Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Christina, I agree with Barbara, I really liked your video! I wanted to ask what is everyone planning for summer? Here we are in limbo as more and more businesses start to open. Are you continuing to offer pre-recorded online classes? Are you getting enough interest to make it work? Barbara, I see you are offering a session with pre-recorded classes and live Zoom follow up. Please share how you are recruiting participants. Are you all still planning to mail the supplies to your students for the art project? Is anyone offering summer camps? I would love to hear your plans for summer and fall. Veronica
I loved all the videos above! It’s good to see what other Music Lingua teachers are doing! Barbara, I think the short session for each class during their regularly scheduled class time is a great idea! I am on a learning curve myself. I had just finished my second lesson for the spring session when we had to stop due to the stay-at-home order. At first I asked my families if they were willing to try online classes and only half were interested. So I was thinking of refunding everyone until I spoke to some of you and you encouraged me to give it a go. I couldn’t see how my students would be captivated by a weekly video with just me (I don’t have young children to join me like some of you do, which is such a brilliant idea) so I decided to do a live online class on Zoom with all my families. First I had to convince more people to stay on so I decided to video tape a lesson and send it out as a free additional class to all my students. So far the majority of my families have decided to stay the course, most are online with me and for those who cannot attend, I send them the recorded video of the lesson. I quickly realized that the families’ microphones need to be muted during the lesson. It gets very noisy and it’s difficult to hear with all the interruptions (to be expected with kids their age) but I make sure that they have some time at the end of class to join in and share with everyone whatever they feel like sharing. I have decided to try full immersion (almost all of my current students have been with me for more than one session). So far (3 lessons in) my families seem to fine with it. As for the art projects, I have chosen simple ones made out of paper and common art supplies. I email instructions and templates to parents ahead of time. Now I would like to share some of the benefits I see with live online classes in case you are considering it.
1. Kids get to see each other and when some of them are engaged and are following my lead, more of them follow suit. 2. I can applaud efforts made by a particular kid to follow along by saying their name or pointing at them and cheering them on. 3. I can slow down or repeat something if I see that a parent or child has a puzzled look on their face. 4. When we get to the end, I can say goodbye to each kid and say their name. And once um-muted they can reach out to me and say what is on their mind.
My videos are far from being professional looking but it does the trick for now. I thought I would share a video with you all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY177phy5LM
We are all venturing into new territory! It’s exciting but more work at the same time. I keep reminding myself that the kids and families we serve are worth it! I hope to hear from others too. Warmly, Veronica
