Musical Theatre mayhem!!!

It's been a manic term........ In year 8 and 9 we have focused on Musical Theatre as a genre for Term 1. This was a collaborative project between myself, Joanne (HOD Drama) and our two part time PA teachers Luke and Sarah. We all had one goal and that was to get all of our juniors on the stage performing. Cue dramatic sound........
We spent a lot of time initially researching musical theatre and putting this new genre into context. Many students had no idea what musical theatre was, some only thought of good old High school musical and some students already had a vast knowledge and were already fans of Hamilton and Mean Girls. We had ALOT of differentiation..... Some students were so keen to perform and as soon as we headed into the practical element were on their way. Others had a passion for sets and props and began designing. Some students were a little reluctant and preferred to research the genre further and produce detailed slide shows. We had a vast array of work happening and even those students that still were not sold on performing on stage they understood the genre and could explain features and give examples. FANTASTIC. In our final showcase each class presented their work, this was a class performance from each ( and yes everyone in the class stood on stage and did something!!! Even the nervous kids stood at the back and sang or danced their heart out) RESULT!! we had some fantastic solo and small ensamble performances, some fab research and some gorgeous set pieces.
There are many things we will take from this project and change and tweak. There were certainly things that didn't work. But, most importantly there were lots of things that did work! Everyone enjoyed themselves and in the end every student involved stood on a stage and performed and left the term with new knowledge on the wonderful genre of Musical Theatre.

Blogging for my students!

This year I want to try really hard to keep my class blog up to date!

Class blog

This is where I put our revised lessons for each class each week. This is a good link for my students to access their learning after class has finished. It also gives me the opportunity to offer words of encouragement and give general feed back. I am enjoying writing this and have set aside time each week to make sure I am keeping it up to date. I will also use this as a tool for my form class too!

A Lion, three teachers and some awesomeness!!!

The festival of the arts 2017 began with 8 remaining weeks of the school year. Usually we would be winding down but we certainly were not this time! Our wonderful year 7 and 8 students end their year celebrating the Arts. Each student chooses a project based on their interests. This year we offered, photography, mosaic, guitars, sculpture, carving, weaving, movie making and musical theatre. Groups are usually around 10-15 students.Surprisingly we had over 40 students sign up for our musical project! Because of the numbers, we had three teachers to take the three disciplines, acting, singing and dancing. This was the first time we had attempted to do a "mini" musical and having three teachers and a lot of eager kids we knew it was going to be a good time!
We began with voice and dance warm-ups, drama games and generally getting everyone amped up! We settled on doing a shortened version of The lion King as we only had a maximum of 30 minutes performance time.
The students were so enthusiastic we had a fantastic selection of leads to cast and we also cast understudies ( We actually had to use our Pumba understudy 10 minutes before our show started).
Some of our students had never performed before and so were both excited but extremely nervous! Students helped design set, costumes and makeup. During this process students blogged their adventures and did homework on the characteristics of their characters. I was so impressed with the work the students did outside of rehearsal time, they were so onto it and you could read their enthusiasm! After weeks of prep we did our dress rehearsal to our primary school next door. They loved it and wished we had done the full show! :) Our final show was to a full auditorium, you could feel the nerves but equally the excitement too! We were so proud of their final performances, you would never have guessed we had some first time performers! Hopefully they stay enthused and carry on with the Performing Arts! It certainly was a huge learning curve, self esteem builder and an amazing experience for all of them!

The seniors have left the building.......

I can't actually believe that 2016 is almost over and I have seen off another 13 music!! It has been a super small class this year and although we didn't quite get all of the results we wanted (they would agree), as always they have been a big part of the music department and I will miss them! Hornby kids are special, we say it a lot but Hornby really is family. As migrants to NZ from Englnad ( almost 10 years ago ) I have but a small whanau of 3! The Hornby crew are an extended part of my whanau and I think of the students as #myotherkids. It is a privilege to be part of a young persons life, to watch them grow into young adults and to encourage them along the way! The year 13's this year have taught me alot! They have taught me about wonderful Maori culture and made me feel like part of their whanau! Kapa Haka will not be the same without them! They have also taught me that sometimes our children just need an ear to talk to, a shoulder to cry on and a simple hug!

A new vision!

As Hornby High school moves into the realms of the big rebuild we are starting to look at the vision of the school. Our board of trustees presented their ideas of our vision after school on Monday, along with afternoon tea which always goes down well with the Hornby crew.
Learn, Create, Share is where we want to take our students, being creative in whatever they do
 ( creativity is not exclusive to the Arts but to be creative in all subjects.) The toughest part of that equation is the sharing part. I find my wonderful musos learn and create in their comfort zones well and work hard. The scary part is the sharing. The performing and giving their all on stage! Now, we have become better at this and I have seen the confidence levels grow in my musicians. We are still not quite at the point though where my students will do this freely without me nagging them! ( with the exception of Jacob and Siaosi if they happen to read this) How do I get them to this point.......  I am not sure. I can do all the encouraging in the world but there still has to be more! Project based learning is an avenue we are beginning to look at and I have started thinking about this for 2017. Cross - curricular projects which engage our students and connect our subjects! Is this the answer??? I don't know but as a teacher in the 21st century I want to give it a go, I'm excited to try it and am keen to get it started!!! More to come on this subject......... :)

Back to school.............

We gotta go back, back, back to school again!!! Who doesn't love Grease 2. So I can not believe that we are going into the final term of the school year! This year has been the fastest one yet! The next 4 weeks are going to be mayhem as we have 4 weeks left with seniors. Deadlines are approaching and the pressure is on! This term is an exciting one also as the music and performing arts areas are to be refurbished over the holidays! Its a perfect time to get rid of stuff and prepare our teaching environments for an overhaul! The students are really excited and are all keen to help move and pack things which is wonderful ( I wonder if they are as pro-active when tidying their bedrooms) lol! Its an exciting time and am enjoying looking at new classroom furniture and ways to bring colour to the spaces!

Last week of term is upon us.....

So, the week is not over yet but I thought I would reflect on the terms madness early!! This penultimate term always seems to fly by. This time it has actually flown and as usual its a mad dash panic to get everyone through the last assessments. My highlights of the term have been getting back into Kapa Haka, I missed it so much and have really enjoyed learning again and being part of the special kapa whanau. We have a performance in the holidays so can't wait for that! Secondly my wonderful Voices with Soul. Such an amazing group of young singers and just generally awesome humans!! We had so much fun at the Voices festival again, they always make me proud and we received two awards for "pop performance" and "emotional plan". It was lovely to do a song dedicated to Krystal. She would have loved singing her beloved Justin Bieber! Great highlights and just a few reminders of why I love this job!! So, 3 days to go, one performance gig, two assemblies and some sad staff farewells, then relax............

Malo!! Its Tongan language week!

One of the many things I love about New Zealand is the vibrant and exciting array of multiculturalism. I am lucky that at Hornby High we have many different cultures. As a musician I love to learn about traditional song and dance. I love that the Pacific Islands are represented by different forms of music and dance and also food! This week is Tongan language week. We are lucky to have a wonderful community of Tongan families and I have many Tongan students in my music classes. This week we had senior assembly, this was an awesome opportunity to showcase students performing a traditional Tongan song. I am always proud of my students when they get up and perform, especially in assemblies as it is not easy! It was an awesome performance celebrating the music and language of Tonga!

Kapa Haka

So, this term my timetable has changed which means I can attend Kapa Haka again! Yay!!!! So happy. It is so nice to have an hour dedicated to learning beautiful waiata and powerful haka. I don't have to be in charge or make any decisions but just enjoy learning and being inspired!! Being part of a kapa haka whanau is a special place. As an only child its nice to have the feeling of having "people" ( even at 36 years old ) Lead by our wonderful matua and our awesome senior leaders I know that I am in good hands. This week we are refreshing our school haka which is awesome, I definitely needed a wee refresher as I have been out of practise for a while. At the end of the hour its such a rush to hear the force of the haka again, its like nothing else...... Cant wait for next week!

Trying to teach each other what we know!!! #blogging