Help me give my students digital watches and metronomes to help them keep time!
FULLY FUNDED! Mrs. Perez's classroom raised $324
This project is fully funded
My Students
"Ago?" "Ame!" ("Are you ready to learn?" "Yes, we are ready to learn!") My music students are familiar with this call and response which, borrowed from the folkloric traditions of West Africa loosely translates to "Listen!" and "I am listening." The students at my school are comfortable with multiple languages. Mandarin, Spanish, Urdu, Russian, Arabic, and Uzbek make up the first languages of most of my students. Some are still learning English, but that doesn't stop them from having fun in the music room.
It is no doubt that their capacity to understand two or more languages attracts them to music.
A community of immigrants, the students have a wonderful opportunity to bring a bit of their musical culture to our school, sharing their unique experiences and learning to appreciate others' contributions. Our school is large, around thirteen hundred students, with seventy percent of them qualifying for free lunch. Recently, our music department received the best gift music students could ever get - a music room. No longer do the music teachers have to push into the crowded classrooms bringing only as much as we can carry. Now students have a large space dedicated entirely to music!
My Project
I once had a teacher tell me that the three most important elements of music were time, time, and time! As I grew into my professional and pedagogical musical careers, I often reflected on the profoundness of that statement.
Like most beginner musicians, my students struggle to play in time; but amusingly like many professional musicians, my students often struggle with arriving at rehearsal on time!
My hope is to address all issues of time with these metronomes and Casio watches.
My band program has an incentive program where "band bucks," a virtual currency, are given out for helpful and kind gestures as well as for practicing and prompt attendance to rehearsals among other things. Students may then spend their "band bucks" in the band store on items that will help them along their musical journeys. I plan to put these watches and metronomes in the band store for students to earn. We'll also have a dedicated class on how to practice using a metronome.
Our band motto is, "Make your mistakes loud!" Hopefully, these metronomes and watches will help correct and improve all aspects of my students' time!
More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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 Mrs. Perez and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
