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Observation Journal Entry #8
I did not want to get up this morning. I am suffering with the cold that the rest of my family is dealing with. However, some ibuprofen and caffeine perked me up enough that I feel almost human.
Last night I think I truly found the true gem of letting something sleep could be. I was assigned by Mrs. R to teach a John Henry song to the 5th grade. I looked up several different lyrics earlier in the week. Found out that several people have recorded versions including Harry Belafonte and Johnny Cash (For an after school special no less. It was a music video showing a steam drill and a John Henry whuppin' steel) and found one I liked. I confirmed that I should only be teaching 3-4 verses instead of the hundreds I found. And I've been struggling to memorize it all week. First, I couldn't keep my younger daughter from singing with me (she LOVES to sing) and finally last night I said "G. I have to teach this tomorrow, I need to sing by myself so I don't mess up" so she finally quit. Second, it just wasn't seeming to stick. So the night before I laid out the copy of the lyrics and kept singing it over and over while cooking. If I got stuck I just glanced over and figured it out. But by the time I went to bed I was still struggling to remember it. I went to sleep and it was in my head this morning, darn near perfect! Woot! So I need to remember in the future that letting it sleep also works on me.
I'm frustrated with my preparation for what I'm supposed to teach. I am so currently overwhelmed by life, so far it feels like I'm leaving it to the last minute and I feel unprepared to present it. Maybe its nerves. Maybe I'm not truly giving myself enough time to prepare sufficiently. I must consider this more. Needless to say I'm already working on Harriet Tubman for next week. I found this poem about her that I want to bring to the class. I'll look and sound stupid as it has this cool Rap cadence, but I like it. I think it's really all that matters. I've been reading about her daily and found she's done more interesting things than just being a conductor on the underground railroad. She was the first woman to ever lead a raid in the US Army. Go girl! Then after the Civil War she worked on Woman's suffrage. Now comes the process of weeding down what I know to a fairly quick (15-20 minute) presentation.
There was no jump roping today! Yea for my shoulders! Thursday is the weird day consisting of half of a morning lesson and then strings. Ms. R has a meeting, so I'm currently down in the office in the middle of this brain dump.
The class worked on their presentation for the Spring Assembly, all four verses of the Star Spangled Banner. There's four verses? I didn't know that. They sing well, but need to work on singing together as a group, some were "calling it in by phone" and some were belting it out and carrying the group. But their sound carried pretty far in the Redwood Grove. Sounded pretty.
Then up the hill and inside, where I taught them the four verses of John Henry I picked out. I sang the whole thing for them, and then we worked on it two lines at a time. I had them stand up, and stand straight up and told them why, that when we stand straight up we have full access to our lungs so we can enunciate clearly and sing loudly enough for that 80 year old grandma with the hearing aids in the back row who is struggling to hear them. I sang it. I remembered the words. Then I taught it to them. And that's where I started flubbing. I'm still learning how to show the students how high and low they should be singing with my hands. It's a LOT harder than it looks. I also discovered when breaking each verse into two, I got lost in the words of the verse and in the melody. Note to self: next time, practice singing the song the way you are going to teach it as well as how it should sound all together. That will reduce the likelihood of messing it up.
Other than that, day is going. I just realized I forgot my Eurythmy shoes...darn it. But it will be fun nonetheless.
Last night I think I truly found the true gem of letting something sleep could be. I was assigned by Mrs. R to teach a John Henry song to the 5th grade. I looked up several different lyrics earlier in the week. Found out that several people have recorded versions including Harry Belafonte and Johnny Cash (For an after school special no less. It was a music video showing a steam drill and a John Henry whuppin' steel) and found one I liked. I confirmed that I should only be teaching 3-4 verses instead of the hundreds I found. And I've been struggling to memorize it all week. First, I couldn't keep my younger daughter from singing with me (she LOVES to sing) and finally last night I said "G. I have to teach this tomorrow, I need to sing by myself so I don't mess up" so she finally quit. Second, it just wasn't seeming to stick. So the night before I laid out the copy of the lyrics and kept singing it over and over while cooking. If I got stuck I just glanced over and figured it out. But by the time I went to bed I was still struggling to remember it. I went to sleep and it was in my head this morning, darn near perfect! Woot! So I need to remember in the future that letting it sleep also works on me.
I'm frustrated with my preparation for what I'm supposed to teach. I am so currently overwhelmed by life, so far it feels like I'm leaving it to the last minute and I feel unprepared to present it. Maybe its nerves. Maybe I'm not truly giving myself enough time to prepare sufficiently. I must consider this more. Needless to say I'm already working on Harriet Tubman for next week. I found this poem about her that I want to bring to the class. I'll look and sound stupid as it has this cool Rap cadence, but I like it. I think it's really all that matters. I've been reading about her daily and found she's done more interesting things than just being a conductor on the underground railroad. She was the first woman to ever lead a raid in the US Army. Go girl! Then after the Civil War she worked on Woman's suffrage. Now comes the process of weeding down what I know to a fairly quick (15-20 minute) presentation.
There was no jump roping today! Yea for my shoulders! Thursday is the weird day consisting of half of a morning lesson and then strings. Ms. R has a meeting, so I'm currently down in the office in the middle of this brain dump.
The class worked on their presentation for the Spring Assembly, all four verses of the Star Spangled Banner. There's four verses? I didn't know that. They sing well, but need to work on singing together as a group, some were "calling it in by phone" and some were belting it out and carrying the group. But their sound carried pretty far in the Redwood Grove. Sounded pretty.
Then up the hill and inside, where I taught them the four verses of John Henry I picked out. I sang the whole thing for them, and then we worked on it two lines at a time. I had them stand up, and stand straight up and told them why, that when we stand straight up we have full access to our lungs so we can enunciate clearly and sing loudly enough for that 80 year old grandma with the hearing aids in the back row who is struggling to hear them. I sang it. I remembered the words. Then I taught it to them. And that's where I started flubbing. I'm still learning how to show the students how high and low they should be singing with my hands. It's a LOT harder than it looks. I also discovered when breaking each verse into two, I got lost in the words of the verse and in the melody. Note to self: next time, practice singing the song the way you are going to teach it as well as how it should sound all together. That will reduce the likelihood of messing it up.
Other than that, day is going. I just realized I forgot my Eurythmy shoes...darn it. But it will be fun nonetheless.