HS Observation Day 3

HS Observation Day 3

Katrina Fisher

May 15 2014

Julie Oliver, Choir

Block 1- History of Rock and Roll Music

• This class was newly installed just last year, and is what it sounds like- the history of rock and roll.
• Ms. Oliver said that today they'll be looking at a song by John Phillips, of the Mamas and the Papas. It's called “San Francisco(Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)”.
  • It was released in 1967 to promote the Monterey Pop Festival.
    • After they watch a video montage of the song, Ms. Oliver asks them what themes they think the song/video evoke. The kids talk of freedom, love, peace, etc. They also look at the lyrics and talk about what they think they mean.
  • The Summer of Love- 1967
    • She splits them into groups of two/three and gives them different questions about the festival to answer. She goes around to each group to check in and see how they're doing.
      • Once she has them present, she asks each of the groups to make sure they start with an overview, and then go into details after.
        • Encourages them to look at a particular paragraph to help them along to say what kind of information she wants them to know(Congratulates them for pulling out important information).
  Block 2- Plan Period
• Ms. Oliver and I spent her plan period getting documents ready for their music department trip to Philadelphia/New York City. There is still a lot to do and both Ms. Oliver/Ms. Olsen have had to stay at school late the past few weeks to get everything together.

Block 3- Freshman Choir

•   Today Ms. Oliver ran through their trip/concert pieces in order, without stopping, just to get a feel for where they were since she had been out. Between each piece, she would have the students quickly assess what they did, and to remember what they said, so once they were done running them all they could back and find parts to work on/make better.
  • Ms. Oliver had a sectional with the boys of Freshman Choir and asked me to work with the girls on one of their pieces, “Landslide”. I had worked on that piece with these girls on Tuesday, but it had greatly improved since I had last heard them. Ms. Oliver came in and asked if she could hear them, and I played for them. The girls sounded great and Ms. Oliver was very proud of them.