Grand Ledge Visit 2

Mr. Armstead adheres to a very strict routine. Classes always start with zero talking and a very clear warm up routine that the girls in the class are familiar with and I would guess have been doing since day one. Although the routine may change a bit from day to day (Friday's always incorporate more movement than other days, etc), the expectations are very clear on both the teachers part as well as the students.
This Friday was slightly different for me, however, because Mr. Armstead had me working with a student who was going to solo and ensemble one on one. It struck me as she and I walked into the practice room that I would have been terrified to do this only a few semesters ago. but as I scanned the music for the first time, I was able to easily identify what areas would probably need extra help and felt very equipped throughout the 15ish minutes we worked together with tools to help with support, emotional connection, energy, text, and various other things. It was a really gratifying experience, and I felt like she enjoyed creating and growing in her music and thinking a little more in depth about what the piece was about. Looking back, however, I DEFINITELY would have gone through the whole piece with her. We only sang through the A section and there was no reason we couldn't have at least sung through the entirety of the piece at the very beginning and then gone back and worked stuff.
For the remainder of the class Mr. Armstead had a worksheet and activity about musical theater. The worksheet gave a brief explanation and background about what musical theater is and where it comes from. He then identified some well known songs and played clips of them for the students (mostly songs middle school students would recognize). They were asked to respond to what they liked and didn't like, how it made them feel, what the mood was, etc. It is also an expectation that anytime a worksheet is done in class, it should be filled out with complete sentences, otherwise it will not get credit (yay for the literacy standards).