At the end of the school year last spring I won a grant to purchase 30 guitars for my classroom, but with ordering and shipping and red tape, etc- we just got all the supplies implemented in my class about two months ago. We have been having a blast though! The kids absolutely love learning to play the guitars and I am having fun staying one step ahead of them! :)
We have learned a few songs so far and this week we started Jingle Bells. I was asked to take a group of students to perform for the Bentonville Public School Foundation Reception in three weeks, so we are working hard in my general music classes to get songs prepared to play for that.
The best thing about having these guitars is that they eliminate almost all my discipline problems. The kids are all so excited to be learning to play guitar that if I just mention that they will need to pack up their guitar because they are misbehaving... they shape up immediately. I love it! And it's often hard to impress sixth grade boys in music class, but playing guitar is something they get pretty pumped up about.
I like this next photo because you can see Beethoven looking over her shoulder. I hope he would approve of my style of teaching! :)
This week we finally got in our shipment of guitar tuners and HALLELUJAH it was about time. Now all the kiddos can tune their own guitars as we play in class (they are the type of chromatic tuners that only pick up the vibration of the guitar they are clamped on to). They are awesome and have already saved me time and headaches from listening to "almost in tune" guitars all day.
Anyways, I just wanted to give you a little glimpse into what I get to do all day. I really do love my job!
