From: Davis, Esther
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2020 07:00:27 -0500
How many classes are you teaching?
Esther Davis
Fine Arts Teacher
Music Memory UIL Coach
Link-Up Recorder/Vocal Coach
J.L. Everhart Magnet International Baccalaureate
2919 Tryon Rd.
Longview, TX 75605
903.803.5422, (my office)
903.803.5400, (main office)
903.803.5401., (fax)
website.www.lisd.org
On Thu, Aug 27, 2020 at 4:36 PM Ann Wells wrote:
> So I've just finished my first week "a la cart" and it went pretty well,
> especially once I abandoned my cute sandals (and even my sport sandals!)
> and started wearing my tennis shoes. Here's what I ended up doing and what
> I discovered after four days...
> For my "Opening routine" I did the following:
> 1. I just told the students that while I was coming in and setting up, they
> needed to be sure their desks were cleared off and everything put away, and
> then they could look at my cart and see if they could find any clues
> about what we might be doing in class (not that there will be any actual
> clues, but I do have the greeting choices on magnet clips on the side, and
> my Doctor Who-inspired "I'm the Teacher" sign (TpT freebie!), and baskets
> with the books I'm using, and at some point there may be instruments, and
> stuff like that. And they don't know that I haven't planted any kind of
> clue on there...mwahaha...). And so far, most of the teachers have had them
> clear their desks before I get there, so I have told them want them to
> make sure their desks are clear, but with a few exceptions they haven't
> needed to do that, they have just been sitting quietly at their socially
> distanced desks with a kind of "I've been sitting in this desk too long"
> glazed over look... :(
> 2. Once I was set up, we did a warm-up (simple steady beat echoing for K
> and 1, without the song I would usually sing to go with it, sigh, and for
> everyone else, I held up cards with movement cues and had them do that
> movement in a steady beat to music - I'm using the IP track of MK8's Bright
> Happy Day). I don't plan on it being the same every time, but there will be
> some activity, whether it's movement or rhythm reading or whatever. I'm
> thinking probably movement would be good more often than not for the
> aforementioned eyes glazed over looks.
> 3. Then I called roll and let them choose a greeting. Last year I had four
> greetings posted by the door, and they chose which they wanted as they came
> in, and again as a goodbye when they left - things like handshakes, high
> fives, waves, salutes, fist bumps, etc. I pulled all the "no-touch" options
> from my card set and I chose three of them, which I'll use for a few weeks
> and then change out with other things. When I called their names, they did
> one of the three things (current options are wave, salute, or wink) and I
> did the same back.
> 4. I kept forgetting, but my plan is to display the "musical message" (a la
> Responsive Classroom morning message) while I call roll so they can be
> reading while they wait, and after I finish greeting, we read the message
> together, and then transition into the main part of the lesson.
>
> For those familiar with Responsive Classroom, the parts of my routine
> mostly follow the recommended opening routine in the RC for Art, Music, PE,
> etc. teachers book.
>
> The part of the routine I was most concerned about and was asking about was
> the first part, but it really hasn't been an issue. I have just let the
> students sit quietly and wait on me, and my prep has been fairly quick so
> they haven't had to wait very long at all. I set up a google sites website
> with each grade level's Google Slides presentation with
> agenda/visuals/lesson resources embedded in it, and I used tinyurl.com to
> customize a url I could remember easily. We (the resource teachers) had
> asked that the computer attached to the smart board be available and a
> browser open for us, so all I had to do was type in my tiny url and start
> the embedded slides presentation. And the second day in each class (and
> from here on out) was even easier because all I had to do was start typing
> and it came up because it was in the browser history. So, except for the
> first day when I realized that I had forgotten to make sure the sharing
> settings on the embedded google docs were correct and had to go in on my
> chromebook and fix it, and unless I had to wait on the teacher to finish
> lunch count/attendance/whatever should have been finished before I got
> there (just one teacher so far, but happened both days I was in her room!),
> it didn't take me long at all to get things going. I have a bluetooth
> speaker on my cart and my chromebook, both of which had sufficient battery
> life for what little I was playing music and/or looking at my lesson plans,
> so as long as I remember to charge things when I'm back in my classroom, I
> shouldn't need to plug the cart in.
>
> So far so good...thanks for all the ideas and advice shared so far, and
> hopefully this will be helpful to my fellow covid cart-pushers.
> ~Ann in NC
>
> Ann Wells - annmusic7@gmail.com
>
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 4:20 PM J. Mattoon wrote:
>
> > Hi All,
> >
> > For the last five years I've been in a small school with no music room,
> so
> > I've had ages 3-6 together "a la cart", and K, gr1, gr2, gr3, gr456 and
> > gr78 either in the lunchroom or the multipurpose room, depending.
> > Question- what's the main reason that you want to do an entrance routine?
> > Is it about maximizing lesson time? IMO, if the kids can handle just
> > socializing peacefully at their desks, my advice is to let them. Don't
> > cheat yourself out of having some time to breathe while you plug in the
> > cords etc. It's good for the kids and there won't be any dead air. If the
> > purpose of the entrance routine is about managing behavior by keeping
> them
> > occupied, then I would go with a silent watch-and-copy (student-led) or
> > breathe-and-stretch -- but keep in mind that while you're setting up, the
> > kids might need to be spending time doing something non-musical -- like
> > washing their hands. You have to read the room and team up with each
> > classroom teacher, continually.
> >
> > Normally I'm really protective of my "music minutes" and one of my
> biggest
> > goals is to squeeze the most musical action out of our time. But no
> matter
> > what, sometimes I'm going to arrive and the kids are covered with cupcake
> > frosting, or the wifi is down, or the teacher has to have a meeting in
> that
> > space, so I'll save the super loud and the focused listening things for
> > after they're done. Going room-to-room has helped me clarify the boundary
> > between what I can and cannot control, which has helped me slow my roll
> for
> > the better (I think).
> >
> > Because the a-la-cart situation is made of curveballs.... Think of the
> > times in your past when you've adapted well to a last-second curveball,
> and
> > thnk of what preparation or attitudes made that adaptation possible? For
> > example (this story takes place at my former school where I had a music
> > room, but still fits what I'm trying to explain): One day we had some
> water
> > dripping from the ceiling. We totally *crushed* that opportunity - the K
> > kids were finding the steady beat of the drips resonating in the trash
> can,
> > we were moving our hands to the tempo of the drips, doing focused
> listening
> > and seeing if we could echo the sound of the drips... I really believe
> that
> > teachers' proudest moments from this year aren't goign to be the planned
> > moments, but the ones where we "steered into the skid" a little bit and
> > improvised and have fun.
> >
> > My two cents,
> >
> > Jean in MA
> >
> > On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 1:00 PM Febinger, Nikki >
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks for asking this. I am in the same situation and was looking for
> > > EXACTLY what you described -- a class routine that they can do by
> > > themselves for the 1 to 2 minutes it will take to get set up. I love
> > this
> > > list -- MK8 literally saved my life when I transitioned from being a
> high
> > > school English teacher to an elementary music teacher!
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: MK8-talk > joshuaisd.org@lists.musick8.com>
> > > On Behalf Of Ann Wells
> > > Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2020 7:47 AM
> > > To: MK8 Mailing List
> > > Subject: [MK8] Routines when teaching a la cart
> > >
> > > Hi, list friends...
> > > I am going to be on a cart this year, at least for the first part of
> it -
> > > haven't lost my room or anything, minimizing kid (and theoretically,
> > germ)
> > > movement is the name of the game for now. Hopefully later in the year
> > > things will change!
> > >
> > > At any rate, I have a specific question - I'm very interested in
> > > Responsive Classroom and even last year started incorporating things
> from
> > > it into my teaching. Right now I am trying to set up a
> beginning-of-class
> > > routine but I am not envisioning how that is going to look when I am
> > coming
> > > to them rather than the students coming to me. I have the Responsive
> > > Classroom for Art, Music, and PE book, but all of the discussion and
> > > examples of opening routines revolve around how students enter my
> space,
> > > and even though it acknowledges and mentions the fact that many special
> > > area teachers travel to classrooms, it gives no examples of how RC
> looks
> > in
> > > those situations, which is frustrating for me. So, finally, after all
> > that
> > > background, my
> > > question: What can I have the kids do while I am coming in with my cart
> > (I
> > > hope...don't actually have one yet but I think the principal is getting
> > > them for us?) and pulling up my website on the classroom computer and
> all
> > > that? I plan to set up a website with all my display resources - google
> > > slides presentations and whatnot so I don't have to worry about logging
> > in
> > > to every computer etc., but that will still take a minute and we all
> know
> > > the kids get squirrely when they're waiting on us to do things like
> this.
> > > In my classroom, I'd have the daily message and maybe a warmup activity
> > or
> > > a Think-Pair-Share question or a rhythm to practice already displayed
> for
> > > them to do when they got settled, but when I come to them, they will
> have
> > > to wait on me to get that displayed.
> > >
> > > Also, although I haven't been told by anyone specifically that I
> *can't*
> > > sing with my kids, I am not planning on singing based on my
> understanding
> > > of the science (or at least playing it safe considering how much we
> > > actually don't know...) so having some kind of opening song we can do
> > while
> > > I set up isn't an option either.
> > >
> > > Ideas, anyone? I'm finding a lot of advice/pointers/etc. about teaching
> > on
> > > a cart, but nothing specific to routines/managing behaviors/preventing
> > down
> > > time.
> > >
> > > Thanks!!
> > > ~Ann in NC
> > > Ann Wells - annmusic7@gmail.com
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