Thursday, July 23, 2015
Karate Strings Pass Off Sheet and Curriculum Guide
Part of my job is to mentor the instructors that teach beginning strings in the elementary schools in our district. Our elementary orchestra classes meet before school only 2-3 times per week. We have been doing a karate strings program and the students really enjoy earning the belts. This year, we will be using a different method book and I am totally re-structuring the curriculum. I just finished making a new karate strings pass-off sheet and curriculum guide. Students will staple the karate paper in the front of their method books and pass off the belts throughout the school year. The curriculum guide is for teachers so that we stay on track for our final concert when we combine all students together (over 300!) for a giant Monster Concert.
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I will be teaching for the first time this fall. Having this information will be priceless to me. Thank you for the time you've taken to share this! I will be referring to this all year!
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DeleteI'm glad you are finding this info to be useful. You will love teaching orchestra! Remember that this curriculum map is for classes that only meet a couple of times a week, so the pacing is slower than a regular class that meets every day. If you are interested, I can post my curriculum maps that I use for my beginning/intermediate/advanced classed that meet daily.
DeleteI would absolutely love that!
ReplyDeleteOk! I want to update it first because I'm switching method books this year in my 2nd and 3rd year classes, but I will post it very soon.
DeleteThis is very helpful. What method book do you use?
ReplyDeleteThese beginners who only meeting 2-3 times per week will use Measures of Success. For my own classes (beginning-advanced junior high level), I use String Explorer 1 for beginners, Strings Basics 2 for second year, and Strings Basics 3 for 3rd year.
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Deletefirst of all thanks so much for sharing these info!!!
I bought your book in Sept. I love it!
Just a question...why do you switch method books...I don't really know String Basics...Why don't you use vol.1 for the beginners?
I feel that there is not an ideal method book for the classroom setting...What's your opinion about that?
Thanks in advance for taking time to answer.
I have the 6th grade program use a different book from my 7th graders because they only meet a couple of times a week and they needed a method book that was more simple. Measures of Success is perfect for a group that does not meet every day...my groups can almost make it through the book in one school year. I use String Explorer for my 7th graders because I did a lot of research and studied every method book available...String Explorer covers the most material in a year and I like my beginners to learn as much as possible. I switch to String Basics for year 2 and 3 because I don't like String Explorer book 2 - students get lost in the shifting and more exercises are needed for teaching flats....String Basics spends more time/pages on the skills I want students to learn (flats, shifting, 6/8 time).
DeleteOh - and you asked about how I feel about there not being a method book that is ideal for a classroom. I have been asked to co-write a method book this summer and I hope to create something that would work better. I agree that there is currently not an ideal method book. I'd love to hear what you are looking for in a book.
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DeleteThanks you for your quick answer. I'm so much slower than you...
I agree that method books level 2 doesn't spent enough time on flats and I feel minor scales/finger pattern are not covered enough as well.
In my Ideal method book, I would love to have the violin learn the E string much sooner while using the first basic fingers pattern.
Also, I would love to see in a method book, the concept of Tonalization/ringing notes, sound production (weight, speed, Soundpoints) and how to practice section.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something right now...
Again THANKS SO MUCH for doing all THIS, helping new teacher like me and building a string teachers community by sharing your expertise, experiences and ideas!
Great Idea! Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome - I'm glad you find this useful. :)
DeleteMore questions :) I notice you have bell work for your students every day. What are you using for that?
ReplyDeleteI just wrote a post about bell-work for you: http://orchestrateacher.blogspot.com/2015/08/bell-work-for-strings-class.html
DeleteHope that helps!
Do you have a site with private lesson suggestions? With school coming up, and a bored student on my hands, I was wondering if you have something that would help.
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DeleteI don't have a website specifically for a private studio, but many of my tips and games are things I used to do in my own studio when I used to teach private lessons. :)
DeleteThank you for your posts. They are wonderful! I've been teaching for a while, and I'm always looking for ideas to change up my class. There are not too many resources out there for orchestra, so thank you for sharing!! A colleague and I were just talking about adapting recorder karate for orchestra. The timing of this post is perfect!
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