This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
We are a Title I school in Connecticut. Our school is one of the schools close to downtown, and we service New Haven children as well as children from other districts since we are a magnet school. Ninety percent of my students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. They are some of the hardest working students I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I am experiencing an explosion of interest in band among the 5th and 6th grades because my students are encouraging their friends to join. It is a great problem to have! Our students need help to stay engaged in the classroom and our program. With supplies, we can give students confidence to participate beyond the first year.
My Project
Last year, my 5th grade band students came to me stating, “We need to switch it up, Mr. D... let’s doing something different!" My students and me collaborated to be innovative with our ideas. We came up with what I call the “Baby Band Challenge.”
The goal of the challenge was for students to go out into the community and ask a parent/guardian/teacher (over 21) And teach them the song, “hot cross buns” from their elementary band books.
In May, the parents would then play it as a “parent band” on stage in the May concert as their final assessment.
Students needed to teach their chosen person how to hold/ play their instrument as well as how to read their music. They had from February-May to accomplish this. Each month students graded their parents’ progress to measure learning outcomes and identify areas to improve . Parents were graded on posture, how they made sounds, hand position and note accuracy.
The objective for me was to get students to connect to their learning and academic achievement through teaching their parents/chosen person to play what they, (the students) had already learned and performed in their December concert!
Lastly, this activity engaged students’ families as partners in students’ academic success as they experienced how hard it is to play these instruments, the value in practice, And 0 funding in instrument maintenance results in poor working instruments, making it harder to play and succeed.
I believe the baby band challenge can easily be replicated in classrooms across the country. Band teachers can challenge their students to involve their parents and teachers in the process!
We want to replicate this again this year, so we need more reeds for our students to perform and teach successfully!
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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 Mr. Drabik and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
