Teaching Notes, 20110511

For this week, I wanted to revisit Seasons in round, and so I had the students back in the familiar stadium seating

Teaching Peace	Sing as students walk in, go right into a stanza, unprompted
Well, again I had sort of planned to have students sing while walking in, but again the students weren't really focused enough to pull it off, so I had them walk in before I started them on the song. I accidentally in both cases sang the 2nd stanza instead of the first, which made for a shorter song. However, the students in both classes didn't quite remember how to pull off the partial echo for Teaching Peace, so I had to quickly review that. But, anyhow, we were able to get through the song.
Seasons (spring)	Teach the song, then record in rounds
I had the lyrics written on the board, and the students were able to sing it very quickly, as they remembered the lyrics from the previous two versions. I then prepped the students for rounding the song by having the students, split in four groups, sing just the first line. I found out, however, particularly for the 2nd class (of just 3rd graders) that it was hard for the students to go from that to singing the entire song, and so the value of just practicing that first line isn't all that great, especially if you over-repeat that exercise. Eventually, I did have both classes record round attempts, and it was a little difficult to get the volumes of each group consistent on the recordings. The microphone on my laptop isn't all that strong, and while I tried attaching an external microphone, I couldn't position it somewhere where I could record all 4 groups well. Typically one of the 4 groups dominated on volume, and it was difficult for groups to maintain momentum past the first line.
Tuwe Tuwe	Reteach song
The students hadn't really gotten a good grasp of Tuwe Tuwe from the previous attempts during the year. I had the students sort get comfortable with the song, enough so that in the 2nd class, I pulled a few students just to sing "tuwe tuwe, barima tuwe tuwe" repeatedly in ostinato. The teacher was happy to help lead that effort, which was very helpful. However, I don't think the students are really getting a huge amount out of the song, which is a bit of a disappointment given the success I've had in previous years.
Epo I Tai Tai E	Try a few different patterns
For the last few minutes, I stood up on a chair and tried Epo I Tai Tai E with a patterns that were different from the previous week. The 1st class was able to pick out the patterns quickly, but the second class had troubles trying to pick up the pattern, and even remember the exercise that was done the previous week.

I'm writing this almost a month after the class took place, and so I don't have all of the gritty details like I usually do. Backpocket items included How Do You Dootee, and a re-run of Oh My Goodness, Look At This Mess.

I was pretty happy with this second stint in the gym, and perhaps I can squeeze in one last class in the gym. I did want to try Thady You Gander and the Irish Jig once again, not to mention How Do You Dootee.