Allison crose - Reyburn Intermediate choir teacher

Coming back to in-person teaching after the pandemic has been one of the most joy filled, yet challenging experiences I’ve seen in my decade in this position. I wanted to incorporate fresh new ideas to get my students to just BE NORMAL again, while still honoring the challenges they have faced and considering their strengths and needs.​

A few ways I did that was doing away with the typical class set of sight reading books. Many students expressed concern about sharing materials that others have touched that couldn’t be cleaned, AND they quickly showed a much more enthused response to doing sight reading as a class using Sight Reading Factory projected onto the board. It became a fun, friendly competition between classes to see how fast they could read a rhythm accurately, or try to advance beyond levels the other choirs had tried, and even just letting them move from the risers to the floor to see better and having them shout “shoulder, shoulder!” so they all stood next to one another! I also started a Quote Wall in the room to get them feeling more open to sharing ideas and saying funny quips, which definitely helped them begin to loosen up in the fall semester. I don’t think I’ve laughed with my choirs this much in YEARS! We have also been enjoying utilizing various locations around campus to play with expression, since indoor singing while wearing mask became so limiting (as we all know). As they gained confidence with their music and comfortability with each other, we began experimenting with singing outside and taking our masks off, which gave them a HUGE morale boost! We also had fun going onto the stage of our multi-purpose room where there is a wall of mirrors, and challenging each other to “smize” and create as much expression and drama only using the top part of their face while wearing masks!