I have been trying to think of something witty and funny to write as an article for the last two weeks and even today I still hadn't come up with anything I thought was worth spending time on. I seriously considered just leaving the newsletter with the two articles from June and Jeannette, but I figured if I did that I might get fired. And then I remembered that this isn't a paying position and they can't fire me. Plus I knew that getting rid of me would mean that the board would have to find someone else to be the editor, so I was fairly confident that I would be OK if we only had two articles this month. But I reminded myself that I volunteered to do this and that when I did I made an unspoken agreement with myself that I would work to put out the best newsletter I could every month, and slacking off would not be living up to that agreement.
Unfortunately, even that pep talk didn't inspire any grand thoughts about what I should write about. Then I finally remembered that I had a plan to ask some of the different teachers to write articles about their classes. I figured if other teachers were going to be writing about their classes I could write about one of mine first. Yay! Finally, an idea to run with. I know everyone would love to hear about Rhythm Band! As a side note, I could not do anything I do in Rhythm Band without my helper Katie Kirton. She covers all the extra bases to help me get in some semblance of teaching. I appreciate her help so much. None of the following would be possible without her!
My first thought was to write about how loud it gets in Rhythm Band, but then I decided that noise level is something that can not be adequately conveyed through words. You definitely have to be there. Then I thought maybe I could write about how crazy it is trying to corral twelve 4, 5 and 6 year olds and get them to do anything productive. But if I wrote about that all the parents of the kids in my class might wonder what was really going on during second period. I briefly considered just saying how fantastic it was every week to be surrounded by these darling angles who do everything I ask the first time and no one ever plays an instrument too loudly and about how we sit in a circle making beautiful music and everything is perfect. And then I remembered that the parents of my students would be reading this and they would know what a bald face lie that was! So I decided to just be honest and give an account of what a typical hour is like in the infamous Rhythm Band.
For those of you who don't have any knowledge of what Rhythm Band is, it is a class for 4, 5, and 6 year olds. The goal is to teach the children about different rhythm instruments, help them learn to tell the difference between different beats, and hopefully help them learn to follow a director. Those are very lofty goals that sounds great when I write them down! The truth is that we're dealing with 4, 5, and 6 year olds, and if I can teach them to play their instrument when I point to them I think I'm doing pretty well!
A typical period for Rhythm Band begins trying to corral all the kids away from the toys in the room. They always find their way right to the toys as soon as their first period is over! None of them ever want to actually leave the toys to participate in the class, but after a few minutes we finally get them all to the other side of the room and away from the toys.
Right now we are working on our two pieces for the concert so the first thing we do is line everyone up and pass out their bells so we can practice "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Don't be deceived! Its not as easy as it sounds. We've tried calling out a name and pointing to where they should stand, but we have found that they never really make it to where we're pointing. Actually, there's no telling where they might think you're pointing to. Some of them try to go back to the toys! And some are so busy talking they never actually hear you call their name. We have found that the best way to get everyone in a semi-straight line is to physically go get the child and bring them where they are supposed to be. But the passing out of the bells should be easy right? Nope! Everyone wants a different color than what they get. Even though we've been handing out the same bells to the same kids for several weeks, there is always an issue with someone wanting a different color than what they have. Once we have that issue taken care of we can finally practice the song. That part is actually the easy part! All the children are doing a great job of holding their bells correctly and playing when its their note and paying attention to what is coming. They're going to be fantastic for the concert!
Once we're done practicing that song we collect the bells which is usually uneventful. Next we need to get set up to practice our other song, "If You're Happy and You Know It". This should be the easy part. The lineup for the bells and the lineup for "Happy and You Know It" are the same lineup. (We did that on purpose :). The problem is that everyone got out of line to come and give us their bells to put up. And in the 30 seconds it takes us to actually put up the bells everyone has gone back to the toys. So the process begins again to get everyone lined up correctly. Once again, when we start the song everything goes great. Everyone seems to enjoy the song and they are learning to motions very well. I'm telling you, they're going to be a knock out at the concert!
After that song is over we spend some time going over one of our rhythm instruments. The transition is a little easier this time since we aren't having to put anything up so we are never actually looking away from the kids, giving them an excuse to run to the toys. We get everyone seated in a circle. Again, not as easy as it sounds, but I think you're getting to point by now. Once we're in the circle our instruments get handed out. For this example I'll use rhythm sticks. For those of you who don't know, rhythm sticks are basically two wooden sticks that you can use to make noise. Hopefully it is constructive noise, but 24 wooden sticks banging on a tile floor is noise, no matter how well they do keeping the beat! We have very specific rules for our rhythm sticks, such as no hitting yourself or others (they hurt!) and no touching the sticks while the teacher is talking (yeah, they still don't have that one down). We use the sticks with different songs. Some of the favorites are "B-I-N-G-O" and "The Wheels on the Bus". We also use the sticks to learn about how some beats are fast, some are slow, some are loud, and some are soft. Granted, my idea of soft and a 4 year old's idea of soft are slightly different, but as long as they are not banging as hard as they can we call it soft.
At this point, I have spent about 40 minutes listening to varying levels of noise. That is the point of Rhythm Band, after all. But I think even those of us used to listening to small children running screaming through the house have a breaking point. Things are starting to wind down. The kids are getting a little bored with the rhythm sticks and they are getting a lot bored listening to whatever it is I might have to say to them. Some stare quietly off into space while others use this time to pick up the sticks and just start banging them however they want to. Once one starts their neighbor notices and does the same and so it quickly spreads to even those space watchers who were oblivious before. I quickly find myself trying to talk over 12 sets of sticks making some manner of noise. The kids are usually talking at this point too. So I ever so gently (who am I kidding, I have to yell just to be heard) ask them please, "DON'T BANG THE RHYTHM STICKS!"
They stop for one blessed moment and I use that second to tell them they are free to go play with the toys. And that is where their next teacher will find them!
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