Now that we've completed conferencing on project ideas and topics, students are really on a roll! The information that they have gathered has been amazing. I've got students creating skits where they are role playing as Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Amy Beach. Or they are pretending to be principal instrument players in the orchestra explaining their particular instrument. Students are creating posters, students are writing speeches, students are creating books. I am so excited about the level of excitement my students have. It is nice to see kiddos say "Music is over already?" "We have to clean up? Can't I keep working?". I am impressed with many of my students and their information going above and beyond what has been expected of them in the rubric. 

Students above beginning their "script" for their project on Fanny Mendelssohn! In the pic collage, students are working on different projects, in different places in the room, using different mediums to showcase their learning about the orchestra and composers like Amy Beach, Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Scott Joplin, William Grant Still, WA Mozart. I am honestly amazed by their progress and am so excited to see the outcomes! At the end of the unit when projects are finished, students will present their work to their classmates!

So this week I began conferencing with students about the topics they were going to choose, the person(s) they were going to work with, and their ideas for how to present their project. Our classroom functioned as usual with students getting their research done and working on a set of goals, but I began asking for people who were ready to conference to come and see me. And they did. Some students chose to work on their own, some chose to work with a partner, some chose groups of 3. The majority of students have decided to work on a project dealing with some part of the orchestra, though a few have decided to work on a project about Mozart, Scott Joplin, and Amy Beach. We talked through the rubric together in these little conferences, they were given a version with the requirements to receive a proficient grade highlighted. Students were then asked to come up with an idea for how they would present the information. I have heard so many good ones! Some students are making books. Others are going to pretend they are the instrument players themselves and interview each other about the instruments over the DoInk Green Screen App. Some are creating posters, writing speeches, creating slideshows, you name it, they've come up with it! It is awesome to see creativity and an excitement to teach their other students about a topic they are truly interested in. They are taking ownership now and seem to really be enjoying what they are learning. I am excited to see how they can keep the focus and work going through the next month as they complete their projects. Look for some of the project highlights here as they start to come up!