As I was going through the 3rd grade projects again, I came across this particular work by three students about Clara and Robert Schumann. They originally wrote a book, but ended up deciding to do a "live book". This is the result!

So it is close to the end of the year and if you are a K-4 music teacher like I am, you know your fourth graders are checked out. I am trying something new to keep them engaged and to help continue the learning process despite their excitement for summer! When students get to the intermediate school, they are able to choose between band, orchestra and choir. I decided to use the fact that they chose their music elective in March to my advantage. I split my students into their three groups based on their elective for next year. Then, I tailored my lessons to meet the needs of that elective's field of study. My students who are going into choir are reviewing and making significant progress on their solfege reading abilities. My students in band/orchestra are continuing on the recorder. Below I will go into more detail about how I made this work.

Choir Group (Week 1):
Using SMARTBoard activities that I got from Interactive Now and from SMART Exchange, I have them reviewing SML. I left them with instruments, the SMARTBoard activities and themselves and gave them a few tips on how to practice: composing/playing SML patterns and using the board activities to determine what melodic pattern they hear and press the button on the pattern that matches what they hear. 

Band/Orchestra Group (Week 1):
I divided these students into 3 groups based on ability demonstrated during recorder karate. I had a group of students who needed basic melodies and a short tune, a group who could learn to master Ode to Joy, and a group that was able to move on to a Music K-8 tune in 2 parts. I conferenced with each group to go over the basics of their song and make sure they understood what they were playing. I then sent the groups into three different locations in my school (to two empty classrooms and to the conference room). They were given a time to return and told to practice and work together to make a concert worthy performance using their piece. When I was finished with my mini-lesson with the choir group, I would take time to go to each recorder group and quickly listen to their progress and give feedback and practice suggestions. Students returned to the classroom at the time they were told. 

Reflections:
I saw some amazing things happen during this week. My recorder groups really improved, especially my  students doing Ode to Joy. They were able to start learning and using good practice skills together and were learning how to play together as a team rather than focusing on the individuals. I also witnessed my choir group come up with their own way to practice reading the solfege which involved teams helping each other, individuals taking responsibility to practice, and a point system to incentivize practicing. I was super impressed that they were able to come up with all that on their own while I was working with other groups. Was it exhausting literally running around the whole school trying to work with 4 separate groups in one 30 minute class period? Yes. Was I perfectly on time in letting one class get to gym and another class start music? No. But was it incredibly worth it to see the amount of learning taking place in such a short time both in musical content as well as seeing their own learning skills and citizenship skills grow? YES YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES! The students continue to amaze me and I continue to believe that personalizing the learning, tailoring it to their interests, does not take away from their learning but enhances it greatly. They are working on the same concepts, but in a way that applies to what they want to study next year. They are all reading notes and rhythms, playing them, singing along, learning how to be a small ensemble but in an area of study they actually want to be a part of. I am loving that the students love music class and their enthusiasm and their interest makes me love my job more. It also forces me to be creative in my planning, to stay on my toes, and to get to collaborate with students rather than stand in front of them and drone on like the teacher in the Peanuts cartoons/comics. I can honestly say that since starting my personalized learning journey, since I started to get it and take risks, I love every day that I come to work and my students love coming to my class too!