I tried...

With all my best intentions to document my experience teaching my 8th graders Hip-Hop history, the chaos of the end of the year has come upon us.  My students were in Chicago last week and even knowing that I though I'd have enough time to get through everything and then some.

Enter spring weather in Colorado:  Two tornado warnings over the last two days.  We were in shelter in place for 45 minutes max which lost me time with both 8th grade classes.  And an awards ceremony at the end of the day so I lose my class time with both classes again!  ::headdesk::.  Today I forgot about their health classes so that leaves me two days to cram in a lesson that normally takes two days plus review.  I'm so overwhelmed and sad that this was a great class to teach Hip-Hop to and they didn't get the full benefit. I think they have the core of what I was trying to get across but just not the full effect.

To add to the chaos, our testing days were changed which cut my unit down and instead of testing my kids at the beginning of the final week they have to take their summatives next week!  Which means for my 8th graders, cutting out some of the artists I wanted to talk about and that they were eager to learn about, and also their final collage will have to just be an essay so I can get their grades in on time.  OMG!!!

And overall some of the kids' disinterest in doing anything these last 3 weeks has been incredibly tedious and frustrating, to the point I have been telling them that if they're not asking questions, making an effort, or participating in class, then there isn't much I can do to help them do well on their summatives or have more musical success.  I hate saying that but what else can I do?  Every person in this building wants to be done with the year but it seems that only the teachers get that the work continues.  I can't fix a lack of effort.

We all are feeling it now as we are now down to 9 days left.

Tired of Being Sick, Sick of Being Tired

I've dropped the ball on documenting the progress the 8th graders are making in their Hip-Hop studies and almost missed a TpT sale going on right now thanks to a weird virus / upper respiratory infection / plague the kids gave me

I hate when I can't do anything which is what's been going on the last few days.  Hopefully I'll get everything back on track soon.

On the TpT side of things, it's teacher appreciation week and there is a special sale going on and I've discounted my store an additional 20%!  Go check it out!

Hip-Hop: Day 1

My 8th graders have been waiting to have this unit with me since they were in 6th grade.  I'm sure some have forgotten and some have been indifferent about the whole thing.

This year they will definitely need to be more involved.  I finally got a decent workbook put together with hopefully some challenging

The first step to teaching Hip-Hop is to be transparent.  I let the kids know that this unit goes beyond just listening to current music and talking about how it sounds.  When diving into where Hip-Hop came from and what life was like for the people who created it.  This is the side of Hip-Hop that most people don't know about.  Even my husband, who was very into Hip-Hop as a teenager had no clue what I was talking about.

So I pose a simple question to my students:

Their answer lets me know it's a blank slate.  Most of them said that Hip-Hop is music, a genre of music and they are not wrong, and it is probably how most people think of it.  

I then posed another question:  what is Hip-Hop music about?

And again they all agreed that yes, Hip-Hop was about a lot of those things.  Why? Because this is what they hear from the music on the radio.  We then proceeded to fill out a K-W-L chart on their ideas about Hip-Hop and what they hope to learn in this unit.  Like typical 8th graders they have a million questions and class can derail quite easily even with just 15 of them in each class

The only setback I have for them is their think project, to create a visual representation about what Hip-Hop is to them.  Because of our schedule I have to fit 6 weeks of material into 5 weeks...well actually 4 because they have a week-long trip to Chicago, but it's all do-able.  They will have to learn how to complete an assignment that can't be worked on in class because they will encounter that in high school.

My hope as we get into the details of the world surrounding Hip-Hop, the kids will begin to realize there is a lot more to this music than they ever imagined.

Ready, Set....Hip-Hop!

It has finally begun! The books are ready, PowerPoints almost set, and videos cued up; I've been looking forward to this unit all year.

This is the most prepared and informed about Hip-Hop music I've been since my 5th graders (now 11th graders) asked to learn about the genre 7 years ago.  But even so I'm always nervous to start the unit because as much as I think I know how my kids will react to the content.  Some are ready for the more adult content while some are still very immature.

I'm fighting a weird head cold so I wish I was more on my game but the first week into the kids rotating electives is always a bit shaky and the kids know to give me this first week to ease into having them back and from then on it's easy to get through each day.

Plugging Away

Still immobilized from my foot sprain, I've been moving soooo slow to get my planning done.  I have all the time in the world and it's taking me forever to get anything done.

I feel really creatively stifled at the moment when it comes to getting activities ready for my students but I keep hoping that something will come to me soon

There is another sale coming to my store to kick off the new year.  Everything will be 20% off starting January 1 - 4 so check out the store for the sale and new items I'll be adding soon

Winter Break!

The day goes by so much quicker when it's a half day and the kids go ice skating!

To celebrate winter break there will be a sale in my TpT store over the weekend and Monday!

Now for some much needed relaxation!

Just Another Day in 6th Grade

They successfully played a piece in 4 parts for the first time on the mallet instruments and then proceeded to do tiny dances behind their instruments...to which I responded:

"You guys are so spastic and weird."

to which one 6th grader replied:

"Why thank you!"

I love the days when they stop being hormonal pre-teens and are themselves again