Must Haves

Hi everyone and sorry it's been a while.  Those of you who know me know that's it's just been an extremely busy and tiring year for me this year. I'm trying to find a balance and this poor blog has gone neglected.  I started it mainly as a way to reflect on my teaching and I'm going to try to re-find that balance.  I'm going to explain one way a little later.  But first I've got to tell you about some MUST HAVES!!!

The first must have is FREE to you!!!  Yes, free to you!!!  And it's a big one!!  There will be a Facebook Frenzy later this week and you'll be able to download MANY amazing free files that you'll be able to use in your classroom.

Whoot, whoot!!  Right?  You can start anywhere amongst the teachers that are participating but you're more than welcome to start at my Facebook Page.  I'll be blogging about my product and a "spin-off" product (products) later this week.

The second must have (and if you're taking level 2 with me this summer at CSU this IS a must have for you, it's a required text) is Susan' Brumfield's new book.  Here are my two lovelies showing off my mom's and my copies:

I can not tell you how beyond giddy I was to receive this in the mail and have been doing a great deal of work cross referencing my notes from my Kodály levels with Susan to her new book.  This is really $20 of the best dollars that you'll ever spend.  And, no. Susan does not pay my to say this, lol!

The break down of the book is really amazing.  Of course she starts with who and what is Kodály, the tools of the method and then she goes into the three P's.  (preparation, presentation and practice).  One thing that I absolutely love is she breaks down what specifically your students should be doing with in each of these "P's".  There is an amazing yearly and lesson planning section.  This was an area that I feel that I did not do the best teaching last year in my level 2 teaching and I can't wait to see how this will really clarify it.  It's sometimes hard then you've "lived Kodály" for so many years to know what things are unknown for a novice Kodály teacher.  For me so many of these things have become second nature.

On particular section that I love in the book is about transitions.   I absolutely LOVE transitions.  And I got it from level II with Susan.  She cracked us all up when, after watching our teaching videos that we had to turn in, she told us, "'Ya'll are like "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."  Ya'll need more music makin' in your lessons."   And she's right.  We see the students for such a snippet of time that every moment (or almost every moment) in a lesson should be musical.  I love that one of the things that people notice when they come to observe me is that my transitions are quick and almost always musical.  I love that they notice how things "never stop" and that my administrator had a hard time figuring out where one section of the lesson ended and another began.  So, I've decided to start "Transition Tuesdays" on my blog.  First, it's going to make me not have an excuse to "forget" to blog.  Second, it'll be fun sharing specific transitions that maybe will work for you too!

Oh, back to Susan's book!  I'm going to do two more section shout outs for today.
1.  Super cool that she has sample lessons for you to look at and use as a guide to planning more specific lessons.  Oh, and pedagogical plans!  You've got to check these out!
2.  "Suggested Reading" and "Recommended Listening" bibliographies at the end.  This is a treasure trove!!!

One more thing before I leave, please head over to Aileen Miracle's blog.  She's starting to post previews of the freebies that you MUST have!!!  Don't forget the frenzy on Friday! :)