Week Three: Haslett Middle School, 7th Grade

This past week I had my third observation of Mrs. Valla's seventh grade choir.  My colleague, Marcus, and I asked Mrs. Valla about her grading and evaluation policies.  She began by telling us that she does small-scale, informal evaluation daily through her own listening and observation. Mrs. Valla also offers up "candy questions" in which she will ask the class a question, and if a student answers correctly, she tosses a piece of candy to them. (We have seen this in action during her rehearsals, and I must say it is quite effective!) In addition, Mrs. Valla has sporadic assignments such as worksheets that count for a grade. She also collects the students' music from time to time to check their markings. Mrs. Valla also explained to us the state required evaluations. She told us that there are two state evaluations, and that the goal is to show growth from the first test to the second. The students often do short sight reading examples or writing samples about the text, meaning and context of a piece for these evaluations. Mrs. Valla's grading/evaluation policies provide a good amount of structure and responsibility for this age group, and make for a really productive classroom.



    

Week Two: Haslett Middle School, 7th Grade

This past week, I had my second observation of Mrs. Valla's seventh grade choir.  This rehearsal was chock full of activity and singing, and it was really enjoyable to watch!

Mrs. Valla began the rehearsal right off the bat by just sitting at the piano to play for the warm up. As soon as she began to play, the students immediately stood up and began to sing. The warm up included a wide variety of vocalizes, that covered the areas of breathing, voiced consonants, resonators and singing. It appears that the classroom is really well structured, and that the students are conditioned to be in the habit of showing up to work from the moment a note on the piano is played. Every so often throughout the warm up, Mrs. Valla would chime in with a reminder such as "I don't hear singing supported by the diaphragm!" or "When you get up on the top notes, I need more 'Minnie Mouse!'" These notes really improved the quality of singing, and kept the students focused on producing a good, supported sound. One of the main teaching techniques that Mrs. Valla uses in her classroom is modeling. She has really mastered the ability to model the sounds that the students should be creating at this level, and I look forward to observing this more, as I personally have difficulty simplifying my own vocal model for choral students.

The organization of the rehearsal was very fluid and the class moved swiftly from one activity to the next. Mrs. Valla does not do much talking, she just jumps right into the next activity and the kids follow right along. To me, this is a sign of rock-solid classroom management because everyone is on the same page the entire rehearsal. It's really impressive! Mrs. Valla also has a great rapport/relationship with the students - the class is able to talk and joke around with her, but they also know when it is time to work.

Overall, this was another great rehearsal! I am looking forward to observing the class more, and eventually having the opportunity to work with the kids a little bit!    

Week One: Haslett Middle School, 7th Grade

This past week, I had the opportunity to begin my observations of Samara Valla’s seventh grade choir.  It was truly a pleasure to experience Mrs. Valla’s rehearsal.  For the most part, the students were really well behaved – which is remarkable for this age group.  From the beginning warm-ups, to the sight-singing activities, to the repertoire work, the class was chock full of engaged learning! 

            

The transitions between activities were swift, and the class just moved right along.  Mrs. Valla is really great with classroom management.  There were a few moments in which the students got a bit chatty, but Mrs. Valla pulled them right back into focus by chanting, “sh-sh-sh-sh-sh.”  The students would repeat it back to her, and then the rehearsal would continue on, right back into focus.  There was one particular moment in which she asked the students to stand up, and they did so with a wave of talking.  Mrs. Valla simply responded by saying, “You can stand faster and without talking. Try it again.”  This was extremely effective, and the rehearsal carried right on. 

           

One individual behavior that I noticed was in the soprano section, where a few of the girls had their iPhones out throughout the entire rehearsal.  I’m not sure if Mrs. Valla saw this and chose not to call attention to it, or if she just didn’t see it.  I find it interesting and pretty alarming that such an engaging and exciting rehearsal couldn’t even pull these kids away from their technology.

            

Overall, I thought that this rehearsal was great!  It was such a joy to watch Mrs. Valla interact with her students.  Most of the kids really seemed to be enjoying themselves, and Mrs. Valla clearly has a great relationship with the class.  I am excited have the opportunity to watch this class grow and learn over the course of the next seven weeks!