At Mililani-Ike this week, I taught an activity with grade K on Wednesday, and I did a few activities with grade 3 on Thursday and Friday. For grade K, the classes are in half sizes and are generally
already on the small side, so the students all sang individually at least once during class. It’s nice to hear them sing just to see how they are doing. Lauren said that for grade K, the students
generally will sing if we ask them to, but as they get older, they will get more self conscious.
For grade 3, I reviewed tiri-tiri and practiced low so in Chicken on the Fence Post. When we service the grade 3 classes, they are still in full size classes, so there are a lot more students. I
noticed that a lot of students look like they are only doing hand signs when they are supposed to be singing and doing hand signs. Lauren said that sometimes they might think that they are singing
but they really aren’t, so I just need to keep reminding them. I wonder if this is more of an issue online since they are on mute. Maybe in class if they hear their classmates singing, that would
make them realize that they should be singing too. I also previewed Liza Jane so that the students can learn syncopa next time.
After teaching from home this week, I would prefer to teach from school than from home. My home is very small so space is an issue. Also, with my brother doing school from home too, we can hear each
other’s classes, and we are fighting for bandwidth.
#1
Ashley Maeshiro(Friday, 20 November 2020 21:42)
Highlands:
For Highlands this week, I taught the majority of each class period. For the beginning band periods, we just had sectionals and went over instrument set-up. For the instruments that have easier
set-up routines, we got to playing the first note on their instruments. Fortunately, Clement was kind enough to drop instruments off to my home so that I had instruments to teach from home. I
basically had all instruments except trombone, euphonium, and tuba with me. When I went over the set-up for those instruments, Clement demonstrated while I spoke. For the percussion, we focused on
reading rhythms and strengthening their less dominant hand.
For choir, I did a warm-up and I also tried to go over shadow vowels a bit. I tried to bring the students attention to what is happening in their mouth when they say a vowel versus a consonant. I
used the phrase “let’s get this cornbread” to help them practice emphasizing the “uh” shadow vowel at the end of “bread.” The students are working on making their own music videos, and in some of
their audio recordings they’ve turned in, it seemed like they were dropping the ends of their phrases, and it sometimes caused their pitch to go flat. I thought that maybe going over consonants,
vowels, and shadow vowels might help them with their projects.
For symphonic band, there is a large range in the ability of the students. The students who were in concert band last year are farther ahead than the students who were only in beginning band. We
started assigning the students recording assignments through MusicFirst, but Clement had me choose an exercise for the beginning band students and a different one for the concert band students. I
took them through how to access and turn in the assignment, and we also went through Highland’s “4 Step Process” on how to practice with them.
Ashley Maeshiro (Friday, 20 November 2020 21:44)
Mililani-Ike:
At Mililani-Ike this week, I taught an activity with grade K on Wednesday, and I did a few activities with grade 3 on Thursday and Friday. For grade K, the classes are in half sizes and are generally already on the small side, so the students all sang individually at least once during class. It’s nice to hear them sing just to see how they are doing. Lauren said that for grade K, the students generally will sing if we ask them to, but as they get older, they will get more self conscious.
For grade 3, I reviewed tiri-tiri and practiced low so in Chicken on the Fence Post. When we service the grade 3 classes, they are still in full size classes, so there are a lot more students. I noticed that a lot of students look like they are only doing hand signs when they are supposed to be singing and doing hand signs. Lauren said that sometimes they might think that they are singing but they really aren’t, so I just need to keep reminding them. I wonder if this is more of an issue online since they are on mute. Maybe in class if they hear their classmates singing, that would make them realize that they should be singing too. I also previewed Liza Jane so that the students can learn syncopa next time.
After teaching from home this week, I would prefer to teach from school than from home. My home is very small so space is an issue. Also, with my brother doing school from home too, we can hear each other’s classes, and we are fighting for bandwidth.
Ashley Maeshiro (Friday, 20 November 2020 21:42)
Highlands:
For Highlands this week, I taught the majority of each class period. For the beginning band periods, we just had sectionals and went over instrument set-up. For the instruments that have easier set-up routines, we got to playing the first note on their instruments. Fortunately, Clement was kind enough to drop instruments off to my home so that I had instruments to teach from home. I basically had all instruments except trombone, euphonium, and tuba with me. When I went over the set-up for those instruments, Clement demonstrated while I spoke. For the percussion, we focused on reading rhythms and strengthening their less dominant hand.
For choir, I did a warm-up and I also tried to go over shadow vowels a bit. I tried to bring the students attention to what is happening in their mouth when they say a vowel versus a consonant. I used the phrase “let’s get this cornbread” to help them practice emphasizing the “uh” shadow vowel at the end of “bread.” The students are working on making their own music videos, and in some of their audio recordings they’ve turned in, it seemed like they were dropping the ends of their phrases, and it sometimes caused their pitch to go flat. I thought that maybe going over consonants, vowels, and shadow vowels might help them with their projects.
For symphonic band, there is a large range in the ability of the students. The students who were in concert band last year are farther ahead than the students who were only in beginning band. We started assigning the students recording assignments through MusicFirst, but Clement had me choose an exercise for the beginning band students and a different one for the concert band students. I took them through how to access and turn in the assignment, and we also went through Highland’s “4 Step Process” on how to practice with them.