BRIDGES TO THE COMMUNITY SERIES: PART 7: PARENT PARTICIPATION WEEK
Lillie H. Feierabend, FAME Teacher Trainer
Often a single experience will open the young soul to music for a whole lifetime. This experience cannot be left to chance. It is the duty of the school to provide it.
Zoltan Kodaly, Children’s Choruses, 1929
I take this charge to heart. Teachable moments do not always happen in the music classroom. Regardless of the excellence of our materials, sequencing and passion, we have no guarantee that students will be moved by music in the short time they are with us. But, if we look just beyond the limits of the music classroom, we can create other experiences capable of engaging and influencing, not only our students, but our greater school community, as well, and most significantly, our families.
There are many ways to inform your colleagues, administration, School Board, parents and greater community about the richness of music education and the benefits to their child of being involved in music in your school. This article is meant to celebrate just that…Music in Your School, by opening up your classroom to your families and inviting them to experience a music class with their child(ren). Yes, I know, parents are always welcome, but, for a number of reasons, some may not always feel comfortable enough to just pop in. We can make this easier by inviting them in and making them feel welcome and an important part of their child’s education.
This is one of my favorite ways to connect to my community. Parents have a lot of fun while learning a great deal about our curriculum. Each March I set aside one week and invite all parents/family members to come into their child’s music class and share a typical music lesson with them. It is a wonderful opportunity for parents to see how their child is progressing in music and equally as important, to learn about our curriculum. I sincerely believe this is the most effective way to educate our community about Music development. They invariably come away with respect not only for their child’s involvement in Music but also for the curriculum and its importance in the life of their child. They always leave amazed at the breadth of the music curriculum and impressed by what their child accomplishes in music. Parents always leave, saying Music was not this much fun when I was a kid, and I wish I had music classes like this when I was in school.
Parents come away with a better understanding of our music curriculum, music development, and in my case, Multiple Intelligence Theory, in addition to the opportunity to play and learn along with their child. This also send a powerful message to children that learning is valued and that you are never too old to be thrilled by the prospect of learning and that learning is fun. I once had a principal who thought this was such a wonderful idea that she encouraged all teachers to think about doing this.
This invitation, however, needs to be more “official” than just making a blanket statement inviting everyone to come celebrate music during a particular week. That is too vague and frankly, does not sound like a purposeful, meaningful and heartfelt invitation, worthy of the time and rescheduling that some must do to come to school on a workday. Some parents rearrange work schedules, swap work schedules, take early or late lunch, or work an extra hour at the beginning or end of the day, all to make their child’s music class. We have parents in work clothes, babies in strollers, toddlers, older siblings, and grandparents; sometimes three adults come for one child. This was so meaningful to one family, that Mom and Dad and the new baby brother came straight from the hospital to share music class with their second-grade daughter.
Knowing that not every student will have someone who can attend, I do not make a fuss or a big deal out of this. The week before, I ask students, when they have music visiting time in my children’s school, am I able to go? They respond, No. I then ask, Why? They always respond, because you are here with us. BINGO! I can honestly say that this has never been a problem and students have never felt sad or left out if they were not able to have someone visit. Schedules change, as well, and parents who thought they would be able to come, for whatever reason, cannot, and parents who previously thought they would not be able to come, call at the last minute and ask if it is still OK! Yes, please! I say something along the following lines to each class….this class is a family and our music room is like our home. We are inviting guests into our home, and like guests, they do not know our routines. Our job is to make each guest feel welcome and safe and comfortable enough to play our games with us, so everyone is a teacher. Our guests don’t know what we are going to do so they will look to you for guidance. Remember, students are already familiar with the parents/guardians in their classroom and are happy to take ownership for them all. And, parents know the kids. They help ensure that everyone gets special attention. We end up all mixing together and everyone has a great time.
We look for a week in March where nothing is planned. Sometimes, that week ends up being in February or April if there are scheduling conflicts. I send home the attached form to each student in each grade. The parents have all the information they need and so do I. There is something purposeful about writing the date of the visit, signing your name and giving your phone number that makes it one step closer to a commitment. I use different color paper for each grade to help organize the responses. Parents take this seriously and call to ask if they can change to the other day or bring additional guests. The answer is always Yes, please!
It is very important that everyone in the building know what is going on, so I send out the following note to everyone at my school. Colleagues may be concerned that parents will return with the class to the classroom, en masse.
- Music in Our Schools Month Celebration
The week of March 23 – 27 will be our celebration for “Music in Our Schools”. All parents, relatives, and siblings are invited to come and share a music class with their child. They will check in at the Front Desk, go to the Music Room and then return to the Front Desk to leave. There will be no change to your schedule. I will give you handouts to send home with the Music schedule; please put the returned slips in my box. We hope to have a lot of fun and hope that many parents will attend. Thanks.
I make sure that in all correspondence with parents, they are reminded to sign in and then sign out when class is done. I also remind them when class is over as everyone leaves.
For my first Parent Participation week, I put out a few chairs, so parents went directly to them, some with coffee and some with movie cameras. I learned to anticipate and better prepare. Once I formed a plan and the precedent was set, it easily became routine. Parents who have visited before help guide and inform parents new to this. It helps that I have no chairs in my room, but if someone needs one, of course I immediately get one. The parents understand that this is an opportunity to play and learn right along with their child(ren).
Like every other topic in this series, I am happy to share what works for me and my community. Guests wait outside the classroom. Class comes in first, followed by guests. Class makes their circle, as usual, while guests come in, stand against the wall and put down all belongings. I then welcome our guests and say, if you see a face you dearly love, gave breakfast to this morning, and spend a lot of money on, please go stand next to them. I have the following on the board but don’t spend a lot of time talking. I do refer to it, however, at appropriate times. Since we are a Multiple Intelligence school, I like to point out, for instance, that if we are doing Cousin Peter, we are also working on our VL, LM, and BK intelligences. Or when involved with a dance, that we are working on our VL, LM, BK, VS, Inter and Intra-Personal intelligences. The break between activities in Lower Grades and Upper Grades signifies what we actually do and what I briefly mention because there isn’t time to do everything. We do activities that illustrate the topics above the break, and I briefly mention those below.
LOWER GRADES MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE UPPER GRADES
“Do” Music Verbal Linguistic Continue to “Do” Music Informal Logical Mathematical Learn “About” Music Tonal Experiences Bodily Kinesthetic Formal Instruction
Rhythmic Experiences Visual Spatial Literacy
Expressive Experiences Musical All 12 Steps of CS
Dances Interpersonal ——————————-
————————— Intrapersonal Barred Instruments
Instruments Naturalist Autoharp
Folk Song Picture Books Folk Song Picture Books
Listening Lessons Listening Lessons
We then begin a typical lesson. What is a typical lesson? Whatever we are doing at that time. If it’s a younger class, I share the First Steps in Music curriculum. Prior to each step, I briefly describe how it impacts the musical development of their child and where it fits into our curriculum. We usually begin with a large group activity, getting everyone to sing and move. Mother Gooney Bird, My Aunt Came Back, The Horse Stood Around are great, enough repetitions so it is quick to pick up even if guests are not familiar with it. We then move to Pitch Exploration using one of our familiar activities; pipe cleaner, Cowboy Joe. As we do in a regular lesson, I then go around the circle with my microphone and have each person respond independently. Yes, guests, as well. The look on a child’s face when their guest sings back is priceless; they are delighted and proud. Even younger siblings 
are so involved in our “play” that they don’t realize they are singing independently! That is a huge Aha! moment for all. For Fragment Songs I may highlight our latest, My Aunt Came Back, and following the same procedure, invite everyone to respond independently. We may do Frog in the Meadow as our Simple Song, informing parents that a little later in the lesson we will sing it again at another step (with a guiro during Beat Motion Activities). Or we may sing “Fais Do Do” while we rock different size babies, making sure our voices match the size. We don’t attempt Arioso but I briefly explain its importance and have several “Student Teachers” demonstrate; everyone is always eager to do so. We definitely do Movement Exploration, perhaps Elf Ride or Shake Shake Freeze. Students are very creative in their choice of what to “shake” and guests have no recourse but to follow directions. Wake Up You Lazy Bones and Cousin Peter are wonderful examples of Movement for Form and Expression. They also work very well as an opening activity. Ali Baba would be great for a group Beat Motion Activity or Did You Ever See a Lassie? I always end with a dance, perhaps one recently learned; La Raspa, Heel and Toe Polka, Chimes of Dunkirk are all wonderful. Students already know everything about the dance and are eager to help their guests be successful. During my introduction, I also mention that we share Books, Listening Lessons and Instruments on a consistent basis, although we may not be able to cover them during this class. A SongTale or a Move It! is the perfect way to end; a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate artistry and set the mood for parents and students to quietly leave and continue their day.
If it is an upper grade class, in addition to songs, a clapping game or play party and a dance, I take them quickly through the twelve steps of Conversational Solfege. Families are amazed as students move from Readiness to CS to Reading to Writing and then I highlight the Compositions around the room or on the bulletin board. Each child contributes as we systematically go around the circle, nothing is planned. In about ten minutes I give a very brief explanation of the Step, then three or four students demonstrate that skill. It is quite amazing when you see CS development in such a short, concentrated period of time, from all students.
When it is time to leave, I always say, “There is one more activity that is in my lesson plan, so we have to do it…..everyone will now line up, but if you have a guest, please 1) give them a hug, 2) tell them they did a great job, because they did, especially because they did not know what we were going to ask them to do, 3) tell them ‘good-bye’ because they need to get back to the next part of their day and you need to get back to your class, and 4) then line up with your class. I instruct the parents to wait by the wall again and gather their belongings as students walk out the door, waving to all our guests, and go back to their classroom. Then I remind parents to please sign out at the front desk and have a great rest of their day.
I follow up with an Ask Me, thanking all parents and students and reminding everyone that we will do this again next year. I also send the visitor count to my principal who includes it in the school profile as an example of Parent Engagement.
Sharing a music class with a loved one, singing with, clapping with, dancing with, experiencing expressive moments with, and experiencing artistry with a loved one just might be that experience that opens the young soul to music for a whole lifetime.