Teaching Notes, 2nd, 20130613

We didn't have another class during the week of the Spring Sing, and thanks to a field trip for 2nd graders on 6/20, the class on 6/13 was going to be our last for the year. Both myself and the other docent co-taught this last class.

Haul Away Joe

Lead students into class in song

The students always line up before entering, and this time, I had the students practice the response to Haul Away Joe ("Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe") a few times, including as a response to my singing a line. I had them walk in to form a circle while I sang a variety of verses. It seemed like the students had a pretty good time with the song, although I sensed that once we were fully in the room that we didn't want to drag the song out for more than 1-2 more verses. Haul Away Joe is one of those old traditional work songs like Pay Me My Money Down, with lyrics that aren't always so kid-friendly, and so I had to use a combination of lyrics from various variants of the song, including a few lines from the Okee Dokee Brothers. But, I certainly had enough verses and more to last us while we got all of the children into the room. Note that I didn't bother singing the bridge of the song, since that didn't involve the same response that the students sang.

Abiyoyo	Recite/sing song
I asked if the students were hot and tired (of course they said "yes"), and so I had them sit down for story time. I figured that this was the last music class for the year, and so I thought we'd treat the students to a classic musical story (more story than song, in this case). There are several people/groups/shows that have told the tale of Abiyoyo, and I tried to model my rendition based on Bill Harley's telling of the story. The students were captivated by the storytelling (as if they hadn't had a story read straight to them before), I brought my uke to class that day, and of course I used it during the story. There were a few students, particularly in the second class, that knew the story, and there was a little bit of distraction during the activity when students blurted out parts of the story (not necessarily corresponding to where we were in the story). But the story seemed fresh for all. Just like Bill Harley's recording, we all sang together as a group the Abiyoyo song.
Spring Sing Video	Show video recording of the spring sing
I wanted the students to see themselves sing, even if not all of the 2nd graders made it to the Spring Sing. The students always love hearing or seeing themselves in action, and in some cases, the students started singling along with recording. I even grabbed my Rubber Baby Buggy Bumper lyric slides to help them with the chorus
Auld Lang Syne	Teach and sing
The other docent led this song; she had prewritten the lyrics to the song on the whiteboard for the students to sing. But, before we started with the music, she spent some time talking about the meaning of the words "Auld Lang Syne", and what the song meant. She had a recording of the background music on an iPad, which she played for the students, and then we all started singing. Mid-way through the iteration I picked up my uke and started accompanying the students. After singing it through twice, she had the girls and boys split the song, which seemed to work well with two docents in the room.
Haul Away Joe	Reprise to get the students lined up again
I had treats for the students to be distributed after the spring sing, but the students departed too quickly for me to give them out. So, I brought them to this last class. In order to give them the treats, I had the students reprise Haul Away Joe, and as we sang the song, I had them walk slowly so form a line out the door from which they came. I then rushed to the front of the line and handed out treats to each student as they walked out.

As they say, the rest is history. This was the first year that I tag-team taught a class, and while it meant that I couldn't cover as much material that I normally would have liked to, it was still a lot of fun, and I know that the students were exposed to other songs and activities that I normally wouldn't have used. I do feel that over time, especially during the spring and in May-June, the challenges of keeping the students engaged, particularly with the second class, improved somewhat; I can think of a few kids who were typically challenging during the earlier parts of the year who became consistent participants, if sometimes a bit more enthusiastic than others.

It's unclear whether or not I'll tag team again, as next year's schedule may change altogether. I may even finally teach Kindergarten for the first time for the whole year, as my daughter will be entering as K in the fall. Speaking of which, "fall" for this school is actually only 5 weeks after school ends, so I'll be back here not too long from now. Have a great summer!

Dress Rehearsal and Spring Sing, 20130603-20130604

June 3rd was a Monday, but I wanted to have our classes have a dress rehearsal for the Spring Sing, and so we had music class moved to the day before the Sing. We also combined both classes of 2nd graders, since they'd be singing together during the following evening.
Our music class typically starts right after lunch recess, and so the students ended up coming back to the classrooms, only to be led back to the open grounds where the amphitheater was located. This led to a lot of chatty children, and while I was planning on having the children sing as they walked, it was more important that they did not disturb the other classes as they walked by, and so our travel was mostly quiet.
It took about 3 minutes to walk over, followed by nearly another 5 minutes just to get all of the children set up. The stage area did have risers, but they were too small to accommodate all of the kids (even with a row of shorter children in front of the risers), and so we had to let some kids trickle over the sides on stage ground.
We practiced first Oh My Goodness, focusing more on the transitions from girls to boys, and the bookends of the song. We then practiced Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers with some of the tongue twisters printed. However, I didn't print out a slide that said "Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers" which appears in the song many times, and I realized quickly that when the students were watching the printed slides go by, they halted singing when it was time to sing "Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers", as there was no slide for that. We had a hard time stop for the dress rehearsal, and so we really only got to go through this song once.
The following day was the spring sing, and while we had a very chaotic 10-15 minutes to practice (during which time we were only able to go through each song once), the children did very well in their performance. Children always seem to pay attention more and sing with more control than they ever do in the classroom or in the dress rehearsal, and I'm glad that was true this time. The students didn't always know the lyrics well enough to sing the songs at a constant volume (less confidence means less sound), but they at least were able to complete both songs (which, in retrospect, were pretty difficult songs for 2nd graders) successfully, while having a lot of fun on the new stage.

Teaching Notes, 20130523

It's roughly two weeks before the spring sing, and so I had the task of trying to review the Spring Sing songs without making it seem like a chore. You can't really have a class that is 100% review, and so I had to reach back into past years' archives to introduce some material new to the students.

The World Is Big and the World Is Small (Ella Jenkins)	Lead students into class in song
Before I led the students in, I asked them to split themselves up with the boys on one side and the girls on the other. I had used a row of chairs (upside down so that kids wouldn't sit on them) to divide the room. (It's fortunate that the room is large enough to do this; I couldn't have pulled this off using the standard classroom.) Then, I started playing on ukulele the chorus of the song one time through as the students walked in, and then I started simply singing the chorus while playing. With most of the students in, I then taught the students the chorus; I did have the chorus lyrics projected, and so I had the students echo me two lines at a time. On one side of the board, I had written "Boat", "Plane", "Dance", "Game", and I then had the students echo, one line at a time, the stanza of the song, using these words. On the other side of the board, I had written "Bus", "Train", "Song", "Name", and again, I had the students echo me. The students picked this part of the song up very easily, and so after we finished the song (with another echoing of the chorus), I had the students sing the entire song (chorus in unison, stanza in echo, chorus in unison).
Oh My Goodness	Review song, sing in roles
I started off simply by singing the chorus of the song, and the students chimed in. During the Spring Sing, I wanted to introduce the song myself, much like the recording, where I would sing two lines of the chorus, while the class finished with the last two lines (followed by a repeat of the chorus). I explained to the students that this was one way to set the pace of the song as well as the starting pitch, and that seemed to make the students pay a little more attention than usual. The big twist I added today was that I had the students answer each other. The first stanza went to the girls. Rather than have a chorus in between every stanza, I had the boys follow the girls with the second stanza immediately. The original song has a short interjection-type line after the last line of each stanza, and I had the boys interject after the girls; the girls would also interject after the boys completed their stanza before everyone fell back to the chorus. Removing roughly every other chorus seemed to make the song flow a bit better (not to mention be less boring for the students), and the responses seemed to make the students pay attention more when they weren't singing and waiting for the other half of the class to finish. At the end of the song, the students repeated the last line while being prompted by myself. I also added a four-clap to the very end, which hopefully gives the students something to think about as they are finishing the song. I do have to remember to clap myself (and at the right times) during the singing of the regular chorus - something that I'll have to work on over the next week.
Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers	Revisit and review song
By this time, the students had spent time singing the entire song, and with nothing particularly new to add to the song at this point, I simply had the students review the song. The students still had a hard time with the various tongue twister words in the chorus, so we spent a little extra time repeating and covering the changing-word chorus. We also emphasized the extended (fermata'ed) note near the end, as well as the ending line itself. In all, though, we probably only spent enough time to sing through the song twice.
Old King Glory on the Mountain	Teach, have kids play the marching game
It had been a while since I had the class do some sort of significant movement, and with a dividing line (group) of chairs in the middle of the class, it was natural to have some sort of dance around an object. OKG features a very short song and a fun activity, and so I used it as a lighthearted way to end the day after a class that was mostly review. When getting the students in a circle and marching, I realized how infrequently I had the students moving in a circle - something that I used to do nearly every other class when I first started teaching. (I also had a lot more room back then.) I had to do a little bit of remedial stepping to the beat clockwise, and then we started the activity/song. Students had a pretty fun time with this - especially those who were picked late and figured out that they'd have more fun trying to avoid me as I counted "1, 2, 3". In both classes, we were left with some students and they were declared the winners, being left on top of the "mountain" of chairs.

For a class that was mostly review, this actually went ok - I still had a mixture of new and old material. The next time I'll teach is going to be the dress rehearsal for the Spring Sing; although the kids sort of understood the split roles today, I know that we still have a lot of work to do.