My project needs three bass diatonic xylophones with removable keys, three alto diatonic xylophones with removable keys, and four soprano diatonic xylophones with removable keys.
$4,627 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
Hello, and thanks for taking the time to read through my request. I am currently winding down my second year of teaching at the elementary school where I am employed. This time of year can be a bit hectic with the students and teachers alike looking forward to a summer vacation. However, I'm already starting to look ahead to next fall and planning for a few changes in my classroom. In preparing for this fresh start, I've made it my goal to acquire an Orff instrument for every student that comes to music class. I currently have four xylophones, three metalophones, and two glockenspiels. I would absolutely love to have an additional 10 xylophones. This would bring me to nineteen Orff instruments in the music room. This is very exciting!
Before I get ahead of myself, let me tell you about myself and my students. I graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Music Education and found myself teaching at the elementary level. My major instrument in college was the voice, however, I grew up playing the piano and had a sister who played the violin. Music was a comfortable way of life. My students, on the other hand, many times lack the opportunities that my parents were able to provide me with. They are, for the most part, second language learners. If they stay in our school long enough, they leave us as bilingual middle-schoolers. I tell them that they are so lucky and that if they work hard enough, they will have an advantage in life because they speak both Spanish and English. This makes them feel confident, and empowered.
One of the ways that children learn is kinesthetically. Working with the second language learner has taught me that in teaching I must model my directions and give the children a chance to physically experience my content objective. This was the biggest lesson I learned in my first year of teaching. In becoming aware of this, I signed up for a two week summer semester at East Carolina University called Level one Orff-Schulwerk. It is a certification that uses the methods of a certain music philosopher, which happen to be kinesthetically-based. What I learned that summer was invaluable. I have taken one full year to adapt the activities I learned to my students needs. However, to fully use many of these activities, I'll need more xylophones.
This brings us back to my summer goal of acquiring ten additional xylophones for my classroom. I'm excited to think that I might be able to achieve some flexibility through these instruments. Currently, we share, but this means that it takes twice as long to give every child a chance on the instruments. These instruments are just so incredibly expensive for a Title One school, such as ours. If you are interested in helping us out I would be so extremely grateful. Even just one xylophone would be helpful. I appreciate you taking the time already to read through this request. Thank you in advance for even considering us.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. H. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
