[HANASHIR:7805] Re: Day School curriculum

[Singalong2 <Singalong2...>]

As I started this thing, I'll tell you about what goes on at the Schechter. 
that I teach in. I teach 3 1/2 days per week - Nursery 2yr. through 8th 
grade. K has music twice a week for 30 minutes each. 3rd. has music once 
weekly for 40 min. first half of the year, and another 30 min. period is 
added after the middle school show is over the second half of the year. I 
teach recorder to all third graders. 4th, 5th and 6th have music once a week 
all year, for 40 minutes. As I mentioned, 7th and 8th see me once a week for 
theater, and then I do a show of some sort - a review, rewritten folk tales, 
or, as this year, a professional show (How To Eat Like A Child - great show). 
REheasals for solos and dances occur during lunch and recess - no after 
school stuff, as I teach instrumental music after school, and, anyway, the 
kids wouldn't come. Toward the end of the semester, I have longer rehearsals 
- two hours at a clip, for the last two weeks, several times a week. Somehow 
it works. I've always done theater, and I direct, choreograph and accompany 
myself, but it's getting really difficult, as the middle school grows, and 
the student population seem to be less interested in the performing arts. 
We're kicking around the idea of block scheduling with music and art - maybe 
10 weeks of music twice a week and then 10 weeks of art - then perhaps an 
elective, or something - I keep telling them that theater is never mandatory 
in jr. high.  and many kids just arent' interested, SO there are lots of 
apathetic middle schoolers, and you all know what it's like to work with them 
- plus lots of behavior problems and peer pressure. I, personally, prefer 
doing theater/musical theater, to general music, so I'm upset about the fact 
that it's not working so well any more. They're getting much stricter about 
not letting kids out of class for rehearsals, and it's just not possible to 
put on a good show without adequate rehearsal time.soooooooo...........I'm 
trying to find out what goes on in other schools. It should be an interesting 
forum for us all, as I know that many of us teach in Day Schools.

Laura 

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