My curriculum

Hi everyone!

Well, the new school year is off to such a great start! The whole student body is so obsessed with sneaking a peek at the new building, that students are signing up for Music Appreciation classes left and right. For the first time ever, my Music Apprec. class is completely full!

This influx of students, however, has brought on an entirely new set of challenges for me. Usually an Apprec. class has about 10 students, and that gives us time to get nice and cozy with each other by the end of the semester, but this semester I have around 30! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE having that many students interested in my class, I'm just not used to having that many kids in a non-band class.

I'm managing, though. Plus with more students, I'm going to have the chance to implement more group projects into the curriculum, to keep them engaged in their learning. Later in the year, when we do our unit on dance, the students will be assigned groups and a country, and they'll have to research a traditional folk dance from that culture. They'll then present their own interpretation of that dance to the class as a Multicultural Day, of a sort.

Also, I just want to take a second to mention how much I love my band. Its so wonderful to meet them all at band camp, and watch them in a few short week grow tremendously as musicians and watch their friendships blossom. High School band is where I met all of my close friends growing up, and I'm so glad I can watch these students doing the same.

Oh, how I love my job!

--Jamie, aka Miss Stout