me to go back and say "well, you have a zero here because you chose not to participate. I gave you the option to do an alternate assignment."
Several 6th graders are starting to catch onto me just sitting back on my stool and folding my hands into my lap; including several students who I wouldn't have expected to catch on this quickly. Today in class we played 7 songs from the book! We also had a super productive day last Friday. I think they're actually starting to see the benefit of listening and following instructions!
Been having a huge issue lately getting my student to listen to me. Today I got fed up with my 7th grade class and gave them an assignment in which they had to define 20 music terms. They were to sit quietly and do (or not do) the assignment. But there was to be no talking. For 20 minutes of my class today I actually had them following my instructions.
6th grade did really well, for the most part today. I warned them that 7th grade couldn't handle following instructions and they ended up with a consequence and that if the 6th graders couldn't handle instructions, they would be enduring one as well. I also woke up with a sore throat today so I told them that I wouldn't talk over them and instead would just simply wait for them to finish their side conversations. Out of the whole class, I only had to give writing assignments to 4 kids. The rest of them did a very good job listening to instructions, or at least getting quiet quickly. Probably one of the best listening days I've had with them in a while. My throat was thankful.
6th grade did really well, for the most part today. I warned them that 7th grade couldn't handle following instructions and they ended up with a consequence and that if the 6th graders couldn't handle instructions, they would be enduring one as well. I also woke up with a sore throat today so I told them that I wouldn't talk over them and instead would just simply wait for them to finish their side conversations. Out of the whole class, I only had to give writing assignments to 4 kids. The rest of them did a very good job listening to instructions, or at least getting quiet quickly. Probably one of the best listening days I've had with them in a while. My throat was thankful.
