Getting in the Groove

I still can’t believe I live in Alaska!!

It was another great week of teaching!

My Spanish unit is going very smoothly, and my students will take their end of the unit test this Friday. Tyree and I have been assessing them along the way, and we are both impressed with how much they know. I am continually amazed by their ability to read and speak in Spanish, which both of us teachers greatly attribute to the curriculum we use. It is designed by Carol Gaab, and it incorporates a lot of storytelling in the lessons. Having the students associate the vocabulary they learn directly with stories and act the stories out has greatly increased their ability to remember the words and what they mean. It’s very exciting! I’m eager to see how they do on Friday.

Orchestra at both TMHS and GV have been going great. At the high school level, I am inviting my students to take more leadership in their learning by asking them to have discussions about the music, especially in regards to the phrasing. I even had a student come up and conduct with me during a warm-up exercise, which she and the students really loved! Sophia and I, and Lindsay and I are team-teaching respective units on songwriting and improvisation with our oldest JAMM kids this session, and classes began last week and went so great!! We are all (including the students) extremely excited to delve into this new topic with them that really accesses their personal creativity. I am also working with my chamber kids to polish up Dragonhunter (one of their favorite pieces!) for a fundraising dinner we are doing with Red Cross in a couple weeks. The quartet also has some gigs coming up, so we are preparing for that!

Our kindergarteners played their "A/E Open String Concerto"
for the Lysander Piano Trio! Afterwards, one kinder excitedly exclaimed,
"THIS IS FUN!".

Speaking of making beautiful music, we had a professional trio called The Lysander Piano Trio come visit Juneau this week to spend time with the students in our schools! They visited Thunder Mountain, Floyd Dryden Middle School, and Glacier Valley! I followed them at TMHS and GV, and it was amazing to hear such an incredible group of musicians play. It brought me back to my time at DePaul! It was great to talk with them, and they were just blown away by our students. Our kinders performed for them, and then a lot of students asked some great questions. I’m so proud of our kids!

It has been a busy weekend with a lot of work and some great socializing time. I got to see an incredible play done in Juneau’s theater, Perseverance Theatre, last night called “Our Voices Will Be Heard”. It gave a great glimpse into some fascinating parts of Tlingit culture (it paired a Tlingit myth about the wolf with another true story) while addressing a very heavy topic. I am very impressed with the arts/music scene in Juneau and am so happy I got to support the local artists with their fantastic work! ALSO: Heidi, a friend, and I were TOTALLY sitting next to Governor Bill Walker, which we realized just as the play began. I am sort of glad we learned too late because otherwise I probably would have asked for a selfie and embarrassed myself...BUT HOW COOL!

It is snowing in Juneau today, and it is a gorgeous sight. It will be beautiful to watch as I do my work today! And last but not least, I leave you with the DePaul newsletter from this week….

I feel honored to be part of their “Alumni Spotlight” section, and I’m sure “Ruth Hogel” does too… :P