Orff in the Urban (or any) Classroom! Intermediate LeslieAnne Bird North Olmsted City Schools www.mrsbirdsmusicpage.weebly.com

Tips Start with what they know. Use routines and learning strategies that the students are familiar with and gradually move to creative projects. Decide what are the most important non- negotiables. Provide choices you can live with for the rest. Let them know you care. Don’t take it personally. Meet them where they are. Start the year with concrete written work that resembles the work they are doing in the gen ed classrooms. Transition to creative projects gradually Decide which swords are worth dying on. Let the rest go. (I can’t deal with children surrounding me while asking questions!) Children who feel they have control over their learning are more willing to work for you. We all care about our kids. They need to know. Keep lotion, band aids and other things kids need to be comfortable. Take interest in their lives outside school. Children will often say and do things when they are upset that they don’t really mean or regret later. There have been children who made relationships difficult with me and later find me on Face Book to tell me I was one of their favorite teachers. In my experiences music education was inconsistent at best, non–existent at the worst. I did not always win over my older students right away. I was constantly transferred. I spent so much time building relationships and working hard to find methods that were meaningful to the children and met them where they were musically.

I Sing America! I sing America I sing The caged bird sings, freedom sings! Lift your voice, lift your voice and sing, And our world is full of sound, Beautiful sound all around! 1. Teach by rote as a chant. 2. Add body percussion by rote. Red is where the BP in the P/C portion changes then ends. Blue is where the S/C ends with a C & S at the same time. 3. Teach the song though WSA. BP: Music for Children Vol. 1 pg. 72

A G F D C Set Up Music for Children Vol. 1 pg. 15 Billy’s Techno Toolbox available on TPT

Teach through the process as I would with the children Teach through the process as I would with the children. Emphasize the passing of time and that I did not spend the whole lesson working on this. Then put the song and the instruments together.

Poetry & Movement Read the poem for the children, or have them read for the class (with drama)! Identify key words and phrases to emphasize. Model movement with connection. (Top of the movement triangle.) Groups create movement with connection on key words and phrases. Add another word from the movement posters to add depth to the movement. If time add a third layer. The movement will be more interesting and complex. 1. Explain the heavy nature of the poetry. 2. Choose folks to read the poetry, dramatically. The readers are now the beginning of the movement groups. 3. Process out creation of movement using the steps on the chart.

Movement Triangle Movement triangle by Laura Webster This is a great way to focus the children when working on creative movement projects shared by my levels movement instructor Laura Webster. The “common” or “focus” element goes on top, then add more layers as you go. There can be more “legs” in the bottom of the triangle to accommodate differentiation.

Poetry & Movement 2 Decide who will memorize or read the poem. It could be one child or members of the group take turns. You may choose to add another layer with UTP on key words, phrases or movement sequences.

Putting It Together Discuss the final form of the product with the children. Let them decide the final product. My students choose Grand Rondo with Introduction and Coda. Share the form and put the whole product together with the participants. Include Body Percussion with or without a chant, Xylophones, the song, and the poems with movement.

Assessment Choose which standards you wish to assess. Create a pre-assessment Rate or have students self-assess progress at each step of the process, work formative assessments in along the way. Ask students for criteria to rate the final product, this becomes the rubric for the end product. Create a summative assessment to address growth from pre-assessment. In a long range product like this, it is important to have tangible grades to enter along they way. Otherwise the final product will be the only grade which can cause problems. Allow the children to self-assess, I have a “music teacher override” in place as well. When children are working with a group, be sensitive to consideration for group members who may be” less than accommodating.” Which leads me to my next slide….

Ask Students for Feedback Did you enjoy this project? Why or why not? List two things you learned while completing this project. What can I change to make this project better the next time? If you don’t think I should change anything, tell me and share your favorite part of the project instead. I count these as a separate assignment. As long as They answer in complete sentences and the answers are relevant they earn the points. I have learned so much from my students on how to improve my teaching by asking for their feedback and taking their advice. Remember you can’t please all the people all the time, you will get some “bad reviews” be ready to listen and receptive to valid criticism. Put “irrelevant” reviews aside.

Standards-Based Bulletin Board Include a brief description of the project The student-generated rubric The standards Photos of the “parts” of the project. I often ask students to type up descriptions of what is happening in each photo. Examples of exemplary rubric scores and feedback.

Make this Your Own Use different poems. Change the topic completely. Use some of the parts and leave out others. Tap into the creativity of your students. Let me know how it goes! Website version contains everything except the score due to copy write concerns.