[HANASHIR:7945] Re: Help with 7th Graders...

[Meris Ruzow <meris...>]

David - some good suggestions out there.  Here's another.   We tend to think
that kids this age are supposed to "sing on demand."   But a lot of learning
about our culture can happen with "directed listening" activities.   Get a
Cd/tape of Safam and find the song "Maranno."  You can have a full
discussion on what marranos are, what they went through, etc.  There are
others on Safam's tapes including subjects such as immigration - you could
also use Kol B'Seder's "Coming Home" as another example.

The kids don't always have to sing.   This is what I've done:   You take a
song of your choice - get the best one that YOU can work with.    As you're
reading the lyrics to yourself, come up with 5-10 questions or so.   Number
your questions in relation to the flow of the lyrics.  In other words when
you put on the cd and you hear Jeff's voice sing, "Coming home to our
people...," your question #1 might be.... "Where are they coming home TO ?"
and so on......... You put on the CD and when you hear him sing that line
you say, "#1" - they fill in the answer.   You can discuss the text,
instrumentation, form of the music, etc. after they've filled out a sheet.
You don't always have to have them write either.  You can vary the directed
listening.   You can split the kids up into groups and have them discuss it
with eachother, or if the class isn't too big, do it as a whole.

This also works well for holiday spoofs.   Using Jeff as an example again,
the 7th graders have always enjoyed "We Didn't Start No Trouble" for Purim.
Let them LISTEN to it, follow along with the words, ask them what
instruments they hear, etc.  At least they may develop a more positive
attitude when coming to music class.

Granted you can't do this every week, but once a month is certainly a nice
change from whatever else you're trying.   Good luck!  There's a lot of good
material out there.
Meris Ruzow
meris (at) nycap(dot)rr(dot)com

-----Original Message-----
From: David Weisz <dweisz (at) brandeis(dot)edu>
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org <hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Wednesday, January 17, 2001 8:00 PM
Subject: [HANASHIR:7941] Help with 7th Graders...


>Hello folks...I'm in need of a bit of help. I teach music in a
supplementary
>Hebrew/Judaica school at a local temple, and despite the success I have
been
>having with most of my classes, I have found that my 7th graders are now
>entirely turned off from music. I grant that this is a very difficult age,
>but unfortunately that excuse doesn't make my 20 minutes with them any less
>painful for me or for them. It is not that we dislike each other or that
>they do not understand my goals or my reasons for teaching them, rather
that
>they have it in their heads that they dislike music.
>
>So, instead of beating my head against a wall week after week, I'm looking
>for alternative ways to engage them in Judaic music. Something we did a few
>weeks ago that they enjoyed was a "singdown" with Judaic themes. I chose
>words such as "peace" and "life" which they could translate to Hebrew, and
>they got "bonus points" for songs that were in Hebrew, but they were
allowed
>to delve into secular music as well.
>
>Does anyone have any similar activities that they can suggest that might
>work for this age group? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It
>might be useful to know that the students come to school only once a week,
>and have music with me for 20 minutes during a 2-hour afternoon session.
>
>Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
>David
>
>
>

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