Teaching Notes, 20100526

It had been a good 3 solid weeks since my last class, no thanks to a combination of my illnesses and my children's illnesses. You'd think that people are healthier in the spring when it's warm. No such luck existed for me.

I arranged for a make-up class, since the next Monday was Memorial Day and the following (last of the year) Monday was consumed for one of my classes for an assembly. The class was just a little earlier than the usual time that I had for classes.

This time, I wanted to get the classes to use the xylophones/metallophones that have been sitting idle at the back of the classroom all year. I also wanted to try to get the students used to writing notes on a staff, although just for pitch, not for rhythm.

Everybody Loves Saturday Night	Lead class into the song, teach it, including alternative lyrics
I first had the students practice the song outside the room before I led them in, and that seemed to help jumpstart the song. As the students went into the room, I kept singing the song until all students were seated. I then stopped to talk very briefly about the history/purpose of the song. I then sang with a few alternate lyrics ("pizza and pie", "ketchup and fries", "learning to fly"). Interestingly, the first class objected to the food combos (even the ketchup and fries!), and so I settled on flying. What was also notable this time was that the first class, during this unusual day, was not right after recess, but early in the morning, and the students still came in with low energy. I'm not exactly sure why now that they have always been lethargic - it wasn't from being worn out from recess.
Staff Exercises	Write notes to Saturday Night on a staff
Similar to past weeks, I had a student try to draw a treble clef on a naked staff, and then I wrote a starting note for "Everybody". (At first I used middle C, but I felt that that might be a little too confusing, especially with three weeks of layoff, so eventually I moved the start pitch to the C above middle C.) I then had students come up and try to place the pitches of the remainder of the first line of the song on the staff. The results were somewhat mixed. Most of the notes took multiple tries, and I also pointed out how Saturday had itself different tones in it. It took a while in both classes, but eventually the students were able to complete the line. At some point, I asked the students what the term was for several steps, down or up, in succession, and only a few remembered the term "scale". I then had the students clap and tap the ostinato part of the song (although I didn't tell them what it was for).
Xylophones!	Have students take turns playing two notes on a xylophone while accompanying the rest of the singing class
I prepped two xylophones with two C's and two G's, and two metallophones each with a C-G pair. It didn't matter if the C was lower than the G. I then had students 6 at a time stand behind the instruments. We talked a little bit about them (what they were made of, why the resonating chamber, how to play) before playing the instruments. Then, I had the students practice hitting the C note on command (when my right hand falls under shoulder height), and after a few practice hits, I had them try hitting the G on command (left hand passes shoulder height). I then had the students practice alternating C and G's. Originally I was going to have them play the ostinato, but that turned out to be asking for mud. I rotated through the classes in groups of 6, which seemed to work out well. The students were able to coordinate playing together pretty well, and only a few groups had problems speeding up. The challenge was more getting the rest of the class to sing loudly, and to get the ostinato playing at a speed fast enough to sing to. I think one thing that I should have had the instrumentalists do was to repeat each note (e.g. C,C,G,G,) rather than alternate; I think that would have provided a better base to sing to.
Epo I Tai Tai E	Immerse song while students are ready to leave
I actually went over time with the whole exercise with Saturday Night, but I wanted to get at least one other song in. So, I had the students line up as if they were ready to leave, and then I sang the Epo song with the motions to them once through. Some students tried to sing along right from the start which was good to see. I then asked them if they noticed a pattern. (Few raised their hands.) I then sang the song once more and asked again if they saw a pattern. A few more raised their hands this time, and then I told them that we'd reveal it next week. Yay cliffhangers.

I'm glad that I finally managed to get the xylophones into the class, even though it took all year to do it. And, to my pleasant surprise the students were able to play them well and without the usual rowdiness that they've displayed in classes past. I'm going to try to fit them in one more time in the last classes to come.

Backpocket items included Botendere, the Irish Jig, and Don't Want To. I do want to try Botendere one more time before the year ends.

Teaching Notes, 20100503

Well, it was time for another dance-oriented lesson, as I was still having lingering cold/allergy issues that left me with a bit of a cough. I figured I'd just dive into my Sanna Longden collection yet again.

El Juego Chirimbolo	Lead class into the song, introduce the song to the students
I had arranged the mats into 6 rows of 3 mats each, and I had paired rows up so that I actually had 6 mats sort of together. The idea was that eventually I'd have students paired up, but that would be for later exercises. When the students were ready to come into the class, I had hoped to sing while pointing students to spaces, but it became clear early in both classes, that the students weren't used to being shown quickly individual mats. (Conversely, I think the students are well trained now coming in and seating themselves in a horseshoe.) After the students were seated, I sang the song a few times, and then put in foot, hand, and elbow motions. I then had the students stand up and do the motions with me. For simplicity, I always started with the right side (right foot, right hand, etc.) (This was one of the times when I had to be explicit about using the opposite foot so that students would mirror me.) I asked the students if they knew what language the song was in, some knew that it was in Spanish. I then taught the students a few of the new Spanish words found in the song - pie, mano, codo, juego, bonito, otro. Then, I sang the song once through while ending on the descent while turning myself around.
Staff Exercises	Have students try to build the scale featuring the last 5 notes
Again, I had a prewritten staff on the board, and again I asked students to come up and draw the clef. Both classes featured a student who was able to draw a reasonable clef at the first chance. I then sang the last 5 notes, asked them what the last note was called ("Do"), and then wrote a middle C on the staff. I then asked students to come up and draw some of the notes leading to the end of the song. Interestingly, the first student in each class drew the E above middle C instead of B. Eventually, I students were able to draw all of the remaining notes. I then asked the students if they remembered what the name of the step-wise descent was called, and none unfortunately remembered the term "scale".
Botendere	Review song and motions, then add in the complex claps
It was time, I felt, to try to get the students to do the clapping around the knee during the 3rd and 4th lines of Botendere. I had to literally walk them through the steps, and we did the clapping line a few different times. Then, I noticed that some students were trying to jump instead of step, which was a nice segue into the "game", where the students were supposed to jump in place, and try to limit movement as much as possible. I probably spent a good 5 minutes trying to do the clapping line alone before doing the whole song twice through. I think the students had a good time with this, even though some noted that it felt like gym class.
El Juego Chirimbolo #2	Reteach, dance!
Yup - I decided to go right back to Chirimbolo, and get the students doing the real juego in pairs. The mats served as a good starting point for the students, and I then walked them through the walking motions, followed by the foot/hand/elbow movement. We did this a few times going towards and away the front of the room. Then, I introduced to the students the ending twirl (a few students knew it was called the "dishwasher"), and I even used the teacher in the first class to demonstrate the twirl. Not all students got it at first, and it helped to illustrate how the twirl started with lifting arms and walking "under" them. After a few practices of the twirl, we then put the whole song together (twice through, then ending with the twirl and descending scale), and the students really had a good time with this. Even my second class, which typically is quite the challenge to keep sane/focused during dances, was able to get this down with reasonable success.

Now, that was really a fun class, even though we covered really only two songs. Originally, I had planned on teaching Epo I Tai Tai E (another Sanna Longden activity), as we had just passed May Day, but perhaps I'll use it next week. I think having the students in pairs also worked out pretty well, so long as there are pair activities for them (like Epo). Also in the back pocket was the Irish Jig (again!), and Iz's Wonderful World.