"I am just one person, but I know that it will matter when I try to make the changes that I know could help this world..." These are the first lines from the Music K-8 song, "Tomorrow Needs Us," that my students sing each day. We sing this tune as a daily reminder that the small things we do can truly make a difference.
In Music, I teach students more than "how to keep a steady beat", music literacy, cultural awareness through music, and vocal technique - I teach my students how to be part of a large extended family.
While we may not always agree, we learn to speak our opinions with respect, to resolve problems calmly, and, when it's all said and done, support each other like a true family. My students have an abundance of untapped potential that they themselves have yet to discover. A day in Music is filled with laughter when we make mistakes, frustration when we first encounter difficult concepts, and a shared excitement when the entire class learns that last difficult phrase from a song and the dynamics and articulations are just right!
My Project
Recorders are a vital part of elementary education. I personally love teaching Recorder to 4th and 5th grade students because it promotes interest in joining middle school band programs, but also because it helps students to develop pitch accuracy and breath support which can easily be carried over into their singing activities. In our community, spending the money to buy a Recorder is not always an option. I'd like my school to own a set of classroom Recorders. I would be able to assign and loan students a Recorder at the start of the year, or keep them for use in class and sanitize them between uses. Recorders are fairly durable so this set of Recorders could last my students for years to come!
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