me arts ed

Workshop: Of Stories and Songs: Promoting Musical and Verbal Literacies in the Classroom – by Michael R. Davis

Erica Troy photo by Argy

I was fortunate enough to attend this fantastic session led by Maine’s own Erica Troy who teaches K-1 music in Yarmouth.  In a day where teaching verbal literacy has become a priority to most schools, doing “whatever it takes” often involves the music teacher whether they realize it or not.

In this session Erica pointed out that by using books in her music class she supports the literacy department and its objectives.  She states that she is not teaching the literacy curriculum but supporting literacy through the creative use of books in the music classroom.

Erica helped guide teachers in this workshop on the three level process she uses to incorporate music.  Level 1 is where students create sounds to accompany actions or words in the story.  Level 2 is where students will upon a second read of the story use instruments and sounds to re-create the story with little or no text involved.  Level 3 is where students have ultimate control of the sounds and often re-creating the story in whatever order they wish.

Teachers in the workshop were given the opportunity to hear stories they’d never heard of before.  Starting with simple animal sounds to accompany a book, teachers ended with improvisation and create a soundscape to accompany the story with the use of musical instruments.

I personally work in a district where EVERY teacher’s annual appraisal goals have been aligned to the district goal of improving literacy for ALL students. Students LOVE a great story and being able to turn that story into a musical masterpiece is without a doubt going to support my district’s mission! Besides it is GREAT FUN!  Thank you ERICA for a great session!  If you’d like to see her powerpoint presentation from the session please click here to find Erica’s school webpage.

Workshop: Say It Out Loud! by Karen Montanaro

Paul Janeczko photo by Shalimar Poulin

It was a joy to attend Paul B. Janeczko’s presentation, SAY IT OUT LOUD!  I went in there hoping to get ideas about how I might use the spoken word in my own workshops (mime/dance/movement workshops) and in collaboration with English classes.  I certainly got that and more out of Paul’s workshop.

He gave us all printed copies of several delightful poems.  We read each poem silently to ourselves.  After each reading, he asked questions . . . great questions that opened our eyes to how the poem might be read aloud.  Suddenly we saw how many different “voices” there were in the poem.  We identified shifts of mood and tempo and energy.

Finally, we divided into groups and each group chose a poem to read or “treat” out loud, in performance.  It was amazing we could accomplish so much in so little time.  I think this is proof of Paul’s energy and expertise.  He guided us through all the stages of creativity from reading to listening, from observing to discovering, from leaping to flying.  A thrilling workshop!