Wednesday, October 12, 2016

How to "Close Read" in Chorus

Hello friends!

In the Waterloo Schools, we are fortunate enough to have the accessibility to technology when we need it, and we have recently begun a 1:1 device program with our 6th grade students.

As a Leader in Me Lighthouse School, students lead a lot of their learning and their communications of their learning. Students are expected to run their own conferences. This is done through a binder that has an artifact of learning from their courses, and a reflection of their work in the course so far. They are also expected to meet during Lead Time (homeroom) to discuss the 7 Habits that go with Leader in Me, work to build their binder, and to goal set/check on the progress of those goals.

In an attempt to save paper and costs (music teachers pay out of their budgets for concert programs), I decided I needed to become creative. Instead of having students in 8th grade fill out a formal reflection sheet and have a worksheet to demonstrate their learning/progress, I have decided that students in chorus need to be singing and can record themselves individually singing within a group. On Monday and Tuesday this week, I had students either bring their device to chorus, or use my phone to record them individually singing the Star-Spangled Banner. I wanted to have them sing together as a group, but be able to pick up their specific voice for the recording. After they completed the recording they emailed those to me, I added them to Google Drive, and I shared them with the students.

Today was our day to perform some close reading. After having some MISIC training and working on ways to authentically integrate literacy into the music classroom I think I found a way for it to work. Students were given a set of questions to ask, but had to listen to their own recording 3 specific times. We went to our computer lab and students listened and responded to their recordings. To access that specific assignment, you may view a copy here. As I was instructed by Nancy Lockett, text can be anything and in this case it's a recording that students have to close "read" or rather listen to.

The reactions of students were priceless - many students were ashamed of their recordings, or happy with them, or freaked out saying, "You're not going to like, make us have our parents listen to this, right?" To put their minds at ease, I said, "It's up to you if you want to share that. Is it your best product?" The instant growth mindset moment was awesome! Students are begging to re-record, but that's my goal... To build a sound profile for the students and show the growth with instruction. The more we can help students realize that literacy in a meaningful way is everyone's job. I want to make sure that students become reflective, can articulate effectively, and begin to think critically about performance.

I cannot take the full credit for this... Lauren Fladland from College Community Schools suggested using student devices to record students individually while they sing in a group setting. Kayla Becker, our literacy coach, helped me frame the close reading. James Healy provided the arrangement of the banner. Nancy Lockett and all of the MISIC training team, for pushing me to improve my instruction.

Thanks for reading!
TGZ