Not what any of us signed up for, but I am doing my best to help your young musician find some opportunity to make some lemonade out of the lemons we have been dealt.
Here is the current plan for our band classes.
I am using a portfolio system through Google Classroom. Here is an example of the weekly assignment from Week 2:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L3z6F30xo8Og8AzANbHJcd4k6rt7pSlJ/view?usp=sharing
I have also helped create a “Portfolio Framework” for our district to use. I have given the students access to this document which has a large number of options with links. It is categorized, as well to help the students find things they might be interested in.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U84Ncg1Dl1Mu9Zliz6jAIO0AgxhdK9fn/view?usp=sharing
Students are given a new assignment every Monday at 8:00 am. I have staggered the due dates to coincide with our class meeting times which are listed on the school schedule for distance learning. The main sites that we are using are: SmartMusic, Sight Reading Factory & Tone Savvy. Passwords and codes are supplied in the Portfolio Framework or in Google Classroom under “Online Learning.” Here is a screenshot of what the Classroom Tab in Google Classroom looks like for your band student:
If you have any questions, feel free to check in with me. Email, Remind, whatever works for you.
End of the Year Celebration / Awards Night
One of the most important events on my radar for this program is our opportunity to celebrate the wonderful students in this program. We are still in the very beginning stages of planning, as we are learning what is truly possible. In the planning process I have three groups working independently at this moment:
- Seniors (I have set up a Google Classroom for this group to collaborate with each other and myself.
- Leadership (Another Google Classroom with students going through a Leadership course, and working on ideas for this event)
- Parents (There have been some ideas shared back and forth, and I am hoping to address some concrete plans with our FOCB board at our next meeting.
Eventually we will be merging these groups together. There are some plans that each group has that must be kept “secret.” Once those are settled, we can put the finishing touches on the event as a whole.
That’s all for now.
In an effort to not overwhelm everyone, I will stop with addressing these two subjects for now.
My family is well and enjoying the sunshine when we have it. My biggest battle is to make sure that I am able to fit into my clothes or my stimulus check might end up being used to buy me a new wardrobe! Is it just me? This new reality sure makes me hungry!!
I pray that everyone is hanging in there, safe and healthy. Thank you for your tremendous support of your children!! This is not easy.
Musically Yours,
Gary Riler