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What do the children think? – Get involved with season 3

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You can be involved with season 3 by talking to the children in your class about the 10 questions listed below.

If you teach children aged 5-13 anywhere in the world this is for you!

Listen here to my pre-season 3 podcast episode, as I explain how to get involved and inspire your students.

  • I’m looking for children and teachers to be on the podcast. Let me know if that’s you and we can record your answers for the show!
  • Write down your own answers, send them to me and I’ll include them on the Education on Fire blog!
  • Write your own blog or record a video for your school and send me the link. I will then share it with other teachers.

Let’s get to know what our students think about their school life.

 

  1. If you could design your own classroom what would it look like? Eg Large open plan loft style, small rooms, sit in rows or groups? Anything goes be creative!
  2. How would you create your day and spend your time? Eg How much time inside/outside, how much studying, exercise, time on your own/with others, playing, games, projects. Anything goes be creative!

  3. How do you assess your progress? What do you do everyday to move forward towards your goals and dreams?

  4. How often do you discuss and think about – what you eat, exercise, breathing, sleeping, mindfulness, gratitude, volunteering?

  5. How often do you discuss and think about life? Babies being born or people dying.

  6. How often do you discuss money, budgets, savings, financial planning?

  7. Do you work with a mentor? Do you know what a mentor is?

  8. How often do you lead a team of people?

  9. Do you like working on real projects that are relevant to you? Eg Fundraising, events for the local community, school productions, concerts, sports events?

  10. Of the things you enjoy most – do they happen in school time or are they after school clubs?

Have fun and explore you imaginations. Remember nothing is impossible just think about what you would like your school to be!

www.EducationOnFire.com

Top 5 tips for whole class primary music

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Today I want to share my top 5 tips for teaching whole class primary music lessons.

In my experience you have to look at the progress and achievement of your lessons over a period of time. It is hard to gauge week on week. This can be for many reasons – the children may have just had a hard day –  just come back from P.E or simply it is nearly lunchtime and they are flagging!

So remember it is important as the primary music teacher to have an overview of the skills that you are imparting but keep the framework of each lesson complete.

  • Take a look at me in action here.

1. Repetition is good for learning

I start each lesson in the same way. The class sits in a circle and we play our rhythm games. Each week the sense of pulse improves, the children become more confident in speaking in front of the rest of the class and any musical or co-ordination skills I have used improve. Before very long the children are desperate to get started and have their favourite games to play. You can develop the games and make them harder but the format remains the same.

2. Keep it fun

In my early years classes I start by playing a game that is simply just ‘watch and copy’. I slowly start by using my hands to touch parts of my body e.g. knees, feet, elbow etc. I increase the speed and then do more things at once maybe by using both hands. By the end everyone is in hysterics as we are all flapping around trying to keep up. I often finish by doing the actions of ‘head, shoulders, knees and toes’ before you know it the class are singing without even thinking about it on their own. I also use my voice to make animal noises……nothing removes barriers like everyone being a cow or a monkey!

3. Keep the lesson in the present

While you may have goals that you want the class to achieve over a term or semester, remember that it is only the lesson that you are delivering now that is important. Keep it interesting, fast paced and continually praise the achievement made in the last game/activity or the great answer a child has given you. The moment you are teaching something that doesn’t seem relevant or doesn’t link to what you have previously done the children will switch off. You might think it is an ‘important skill they need to learn for the future’ or ‘something will aid them for next terms work’ but if the jump is too big and the children can’t see where you are heading you will loose their enthusiasm and flow.

4. Engage the whole class

If you can avoid it don’t work with just part of a class while others are just left with nothing to do. Chaos will quickly ensue! Either have them working in focused groups or engage everyone together in the process of what you are doing. So for example it might be that in your circle only one person at a time is saying something but if the other 29 have to follow on from the previous person or they keep a pulse going for those who are speaking then everyone is included in the same process even if the actual activity is different.

5. Be aware of the individual needs of every child

Within a class you will have a wide range of people from different backgrounds and with different personalities. Support them all individually to be their ‘best self’ today. A shy person who says one word will have achieved just as much as the confident person who sings a scale in 3rds! The aim for me is never to make the whole class the same but to create an environment where every child can grow and feel supported. From that point great results can be achieved, individually and collectively.

LET ME KNOW HOW YOU GET ON

For more educational insights listen to my podcast Education on Fire

Happy primary music teaching!

Facebook, Twitter and Social media with your school

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Is it ever OK for parents to use social media to express their frustrations with a school?

I have to hold my hand up and admit to doing this, but it was a last resort. Nobody was listening. Communication works both ways and when a school says that you can pop in for a chat with a teacher or the head, that is great – but only if they listen.

 

Rightly or wrongly social media is often a way to be heard. It is a tool when used positively is quick, easy and public. But this is also true when it is used in frustration. If you want to avoid this at your school

  • Think
  • Listen
  • Be authentically true to your core beliefs
  • Show your values don’t just say them

 

Parent Example

During the autumn term of 2016 I had multiple ‘chats’ with more than one member of staff about wanting to know the date of my daughters Christmas performances. I personally think that this sort of planning should be done at the beginning of the school year so parents can book time off work to support their children and the school. We got well into late November and still no dates were set. I am a self employed musician and my diary was beginning to fill up with performances and I wanted to keep the school performance date free. It is very important to me. I know life can be short and I want to share in my daughter’s successes and achievements. I eventually had to make the decision without a confirmed school date. I made an educated guess and turned down nearly £1000 as we made alternative decisions about how my wife and I would work over this period.

I guessed wrong (an expensive mistake) but luckily I was free on the day that was eventually confirmed. I’m sure the school has no idea of the impact their way of organising themselves has on others. They can’t if they don’t listen. There is a lot of rhetoric about community and working together but actions often show the reality clearer than words.

My use of twitter in this case was only to show how disappointed I was that having spoken to the school, no action or positive reply was forthcoming.

 

What happens when you show positivity? 

I have had many detailed chats with the headteacher about education and I have previously fallen for the rhetoric I heard. Last summer I supported them by offering half a day of music for 10 weeks. At the end of the term I asked on multiple occasions for a time to discuss and assess what had been achieved. They were too busy to fit this in – well the school is expanding with new building work going on. However new buildings don’t make a school, people do and this is very clearly put by Janice Mardell in my podcast episode 003 which you can listen to here.

What is heartbreaking is that I offered this help because a visitor to the school had previously said that the school obviously wasn’t very musical. This was so sad because when I was first involved with the school, music was at it’s heart. But headteachers have come and gone and staff have changed. As a result there is no orchestra or ensemble for my daughter to perform in. Her horn lessons have no immediate focus in school, in fact all of her skills and abilities are given to her by clubs and opportunities we pay for outside of the curriculum!

The meeting I was proposing last summer was going to result in me offering my services as a professional musician and educator for one day a week for a year – free of charge – to support music and the creative curriculum. I wanted to do this for my daughter and her friends using the skills I have.

However without a meeting I couldn’t offer my help and arranged my work diary to fit my other obligations that I did know about.

The real sadness for me is that the opportunity was there. During the 10 weeks last summer the pupils got to know me, I was stopped in the street by them to say hello. One of the children of an assistant headteacher was in my class and I was told how much her son had enjoyed it.

Until now I have not used social media to express my feeling about this particular situation, but I wonder if seeing it in a blog will be seen as supportive or negative? Feedback is important to schools and this is a way I can deliver it that will be seen and heard by all.

 

While I want Education on Fire to be positive I also want you to know I understand the frustrations that you can encounter as a teacher or educator. My frustration was both as a parent and educator. My daughter’s school weren’t listening to me and as a result I couldn’t offer my help and support.

What do you do in that situation? Do what you can. I have devoted even more time working on Education on Fire and finding examples of great things that are going on in schools to set your imaginations racing!

You can listen to all my podcasts at www.educationonfire.com/episodes/

 

 

 

 

 

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