Hindsight

I really wish I could go back in time sometimes. This lesson about Poetry and Music has been so much fun and has grown into a really smooth lesson about comparing other Arts/Disciplines and Composer's Artistic Choice (national Music Standard 8). To begin, we talk about how Poetry is Music because it has Form, Rhythm, and Expressive Elements. After being shown the form of the poem we are composing (Haiku or Cinquain) we wrote in pairs or alone. Next, as students finished their work and checked with me to make sure it had the required syllables/form, I encouraged them to decorate their paper to make the poem a piece of visual Art, too, adding to the imagery of the words. I then showed them a poem I had written and asked them if they had any pictures that popped into their minds as they read it. We discussed how poets create imagery with words while artists use physical materials. From there we talked about how composers create imagery with music and choices in Timbre, Texture, and Expressive Elements as well as the basic elements of Rhythm, Pitch and Form. Then we watched the Snowman and shared our observations of Howard's Blake's artistic choices and techniques for creating musical images.

The lesson got better with every repetition (it was taught by me a total of 4 times) until it was smooth and flawless as a wave-worn pebble. Needless to say, today's students were far more creative and appreciative of the lesson than yesterday's.

That phenomenon (the one in which the same lesson can soar with one class and crash with another) will forever puzzle me and remind me that, no matter how much our district wants us to homogenize, it can't entirely be done because we are dealing with individuals who have individual sparks and strengths and weaknesses. One lesson taught 4 times can turn out to be 4 different lessons depending on the individuals in the room and their responses.

I'm so glad that, overall, this has been so positive. I can't wait to take it to the next level and put the poetry sharing and Orff piece together in Rondo form!