Past projects 2
Singing Microphones for Middle School
Funded Dec 28, 2020Thank you so much for the ability to purchase microphones for my music room. I currently use them with my choir class since we are using Soundtrap, which is a digital audio workstation website. It allows them to record themselves singing and so much more. The first day that we had the mics, the kids immediately started talking about how we should have a choir class podcast. It opened a door for them to take more control over their learning. So I ran with it! Covid has greatly affected the way I can run rehearsal and so I decided to use their podcast idea. We will now be using the mics not only to record ourselves singing, but also to do interviews with teachers and other students in the building about music. We will use them for making introductions, name blurbs, bloopers, credits, and more. Not only that, but it will be a great rehearsal tool since students will be able to hear their personal performance and reflect on it and learn how to grow from it.
There are about 4 students who have really gotten excited about this new technology in our room. It also opens the floor for discussing how recording studios work and how you have to learn how to use the tools to their optimum ability (if you shout in a mic, it will distort you!). So even if we are excited, we have to learn how to use nuance and dynamics so our audience can understand us consistently. The new possibilities with this classroom technology is so exciting and I plan to incorporate it into our regular instruction even past these crazy Covid school days.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Chappell
Simple Instruments for Maximizing Music Class
Funded Aug 3, 2020Thank you so much for donating to my project Simple Instruments for Maximizing Music Class. When I first saw that people had given to my project, I could not believe it! I had heard about Donors Choose, but did not know if it was truly responsive to the influx of projects that I am sure it receives. However, several of my colleagues have had projects funded, so I decided to make the leap of faith. I am so glad that I did. I work between two schools, and one of them had not had music for more than a decade. Any classroom instruments that were dug out of storage were in sad shape, and some even unusable. I ended up sharing instruments from one school that had a recent music program prior to my hire. However, I had to transport the instruments between terms myself, and I did not want to try to move an entire inventory of instruments. Therefore, I was selective in trying to decide which instruments, and how many, I would need to teach my students their lessons. This sometimes meant that I would not have all of the required instrumentation for all lessons and would have to improvise to fill the deficiency. Enter Donors Choose.
I had decided to try and request items that I kept realizing I did not have for lessons. This included simple things such as enough triangles, shakers, and hand percussion. I also decided that I would very much like to start teaching the recorder to help enforce the National Music Standards goal of music literacy in addition to appreciation. With all of this in mind, I approached my administration and was given the green light to proceed with the project. I was ecstatic. I was even MORE ecstatic when my first donations came. And then the miracle that was Tyson Foods matching donations in multiplication was staggering. My project was fully funded and my students would have quality instruments to use in class!! I was thrilled!
The day the boxes arrived, I sent one of my team mates at the project school to my room to open them up and make sure everything was there. She sent me pictures and I danced in my OTHER classroom. However, we were still battling the uncertainty of COVID-19 and were teaching remotely. I begin my rotations at my project school in November, and was hoping and praying that our local area would start to see a decrease in cases and begin inching back to some sort of normalcy. However, that did not happen. We did have school on a hybrid schedule for sometime so I thought that maybe I would have the opportunity to use the instruments. Even that was slim though since we had been instructed not to have shared supplies, and the recorders were definitely out of contention. I kept putting off typing up this letter because I was waiting to see if I would have students in the building to use the instruments. Unfortunately, at the writing of this final draft, my state has suspended ALL in person learning and my local district is using Non-Traditional Instruction until January. This means that my students are unable to use the instruments. We were so close! And so, I plan for the future.
When my students are back in the classroom with me, I plan to utilize the amazing resources that I have received through your donations. Next school year, I am excited to see my students be able to play together without a majority of them being left out. I am excited that we will have the full variety of small instruments that we need to correctly execute the lessons in our curriculum. These lessons are fun for the kids and the learn so much more through doing than watching and listening. I love being able to watch even my more aloof participants become more engaged through the use of instruments. Who doesn't enjoy making noise and then realizing that it is part of something bigger than they first thought? I am so grateful for and humbled by your donation so that I can put music in the hands of my students. I know that many have turned to music and the arts in this time, and I want to be able to equip and train my students if that flame of interest was lit. From all of us in my little world, thank you.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Chappell
This classroom project was brought to life by Tyson Foods and 4 other donors.