Vision Into Reality

My high school's motto was "Vision Into Reality." We were a brand new high school back in the day. Now it's... a number of years old, and I don't know if they've changed it or what, but that's not important right now.

I'm thinking of that phrase now, today, because I did one of those things I envisioned doing before the school year began. Today I taught using my rhythm cards. I had the students read the rhythms using the "baby" way they do it in elementary school, and then I transitioned them into the "grown-up" way we do it in middle school and beyond. (The "baby" way is TA--TA--TI-TI-TA -- the way they teach it in the Kodaly method. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's just not how we talk about rhythm in the "real" world beyond elementary school. We say 1--2--3-&-4--.)

It's pretty exciting, as a music teacher, to move through 1st through 5th grade skills in 20 minutes. I have color-coded rhythm cards, and each color adds a new symbol to the mix, adding to the difficulty. I have to assume, since I'm teaching kids from a variety of elementary schools, that they don't all know exactly the same skills. I hope and pray that my students come to me with the basic knowledge from which I can continue to spiral up and out to more complex concepts, but I can't take that for granted. I quickly went through the basics to make sure everyone was on the same page with me moving forward.

By the end of the lesson, I had four simple rhythm cards on the board (they're magnetized), and I had students "composing" by assigning a solfege syllable to each note. It was obvious that adding pitch made everything harder, but the students were able to read and sing what they read. They weren't reading it off the staff yet, but many of the important "pre-reading" skills are obviously in place. We've been working on solfege drills since the second day of school, and here it is the third week, and they're already reading pitch and rhythm together. This is a VERY GOOD start!!

I know it will add another layer of complexity and difficulty to have them read from the staff, but it will come. All in due time...

This lesson was so successful that the other teacher wants to trade classes with me tomorrow and have me teach it to his students! YAY!

It's been a satisfying thing to see that vision I had before school ever started become a successful reality in my classroom. I know without a doubt I am a better teacher this year than ever before. Thank you, God! Praise the Lord!