February Update: Tell Me a Story Month is technically not finished

 February went like this:

   January 30, me: "This is nice. If I pull out the Valentine's Day games right now, we have two weeks to play them in.

   February 3, me: "Wait a minute! It's February! February is a theme month! I was going to do composing, but I don't have a composing theme! Oh, boy, gotta think of a theme, gotta think of a theme...."

   Evening of February 4: "OK, I give up. I'll just go back to the theme my friend suggested to me way back in August. It'll be Tell Me a Story Month."



   February 6: "Whew! Got the first week's worksheets done. I'll have to think of decorations next week. I don't have time today before my first students show up in an hour. Besides which, I also don't have ideas."

   February 12: "Great! I love all these story-bookish pictures I downloaded from the internet, not to mention the adorable cartoon images from Winnie the Pooh, Clifford, etc. Now just to print them and stick them around the walls... oh, wait, I can't print anything; we're out of cyan ink. Scrap that idea!" 

   February 16, Dad (as he's clearing browsing data from our shared computers): "Sarah, why on earth did you waste so much time looking at Charlie Brown images on Monday?"

   February 20, me: "Oh... it's group lessons week. I guess group lessons aren't the place to work on everyone's compositions. Oh, well, maybe I can incorporate lots of improv-related games. Hey! Two of the groups are in-person this month! We can do Musical Chairs with the person 'out' having to go improv! And let's also do Staff Twister -- like Twister, only with the lines and spaces of the staff instead of coloured circles. Wait... what am I going to do for the online group?" 

   February 25: "Uh-oh. I have to write a monthly update this week. But we're only halfway through our compositions! Can't the update wait till two weeks from now?"

   Needless to say, it wasn't my most well-thought-out February. But in-person groups were amazing! Honestly, although I have found online teaching to be effective and enjoyable when it comes to one-on-one, where groups for young children are concerned, in-person is way better. And, in case you're wondering, I'm pretty sure my twist on Musical Chairs was the favourite game of the week. :) 

   And, despite the fact that we are now two weeks behind on the four-week composing -- oops, I mean Tell Me a Story -- lesson plan, I think it's still been fun. Definitely it is interesting to see what sparks the imaginations of my different students -- hockey, roller coasters, and... physically impossible rescues from house fires. 😆


   

Location: Onoway, AB T0E 1V0, Canada

Comments

  1. Alicia2 March 2023 at 14:18

    The kids LOVED their in-person group lesson. They both left telling me to ask you to do it again. Good job, Sarah!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And to this I said Amen

Image
 (Note for those who may not know: The word "Amen" comes from an ancient word -- whether Greek, Hebrew, or some other language, I do not remember -- that expressed agreement with truth. It is a transliterated word; that is, it's very similar to the original word in the original language. One person claimed it was one of two words that has been transliterated rather than translated across all languages, the other word being Hallelujah. Fun fact for the day. 😀)    Again, I had writer's block and didn't know what to write about. All I could think about was how it's February, it's a theme month, and I haven't finished planning the theme, even though the month has already started. So, once more, I turned to Pinterest . (If that link doesn't work, let me know, because I'm not sure it will actually take you to my Pinterest profile.)    This time, instead of music humour, I found this beautiful musician's prayer. And I went, "Yes! That is exa
Read more

Gloves: For More than Keeping Your Child's Hands Warm

Image
   Snow swirls around the streets of Leningrad, Russia. Pedestrians pull winter coats tighter around themselves. Car lights shine through the flurries. In one large, multi-story building, a window on the corner of the building is lit. Inside the room, frost decorates the window panes. The only occupant – a young man, with a spark of life in his blue eyes – turns out music, gorgeous music, on the upright piano against the wall. He wears a heavy overcoat and plays with a pair of medium-weight, knit gloves – for his dormitory room has no heat.    At this point in the narrative, the music teacher jerks his enraptured student back into the present – modern Edmonton, a warm and very comfortable music studio, and the two Yamaha baby grands sitting side by side – with this question:    “ Have you ever practiced with gloves on?”    Ahh . . . no, I hadn’t. My house always had heat?!     My music teacher, undeterred by my blank look (which he had undoubtedly seen many times before!), resp
Read more

When Music Teachers Meet

Image
It was Sunday evening, and various members of  PMTA  were gathered at one member's home for the Annual General Meeting. Since I've only been a member for less than a year, this was the first time I'd been to one of their meetings. As we were setting up for supper, I asked the president, "So, what goes on in the meeting?"    She looked at me, and her face instantly displayed drama. With gusto, she replied, "You'll be thrilled, and chilled, and ... bored out of your mind!"    LOL!    That's the great thing about hanging around with other artistic minds. There's plenty of room for drama. :)    Seriously, though, I like getting together with other music teachers, because all of us can talk for hours about music. :) It was a lot of fun comparing notes back and forth and getting to know some of the other teachers. I pick up ideas from these exchanges, including other teachers' favourite methods and new things to include -- or new ways t
Read more