I teach music for grades K-5 in Salmon, but I am not a certified teacher. I went to college to become a Theater & English high school teacher, but I never completed my schooling to earn a degree. The Idaho state legislature has cut education spending for years, and several years ago, after some money was cut from our budget, the district found a creative way to continue music education at the elementary level without sacrificing a position. When the certified teacher who had been teaching music retired, they turned that position into a non-certified, minimum-wage job. I have background in theater and music, and a love of teaching, so I was very excited at the prospect of being able to teach music at the elementary level without having a degree. Mr. Anderson, who is the music teacher at the middle & high schools, is my direct supervisor in the music department, and the district could legally hire a non-certified person for the position as long as there was a certified person overseeing it. He oversees my budget, my lesson plans, and he used to approve of my grades until this year when the state came out with new reporting criteria (now no non-certified teacher is allowed to give grades, so students at Pioneer Elementary no longer receive music grades on their report cards). My job is 100% paid out of the 2-year supplemental levy. Every 2 years, the community votes (in favor of or against paying) for the $350,000 levy which includes paying for 2 teaching positions (mine & the high school Ag teacher's), and giving money to activities and programs which include: sports, music, drama, and technology. Every time the levy passes, I know that I have a job for 2 more years. Next spring the levy comes up again, so I know I have a job at least until then! I feel like I need to give back to the community because they are the ones who support and pay for my position, so I act very responsibly with the money that goes to my department, and I give 110% to my job while I have it. It is sometimes difficult to work hourly at minimum-wage doing my job, and I put in so many extra unpaid hours in order to have the kids succeed, but I know that it is worth it for them.
Pioneer Elementary has students in gradesK-4; the 5th graders here attend Salmon Middle School, so I teach students from both schools. Mr. Anderson begins teaching band to 5th grade students, but in 6th grade they don't offer general music from me anymore, and they don't begin choir until 7th grade, so their only musical option is band. I didn't feel that it was fair for 5th graders to double-dip in music, but only have the option of band in 6th grade, so last spring, I worked with administration at both the elementary and middle schools, teachers at both schools, and my supervisor at the high school, to add 6th grade choir to my teaching schedule this year. It was very difficult combining two different school's schedules and over 20 teacher's schedules to accommodate the class time it would take to teach 6th grade music, but I thought it was something that would be well received among students, parents, & faculty, and a way for me to give back to the community as a result of their supporting the bond levy. Last May, we had it all set in place, and I prepared over the summer for the additional class of 6th grade choir. However, a week before school began this past year, I found out that it wasn't going to work out after all, since the middle school had to adjust its schedule, and the only time of day I could teach the 6th grade, they now had a different class scheduled. I'd already been planning a curriculum for the 6th graders over the summer that included having a Shrek musical program in the spring, and a ukulele-playing unit in the fall. I was a little disappointed that the 25 ukuleles I'd just purchased would not be used, and the Shrek Showcase I'd planned for would not be performed. But then I decided to just add the ukulele lessons and the Shrek musical to the 5th grade curriculum, and removed half of their regular curriculum instead.
It turned out to be the best decision for this 5th grade group. They all did SO well in music classes this year. They enjoyed always working on something different, and increasing their skills in new areas. In the fall, we did one regular curriculum unit, then I taught them a recorder unit (they begin learning it at the end of 4th grade). They performed with their recorders at the high school Christmas Concert in December (something my students have never participated in before). After Christmas break, they did another regular curriculum unit, then I taught them a ukulele unit, and then we worked on preparing, practicing, and performing the Shrek Show this spring.
The Shrek Show was a huge project for me, and I admit that I completely enjoyed every aspect of creating it. I had the idea last school year when I heard the high school Show Choir sing "Hallelujah" at their concert. I was thinking of all the great songs that are included in the movie "Shrek", and I wanted to have a showcase of many of those songs. I watched the movie at least 5 times this year, getting a feel for the songs and the order of events, and writing a script based upon the dialogue. I listened to the Soundtrack at least 20 times, memorizing the lyrics and getting a feel for the different tempos and rhythms. I created and wrote the entire program, which included singing, dancing, narrating, character acting, and a ukulele number.
The 5th graders were separated into 3 groups this year, and each group came to music class separately. I wanted to do just one big show including all the students at once, so I had to incorporate the different groups into a cohesive program. As an entire grade, they would all learn one dance song together, one singing song together, and one ukulele song together, but then each group would also have their own song they sang and their own song they danced to. I had each group vote on what songs as a class they'd like to learn from the Shrek movie. After each group voted, I was able to figure out the entire program lineup. I taught them all the song "I'm a Believer", and I found accompaniment included in my music curriculum for that. I taught them all the same choreography for the song "Allstar" (choreography is not at all a talent of mine, but thanks to studying movements on Just Dance on the wii, I was able to get the job done). I taught them all 2 verses of the song "Hallelujah", and taught them all how to play the notes on the ukulele for the chorus part. Then I played the piano as they sang, and Mr. A played his guitar during the chorus as they played their ukuleles. Because I had just 25 ukuleles, and 48 students, they had to take turns playing the ukulele in the program--half the students played the first chorus, the other half played the second chorus.
There were 8 songs total in the program. Some of the groups split songs in half--learning just words or movements to one verse each, since the different groups voted in favor of performing some of the exact same songs.
Shrek Show song order
“Allstar”
– All dance
“Stay
Home” – Group 3 & 2 dance
“Best
Years” – Group 1 dance (all dance Limbo at end)
“I’m
A Believer” – All sing
“My
Beloved Monster” – Group 2 sing
“Hallelujah”
– All sing, ukulele players, special guest
Mr. Anderson on the guitar
“It
is You I Have Loved” – Group 1 & 3 sing
“You
Belong to Me” – Soloists sing
In between each song, there was narration and character portrayal to help tell the story of Shrek. There were 8 narrators and 5 actors (Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, Farquaad, & Magic Mirror), as well as 3 solo singers, 3 solo ukulele players, 3 solo dancers, and 2 program introducers in the show. Every part was auditioned for, and over 50% of the grade had a special role in the program. It was so hard for me to cast the students' parts during the audition process--they all did so well! (I admit that I shed tears and had sleepless nights for a couple of the kids who didn't get cast into the part that they so badly wanted. It was seriously gut-wrenching for me! I don't know how my drama teacher would do it over and over again! That was the worst part about doing this entire show.)
I wanted the actors to be able to participate in group dances and songs with the rest of the grade when they weren't saying their lines, so instead of having costumes and make-up for them, I created masks for them. When they were acting their part, they came up by the microphone and picked up their mask. When their section of dialogue was over and the next song was coming on, they set the mask back down, and got back in their spot on the stage risers. It worked out so nicely! (I'm not at all an artist either, but with the help of projectors, I was able to trace and color and make realistic-enough-looking masks for the students.)
The weeks prior to their performance, I had all the 5th graders come together to music. It was chaotic beginning each day with all 48 of them together instead of just 16 at a time. I wasn't sure if we'd be able to pull it all off in time for our performance on Thursday, May 9th. But just the day before, on our last practice together, we did, and under 30 minutes, too! I was so ecstatic! I'd worked so hard for months creating and writing. directing and teaching this program, and it felt so rewarding to watch it all come together and be performed with these talented students. They did the show twice: once in the morning for about 120 other students in grades 2-6, and once again that afternoon for their parents. I wanted to just sit back and take it all in each time, but I had to play the piano for half the songs, so that prevented me from videoing it and taking more photos. But I took plenty of snapshots of them during the show in my head, and just thinking about it and seeing the mental images still fills me with such pride and emotion.
I truly loved teaching 5th grade this year! These kids were very talented and super fun, and had such energy and enthusiasm for learning! I'm sad that I won't be able to teach them again in 6th grade next year, but I feel so blessed to have had such a great year with them! What teacher wouldn't love a zany group like this... ;)
