Music Project Success Story

I experienced an amazing turn around in the way my General Music kids felt about class. This was my first year doing General Music and I was looking for some cool ideas for projects. The kids were used to being bystanders in the process. They worked on worksheets and listened to various music genres, but we’re missing being more hands on. They thought class would be boring…

We began studying the different music families and it struck me. Have the students present to not just me as the teacher but the world.
So…enter Google Slides student used Chrome Books to create their own presentation on any instrument family they chose, percussion, string, brass, or woodwind. Once they built their show they used writing skills to creat a script to read for each slide, and by the way, convincing them to stop putting a lot of text on a slide was a chore.

Then the final step…They used MoveNote and brought in their Google Slide Show and read the script, creating a video presentation. They turned out well in many cases and not so good in others, but the students are learning valuable skills on how to properly present…Skills that are easily transferable to any profession.

For me after some front end work, everything was done by the kids. As it should be…

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Music Project Success Story

I experienced an amazing turn around in the way my General Music kids felt about class. This was my first year doing General Music and I was looking for some cool ideas for projects. The kids were used to being bystanders in the process. They worked on worksheets and listened to various music genres, but we’re missing being more hands on. They thought class would be boring…

We began studying the different music families and it struck me. Have the students present to not just me as the teacher but the world.
So…enter Google Slides student used Chrome Books to create their own presentation on any instrument family they chose, percussion, string, brass, or woodwind. Once they built their show they used writing skills to creat a script to read for each slide, and by the way, convincing them to stop putting a lot of text on a slide was a chore.

Then the final step…They used MoveNote and brought in their Google Slide Show and read the script, creating a video presentation. They turned out well in many cases and not so good in others, but the students are learning valuable skills on how to properly present…Skills that are easily transferable to any profession.

For me after some front end work, everything was done by the kids. As it should be…

http://ift.tt/1gAEuxU

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1My1NXu
via IFTTT

YC seventh grader playing the national anthem at the Gaston arts...

YC 7th Grader plays National Anthem at Gaston Arts...

YC seventh grader playing the national anthem at the Gaston arts...

Great Idea from 7th Grade

So very proud of the YC 7th Grade Team. They have had several challenges with students. The discipline numbers were not where they wanted them and they chose to do something.  For remediation, instead of kids staying in their seat they got creative.

They allowed the students to chose form several activities like: club turned up, coffee house, study hall, library and several others. Students filled out a Google Form for their top 2 choices. They were in a room of their choice for an appointed time. They are able to move around and collaborate on information. They drank hot chocolate and soda as all of this went on.

Kids were great and even some of the students who have discipline issues participated and were no problem in the process. This gives our students something to strive for, because they truly enjoyed it. Way to go 7th Grade!!!

Let's Assess

I have really enjoyed using a couple of assessment tools, in particular. When looking for a tool for assessment, I want something that is intuitive in its use, easy to log in for students, and easy to disseminate data and with multiple ways to share data. I have found 2 great tools.

Kahoot is a fun tool that really gets students excited. It is great for formative assessments, and students love the speed element. I like the fact that I can determine how fast we move from question to question and the constant update to who is in the lead. Having that feedback drives the students. It really is a gamefication of the lesson. Students often ask if we are going to use it when preparing for a quiz.

Another tool that has some robust features is Socrative. I use this tool for more formal assessments. It can be used in several different manners, but I mainly use it at the end of a lesson. Students log in with first and last names and then they start into the test. I allow Socrative to show students their grade after they have finished. I can then drop scores write into Google Drive. I monitor the percentage correct for each question and focus on the questions that presented the most problems for students in upcoming lessons.

Both tools are great and I love to use them to drive my instruction. They are assessments made easy.

Why is the Blues important?

We spent a lot of time this week on the blues. There must be a very important reason behind our creating collages, writing our own blues, and all of the playing and discussion of the blues. Why do you think that it is important? Explain your answer in the comment section below.

My 5 Beliefs about Education

I truly feel that my actions, for the most part, align with my beliefs about education. Unfortunately, I have a difficult time saying they always align, because of certain limitations that are beyond my control, which include the amount of time I have my students, when I have them, because I don't set the schedule, and activities that are mandated across the board for our schools systems in NC. This leads me to my top five beliefs about education. I have many strong beliefs about the education of our children in this amazing era of technology and information. I guess I can work them down to five.

First, I believe all students have the right to a free and public 21st century education. No child should be limited in access to technologies that will not only enhance their education, but that will teach them technology literacies that will be expected in the work environment. This is a right that the public should expect our school systems to provide. This is why I feel it was so important to have my students exposed to technologies in my class that not only make learning more fun, but that also challenged them.

This brings me to my second belief in education. I believe that students need to be challenged often. Frederick Douglass said, "It is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men". I truly believe many of our kids coast through school and are not made to really think. If a student "aces" every assignment given, they can do much more than what we are giving them.  If we do not challenge them as students, they will be challenged as adults and may not be able to handle the pressure. As I work to make my students "Brain Sweat", I may not have a class of all "A"s, but my students can't say that they were not pushed in my class to get better.

My third belief may seem rather trite, but it is essential to every successful educator. I believe that all students can learn. We live in a day and age were the push is for every child to be mainstreamed into the regular public education classroom. I think in an attempt to create "typical" students we forget that defining typical is difficult to say the least. Instead of standardizing education, we need to personalize education. Every student is capable of learning, it is up to educators and our system of education to place kids in the most conducive environment for them. Unfortunately, students are not always in the proper environment and this is when they may act out or have other problems. This is difficult for me, because in a class period of approximately 40 minutes, I can't have these types of disruptions. This is where as I mentioned above that my actions, for the most part, echo my beliefs in education. I would love to take the time to break down the issue with the student at that moment, but with the number of students I have and the time constraints that are imposed, that student may get sent to redirect and the issue can't be dealt with till much later. This is not very effective and I have struggled with how to best meet the needs of that trouble student, while not sacrificing the time of other students, in particular this year. This is a very personal issue for me, also. My son, though not having the behavior issues i mentioned earlier, is on the Autism spectrum. He was in public education for 2 years. His first year was very tough at times, but he was successful. His second year, he began to blossom, but in his 3 year, with no teacher assistant and class sizes nearing 30 students, he was having a very difficult time. We are fortunate to have the ability place him in a private Christian school with class sizes of around 10. With this, he has begun to love school again. It hurts me that we don't always place kids in a proper environment because of costs, when we can usually find the money to do whatever else we want.

The fourth belief that I hold dear about education is that what we teach must be relevant to our students. Information is everywhere today and our students have no problem accessing it. Our job is to make information relate to the  "real world" for our students. If not, learning is usually lost in short measure. Students must understand the importance of what you teach and how they can make connections to their lives in the future.

It is difficult for me to put these beliefs in order from least to most important. I think they really overlap to some degree. I say that because my fifth belief is not fifth in importance. We must understand the importance of culture in educating our students. I read where an educator said, "if students don't learn the way we teach, we should teach the way they learn". If we do not relate to the culture of our students, it becomes very difficult to reach them. I think this is one of my stronger attributes as an educator. I often incorporate
activities where students are exposed to people who look like them, who have maybe some of the same life experiences and who excel in spite of any difficulties.

I think the common themes through most of my statements have been relationships, rigor and relevance. All three are required in order to be a successful educator.

Our First Video Conference

I love teaching students how to play music. My classes often discuss how music tends to reflect the joys, pains, and values of people. Today we had an amazing opportunity to explore the history behind some pieces that we are playing and made some connections to our music of today. My 8th Grade band took a day away from the instruments and did a video conference with the National Museum of African America History and Culture, NMAAHC  This museum is part of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.

We had a wonderful curator from the museum, Heather Buchanan, who took use though several artifacts. The name of the exhibit was "Living Objects" and the premise was that objects tell a story. We spent time looking at objects from slavery. To help facilitate the video conference, students took actually quotes from January 1, 1863, the day the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect and wrote first person letters using one of the quotes. They wrote to President Lincoln or a fictitious relative or friend. This was meant to allow students to get into the mindset of the times. During the presentation they were asked by the presenter to explain how their person might feel in several scenarios, according the objects shown. One such example was a picture of slave shackles. Using a ruler students determined that the size of the shackles meant that they must have been used for a woman or child. Students then were asked more higher order thinking questions like "how would wearing the shackles make the slaves feel". The experience, exposing my kids to an expert on that time period, was great. Students were very interactive and were anxious to answer. The technology does what technology does...We had two drops, but we were able to get back on quickly. I was really excited to also experiment with students tweeting about the experience using #gcsk12 and #ycbandvidconf

My hope is that after having our video conference, students have more a connection with some of the music we're doing. Understanding the history brings a wholeness to the music. Students need to understand that humanity is a part of creating art, and human experience is not limited to the "pretty" stuff. When we play the blues I want students to understand where that feeling came from, or when we play a negro spiritual like Wade in the Water, I want students to understand, to some degree, the pain and hope in the lyric along with the ingenious coded message.

We are learning to make connections across all areas in the York Chester Band, and our first video conference is another step in achieving that goal.

Digital Learning Day

Digital Learning was such a neat day in the York Chester Middle School Band  We started out the day with a pic of a runaway slave collar on the Smartboard screen. Students were asked "In one word, how does this image make you feel?".

In order to collect student responses I created a Padlet Board for my classes, and then made a QR code for the Padlet URL. My students used a QR code reader to get to the Padlet page. We then collected the "One Word" responses from all of the students in the class. It was fascinating seeing what my students wrote. I then probed them further and had them explain why they chose the word that they did. I am constantly trying to get my students to outwardly express what's going on internally and this exercise seemed to recall get them to open up.

Empathy is sometimes difficult for our students, but one of the things that we discovered through our conversations is that when we can put ourselves in the place of others we stand a better chance of treating them the way we would want to be treated, but when we create a culture of "them versus us" it is quite easy to do the most inhumane things to other human beings. 

It was amazing how the use of technology helped facilitate this dialogue, which led us into the piece of music that we are preparing to perform, a negro spiritual. Digital Learning Day in the York Chester Middle School Band led us down wonderful road of discovery and we are continuing to use technology to facilitate the learning and innovate how we teach our students.

My First "Official" Staff Development

This past Tuesday, I dove into the waters of providing staff development at my school. I am used to teaching my students. I teach adults at my church and I have helped people from my school, my community and even provided, what I believe to be valuable training or at least guidance and/or instruction to people of all ages and abilities, from across the state. With that said I was surprised at how nervous I was to speak to the staff at my own school. There's something about doing a professional development at your own little pond that can be unnerving. Anyway...

I found out that we were doing some staff development the Tuesday after the MLK Holiday. I offered to do a session, but I had not heard anything...then, the Friday before MLK Day. I was told, "by the way, we need you to do a session on Google Apps Tuesday, ok", and oh course I said sure.  When I looked at the schedule and saw approx 40 minutes, my mind went racing.  What can I do in 40 minutes, how much could I cover, how much should I try to do...after taking a breath I decided to focus on Google Voice, Google Advanced Search, Google Forms, & Flubaroo.

Since we were coming off of MLK, I showed the class, by the way largest group I had was 3 people because I was only teaching our Encore staff which was spilt between about 4-5 other sessions, how to do an advanced search to find MLK presentations to demo for kids to get them thinking about how to create a presentation.

Next I incorporated Google forms and showed the teachers how easy it is to create a digital dropbox for student projects. While I was in forms I created a quiz to demonstrate how teachers can create a test about MLK and use Flubaroo to grade it.

All of this went well and teachers were very receptive, but the winner for the day was Google Voice. I walked the classes through creating a Google Voice number and setting up their voice mail. Teachers have already begun to hand out their Google Voice numbers to their new classes, since we have just hit semester change. Many people were so amazed by Google Voice that as people were walking by the computer lab, they began coming into the session to find out about it. This is a great tool for our staff to begin using.

All in all a pretty good start to presenting staff development. Thanks YC for my first opportunity. I'm looking forward to many more.

GCS Technology Smackdown

What a great experience today at Stuart Cramer!!! The GCS Technology Smackdown was a wonderful way to begin the second semester. As a member of Pinnacle 17, I felt very fortunate to be a part of the event. Fit so very inspiring to see what was going on across GCS and of course it is a perfect time to pick up new idea and new methods as I create college and career ready learners. There was one tool that stood out to me as a great fit for my classroom.

Being that I have less than 45 minutes with my student each day I have to maximize what I get out of that time. One of the time suckers of instructional time for me is having to bring students up to speed when they have been out of class. "Ted Ed" was a great tool to help me flip my class for those particular students or for students who need to review a concept. I have used various screen casting apps to do this, but what sets Ted Ed apart is the fact that you embed questions, so that students can answer questions, which make sure they are "getting it", as they go through the video...Genius!!! This keeps my questions and the video all together and I can keep check on my students answers to make sure they understand the concept. Great time saver!!!

I can't wait to get the list of all of the Smackdown technologies. I am sure I will find more that will innovate the way we do music at YC. Who knew a Smackdown could be a good thing...lol.

TPACK and Apptivities Times are Changing!

Great discussion and work session today at the GCS Pinnacle summer session. This session equipped me to explain to other educators the proper way in which to integrate technologies. One of the main challenges to many of my peers is where to start when trying to use technology in the classroom. The session today answered this question.After group today, I have been reminded that technology should be used seamlessly to create the already established goal or as we were told, "begin with the end in mind".

Reminding teachers to start with their Content Standard, which is where most teachers find the most comfort, is the most important thing. I have found myself so excited about a piece of technology that I have tried to shape lessons around that device. We should rather start with the standard and integrate technology that makes teaching that standard most effective. The Venn diagram for the TPACK model, demonstrated this very clearly. TPACK is a useful tool for wading through all of the technology and getting to the Core of what I want my students to be able to do. I am excited about the process and trying to make what I do in my class more and more seamless, when it comes to technology integration.

I saw some great potential in the Apptivity piece today. The students have much of the responsibility by way of choosing which tool to use, design, collaboration, evaluating data, etc. The process leads students to use higher order thinking skills along with several 21st Century technology skills.

I think that we naturally will improve the quality of teaching that goes on in the classroom as teachers begin to use some of the tools available through mobile apps or various other web 2.0 technologies that engage students at a high level.

The Teacher of the Year Process Reflection

Well I have completed the last step in the process for NC state Teacher of the Year, and I now await the results from the committee that was compiled to make the decision. As I reflect on my experience, several things come to mind.

First, I was and I still am so humbled by the fact that my peers choose me for this role. It's one thing to be chosen by your school to represent them. We all know each other and respect and appreciate each person's contribution at all levels in our school. I was caught completely off guard when I was selected for the county. It was such a blessing and I didn't realize that there were people outside of the community of my school who were aware of what I did or who were taking notice. We have so many fantastic educators in Gaston County Schools that, when my name was called, I literally was in shock. I still have not fully wrapped my mind around it.

By the time I was getting used to being the Gaston County Schools Teacher of the Year, I learned about the next step in the process, the regional competition. I was feeling totally satisfied with where I was representing my county and did not think in my wildest dreams that I had a chance in the regional competition. I thought about all of the counties that were included and the size of some of those schools systems and I said to myself...well it was just an honor to make it this far. When I was notified by the regional staff that I was a finalist, I actually thought the call was the..."thank you for all you do, but...." call. I was again telling myself that it was an honor to make it this far, and this will probably be as far as I go. My school administration did a good job of making me think that my classroom observation went very poorly, and my central office staff were silent about any news about results. When the program came together to announce me as the regional teach of the year winner, my heart was beating so fast and my mind was spinning...of course the fact that I had been sick the last couple of days before and still was not well, may have had something to do with that. All of the cameras, news stations, and reporters...I had no idea this is what it would be like winning the regional competition. I never allowed myself to think that far ahead in the process, because I felt it so unlikely, but there we were.

Yesterday, I went to the Umstead Hotel in. Cary, NC, along with the other 8 regional winners, for the NC Teacher of the Year competition. It was a beautiful venue and it was a great experience to meet these wonderful educators from every area of the state. In talking with them, I found that NC has some innovative things going on in classrooms all over. There were teachers who taught from language arts to dance at traditional public schools and charter schools. They came with a wealth of life experience which included the military to off broadway musicals. I look forward to picking their brains about all things educational. If there is anything I have learned from my years in teaching, it's that collaboration usually yields better answers than isolation. After finishing the interview process, we all headed home.

I have noticed several opportunities that have come available because of being a regional teacher of the year. I have enjoyed being a part of several county committees that are helping to shape the future of education in Gaston County and I am impressed with every committee and team. Gaston County seems to be on the cutting edge of things like schools safety or performance pay. It really makes me proud to be an educator from GCS.

No matter what happens next, I know that everyday I have surrounding the best teachers and staff members in the state, here in Gaston County. We are Gaston County.

YC JAZZ Messengers Classroom Central at Bank of America Event

Click here to view these pictures larger

2013 All-County Experience

Preparing as a clinician for the Gaston County All-County Honor Bandwas a challenge. I felt honored that my colleagues would entrust me with one of the bands, but I also began to think: Would I choose the right music? How would I develop a good rapport with the kids? Not to mention the fact that my colleagues would be watching and that would surely make me self-conscious and somewhat nervous. The days leading up to the clinic I began to really feel the nerves...not sleeping like normal and obsessing about the music I chose.

One of the great thing about being a band director in Gaston County is the camaraderie. We share our personal insights and all of our tricks of the trade picked up through our different experiences and years of teaching. As I began to stress a little, I truly appreciated several directors contacting me. They had already experienced being a clinician and said "you may want to do this" or "that may be a little too much for the amount of time that you have". It was awesome to get a heads up from someone who had already experienced what to do and not to do.Once, Friday's rehearsal began I felt the nerves melt away fairly early in the rehearsal. I thought "there is a reason that my fellow directors chose me":)

The students in the Wilson Band (WB) were very receptive. They made my job easy. We read through 7 songs, by mid-morning and by then I knew what the students could play and what they really wanted to play. What was I ever worried about, right?...I found a redirect tool by accident. I do not know where it came from but the kids really responded to it. I would yell "I've been running a long time", and they would answer "but I ain't tired yet". In an instant the kids would bounce back to being ready to go. I continued to remind them they weren't tired and they fell in line. Little metaphors about performing kept popping in my head any time there was a music concept to work on. My brain seemed to be firing so fast that I had to slow it down...so many ideas, so many things I wanted to work on, so many things I wanted to say, so many things I heard in the music. By the end of the day, I was exhausted! But, I could tell that we had made some great progress with the band.

Saturday came way much too quickly. Who knew I would still be tired from the day before? We got to run cleanup detail on several tunes, and for a lot done. Before I knew it, it was lunch...and that was it. Rehearsals over it was concert time.

The concert experience was incredible. It was wonderful to see all of those people come out...not for a ball game, but for a concert. The support from the families was overwhelming. What a county to work in. Where else could you get that many people together and there not be someone kicking, throwing, or dribbling a ball. Band is an academic class with national and state standards that we teach. We impact so many students and families, as they effect us also, and I think this weekend we have done a pretty good job.

I've been running a long time and I ain't tired yet!

Presidential Inauguration and Martin Luther King Jr. Day Reflections

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." It is ironic that when these words were written in 1776, they did not apply to people like me. Yet, these words seem almost foreshadowing of the changes to come. TheDeclaration of Independencespoke of rights that were given by our Creator, but it would take many years and a war to start our country down the path of "All men are created equal..." and we are still trying to make this a reality here in 2013.

As an African-American, I feel fortunate to find myself in a place in history where I have a particularly unique view from which to reflect on the history of what today meant to us as a nation and our moving closer towards that concept, "All men are created equal".

As I reflect on the 2nd Presidential Inauguration of President Barack Obama, I can't help but think of one of the Bibles he sworn the oath of office on, the Lincoln Bible. Abraham Lincoln was president of our country at a time when our union was new and fragile. There was an issue that threatened to tear our nation apart, Slavery. With southern states threatening secession the President had to weigh the costs of freeing the slaves with preserving the Union. I believe Lincoln understood the damage we do to ourselves when we don't extend equality for us all. I can't help but wonder what President Lincoln would think of the nation's first black president. I can only imagine the feelings of something you know would take longer than your life span materialize.

Once slavery was abolished, something naturally had to take its place. TheBlack Codesin southern states. began almost as soon as the ink was dry on theEmancipation Proclamation...then here comesJim CrowtheGrandfather Clause,Segregationand other restrictions allmeant to keep a nation in a nation...separate and unequal.

Then enters a charismatic pastor who challenges the status quo. Dr. King often quoted the founding fathers as he spoke of racial equality. Peaceful resistance, which Dr. King espoused, was in stark contrast to the hatred and vehemence that was shown towards those seeking the rights promised in our founding documents, but not yet realized. How would Dr. King see the events of today? I would expect that he would feel that we have made great strides, but that we still have too many equalities in a nation with the capacity to solve these problems.

Now with these great leaders to reflect on, along with countless others, we stand at a place in history that is brand new. As the world looked on, we a nation of immigrants, but whose infrastructure was built with slave labor have chosen and African-American as president and we have given him a second term in office. There have been so many who have sacrificed so much to get us to this point. It is at times overwhelming to think of even my own family and the sacrifices made in order to help my current generation become successful. My grandfather had to leave school in the 5th grade to help his family. Later when he was married and wanted to build a house he quoted prices that a person of color could not afford at that time. He decided to build the home by hand. It took years, but he built a home for his family. My father was the first black chemist for Burlington Industries. I am only the second generation of my family to go to college. Today, I found myself in awe of what is possible when people want to change something. The country did not change on its own. Brave men and woman put their lives on the line so that we all, as Americans, can achieve and excel. As an African-American I appreciate the founding fathers of our great nation, but I have an even greater appreciation for those who made and are making our country live up to its ideal that we are all created equal, for they paid a cost that we today to often take for granted. I hope we always remember that we owe a great debt to these men and woman, and the only way to begin to pay it back is to contribute to creating a better society and as they did, leave this place better than we found it.

WELCOME 2013

All hands on deck!  It's 2013 and we are showing that Cougar Pride.  We have a great 2012 at York Chester.  We welcomed in a new class of talented 6th Graders and continued working with some awesome 7th & 8th Graders, but there is much more to come.

SHOUT-OUTS
Let's congratulate Raven, Jamon, & Chris.  These student will represent York Chester at the Gaston All-County Honor Band Clinic February 8-9, 2013.  Let's cheer these students on as they play in this "best of the best" band.  Our very own jazz band will be among the featured performers at this year's Martin Luther King Celebration January 19th at St. Stephen's AME Zion Church.  All of the community is invited.  This is just the beginning and there will be many more Shout-outs to come in 2013.

We have begun a new year as we end the 2nd 9 Weeks.  Oh, where did the time go? It is always exciting to have a fresh start, but before we get too far into January 2013, let's make sure we are wrapping up the 2nd 9 weeks in stellar fashion.   Remember that ALL assignments must be turned in no later than this Friday, January 18, 2013.  That is THIS WEEK!  

Every student has been given a progress report(last week), which explains what they have turned in, what they are missing, and their current average.  This report should have been signed by the parents and turned in to me to verify that parents know where their child stands before the end of the 9 weeks.  ANY assignment can be retaken, but students must do this before this Friday, January 18th.  The only grade that students can not make up is their home practice.  If your student is not bringing their instrument home and not practicing at home, except in cases like tuba and baritones who don't have a personal instrument, their grade will be negatively impacted.  All students should practice each night.  The consistency is more important than the length of time they practice. Click on this link for some practice tips to help your student be more successful.  If you have not seen your student's progress report, you can check all of their grades anytime you like with the parent assist program through GCS or let me know and I will print another copy.

Band Karate Belt assignments are due by this Thursday.  Remember, ONLY students who have fulfilled the requirements of the White, Yellow, & Orange Belts will receive and "A" for the 9 weeks.  This is our incentive program to encourage our students to continually challenge themselves to become better musicians.

In 2013, we continual to strive to make your student's education rigorous and relevant.  We will use 21st Century Technologies to help all of our students become not only good musicians, but good creative and forward thinking students responsible for their own education.  Go Cougars! It's 2013!

Gearing Up For the Holidays!

Cougars are on the move!  I am so proud of our Jazz Band members who performed in Charlotte November 17th at Bank of America downtown.  Classroom Central has called us back to perform 3 times for their annual fundraisers and this was their Birthday Gala!  The jazz band looked and sounded great in the Urban Garden portion of the tower.  Raven O. sang vocals while Dantarious C, Joseph A, Mikhalis H, and Tyron M played the the horn lines and drums.  Excellent work Cougars.  The kids are really on the move!

There is a lot going on as we near the end of the semester and we need the help of all of our parents to keep students focused on learning as we near the winter break.  Students have 2 primary assignments that are due before break.  Part of our new Common Core Curriculum is a piece called Cultural Relevance where students must make connections between music and other areas.  One way students are making that connection is every student will be making a poem, which must be at least 3 lines long, that expresses their personal view of this season.  This assignment is due on Monday, December 17th.  The poem should include a title, student's first and last name, class period, and it must be typed, but it does not have to be printed.  Students can send it via email.  The second big assignment is the Living Room Concert.  Students will put on a concert in their home.  The particulars are in the project info sheet click the link for the sheet.  Students must make a program for their concert and must play 5 songs.  The Living Room Concert Project is due on December 18th.

I know everyone is excited about the Winter Spectacular, Thursday, December 13th 6pm at York Chester.  It is going to be a great show and will showcase an array of the talent that we have in our performing arts department at York Chester Middle School.  I expect to see all of your smiling faces and all of your wonderful families as we celebrate this wonderful season together!  I could not do what I do at York Chester without your support and constant help.  Make sure your student is practicing each night to make their performance great! Students will wear their own black dress pants, black dress shoes, black socks, and the black Cougar Band Polo.  if your student does not have a shirt, make sure your order one from me.  GO COUGARS!