S-Cubed Sight Singing- It's ELEMENTARY! Free Information and Training Session specifically for Elementary Teachers

Yesterday, we had a tremendous turnout for our free training and information session aimed at Middle and High School Teachers who are considering using S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners.

So...I have scheduled a Free Zoom S-Cubed Training Session aimed specifically at Elementary Teachers who are considering using the S-Cubed Elementary Bundle to build sight singing skills as they prepare their students for Middle School Chorus.   The session takes place July 20th at 11 AM.  After the two years we've all been through, many of our choral programs have been decimated, and we need to rebuild from the bottom up...and that means we start in Elementary school.  This upcoming school year is just the time to do it and the Elementary S-Cubed Bundle is a great tool to energize and excite your young students.

Many of you have experienced first hand the successes and the fun of the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners!   Without the support of teachers like those of you who have followed my work, nobody would even know about the program.  It's been reviewed hundreds of times on TeachersPayTeachers.  I have gotten many emails over the years from teachers who've told me the program transformed their classrooms, and I am grateful.

S-Cubed is far more than just a sight singing program.  It's a philosophy too, and it's one that helped me build and maintain my large choral music education program throughout the pandemic despite the obstacles that we all faced.  It is a program builder because of the philosophy-  

3/4 learning + 1/4 Fun = Success.

Many teachers have heard of the program, but they need to know more before they take the leap.   So, I am hosting this free webinar on Zoom on Wednesday, July 20th at 11 AM EST.  Anyone is welcome to attend, but this event is aimed specifically at Elementary Music Teachers!  I will go through how it works for that group and how to use it step by step, and I will stay afterward and answer your questions!  As always when I present "live" events to teachers, I will offer something free from my TpT store, and I will offer 50% off my most popular bundles for 2 hours during and following the Zoom, and I will tell you how to make that purchase if you choose to do so!  Here is the link to the Zoom session below!    I hope to "meet" you there!  

Dale Duncan is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Dale Duncan's Personal Meeting Room

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/9283373578?pwd=M2svaC9zQ2k0QXVJc21zcm5UamdFUT09

Meeting ID: 928 337 3578

Passcode: 6uGS5t

S-Cubed Sight Singing is a Choral Program Builder! Free Training and Information Session for Future S-Cubed Users! June 29, 2022.

Many of you have experienced first hand the successes and the fun of the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners!   Without the support of teachers like those of you who have followed my work, nobody would even know about the program.  It's been reviewed hundreds of times on TeachersPayTeachers.  I have gotten many emails over the years from teachers who've told me the program transformed their classrooms, and I am grateful.

After the two years we've all been through, many of our choral programs have been decimated.  It's time to rebuild.  This upcoming school year is just the time to do it.  

S-Cubed is far more than just a sight singing program.  It's a philosophy too, and it's one that helped me build and maintain my large choral music education program throughout the pandemic despite the obstacles that we all faced.  It is a program builder because of the philosophy-  

3/4 learning + 1/4 Fun = Success.

Many teachers have heard of the program, but they need to know more before they take the leap.   So, I am hosting a free webinar on Zoom on June 29th at 11 AM EST.  Anyone is welcome to attend!  I will go through how it works and how to use it step by step, and I will stay afterward and answer your questions!  As always when I present "live" events to teachers, I will offer something free from my TpT store, and I will offer 50% off my most popular bundles for 2 hours during and following the Zoom, and I will tell you how to make that purchase if you choose to do so!  Here is the link to the Zoom session!  Click here!  I hope to "meet" you there!  

S-Cubed + MusicFirst/SmartMusic = Amazing!

If your school or district already owns MusicFirst or SmartMusic, you definitely want to read ahead!

The technologies are simply amazing!  Automatic and instant feedback for your students.  Individual assessment that saves time in your classroom.  
And if you are an S-Cubed user, or if you want to be, there are some things you'll be excited to learn that are available to you!

You have a class of 60 students.  You hear a child struggling with pitch or rhythm.  Maybe you can't pinpoint exactly what is happening?  You need more information, but time is of the essence as you rehearse.  You don't want to point out the student in front of their peers.  So you give the class an S-Cubed "homework" assignment.  A couple of days later, you take a look in the MusicFirst or SmartMusic folder, and you can take a look at or listen to their work to help you determine what they need from you to help them improve.

When I created the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners, I wanted to create a fun, effective program in which I included everything teachers and their students would need to teach and to learn to sight sing.  When I learned a bit more about technologies like those used in MusicFirst and SmartMusic, I decided to create one-to-one supplemental exercises for students of S-Cubed.  In other words, for every sight singing example I created for the S-Cubed curriculum in Level ONE, I created a single homework/practice example that was intended to help the students practice what they learned in class that day.   I didn't actually end up using it that way, but that is how I intended to use it.  Instead, I tended to assign the homework/practice examples in batches and give them a few days to complete them.  Then, I would look at/listen to the work as I needed to gather information or check on the skills of various students. 

MusicFirst Users!

MusicFirst has recently changed how S-Cubed is offered through their platform!  Until late in May of 2022, the only way you could access the S-Cubed curriculum through MusicFirst was if you had a "Premium" Subscription.  Well...great news!  That is no longer the case!   Now, you and your students can access EVERYTHING in Level ONE of S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners with no extra cost.  This means that if your school has licenses for MusicFirst, you don't have to purchase Level ONE of S-Cubed because you already have it!  And it means that you won't need to purchase anything related to S-Cubed until you get to Level TWO.  Just do a quick search on the platform.  It's there!  AND...not only do you have Level ONE curriculum of S-Cubed, but you also have access to the supplemental homework/practice examples that I created specifically for teachers who use technologies like MusicFirst and SmartMusic.  So, when you and your students arrive at Lesson 4, and you begin sight singing, you could send your students straight into MusicFirst to find the homework/practice example that correlates to the lesson you did that day and have the students practice the skills on their devices.  You could do that throughout all of Level ONE if you wanted.  Of course, you get to decide exactly how to use the supplemental homework/practice examples in the way that works for your specific teaching situation.

MusicFirst is the ONLY company that offers everything I created for Level ONE of S-Cubed.

SmartMusic Users!

If you have purchased or are planning to purchase S-Cubed Sight Singing Program Level One through TpT or JW Pepper...(and actually, even if you don't own the original S-Cubed Curriculum Power Points!), you and your students can access the supplemental homework/practice examples that I created for S-Cubed.   So, as I wrote above for MusicFirst users...When you and your students arrive at Lesson 4, and you begin sight singing, you could send your students straight into SmartFirst to find the homework/practice example that correlates to the lesson you did that day and have the students practice the skills on their devices.   So, technically, you could assign a practice/homework example for every sight singing example in the curriculum if you wanted to do that.  I tended to assign the in batches every week or two, but it's up to you how you do it.  It's there for you, and it's an awesome assessment tool for you.   

And if you don't own S-Cubed, but your district has SmartMusic licenses, you can still use the homework examples on the SmartMusic platform.  Take advantage of the access!  Go and fish around and play with what is there.  I included a lot of information on the homework examples, and while it is way better to use it in conjunction with the original full curriculum of S-Cubed, since your district owns the SmartMusic licenses, you are allowed to use the homework examples in any way that you like and in the way that works best for your students and your program.

If you have any questions related to MusicFirst or SmartMusic and S-Cubed, contact the companies directly to get the best answers.  And as always, you are welcome to email me directly as well!  

inthemiddlewithmrd@gmail.com.  Simply write "MusicFirst" or "SmartMusic" in the subject line!

Are you teaching Middle School Chorus Next Year? This Giveaway is for YOU!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Did you just graduate college and got your first job as a middle school chorus teacher?

Maybe you have taught elementary music for a while, and you've gotten a position teaching middle school choir?

Or you've taught high school chorus for years, and now you're moving to middle school chorus?

Whatever your situation is, I've created a resource aimed at helping you make the transition to teaching this unique age group called "Middle School New Chorus Teacher Starter Pack".   

This resource is filled with a variety of tools and lessons to help you start your year off with confidence and FUN!

The product description is included below!  Enter at the top of this page in the Rafflecopter.  You can enter multiple times in various ways using your social media channels of choice.  The more ways you enter, the more chances you have of winning!  Repost the Facebook entry where music teachers gather, for example.  Tweet about the giveaway using the Rafflecopter.  Follow my TpT Store!  It's easy!  Just follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter!  Someone is going to win this resource two weeks from today and the winner will be announced the morning of June 27, 2022.  Everyone who enters this giveaway will get an email from me on the morning of June 27 notifying you who the winner is, and how to get a special 48 hour discount offer on the "Middle School New Chorus Teacher Starter Pack" as well as my S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners Bundles.

There are many ways to enter the giveaway.  Do them all to increase your chances of winning!

Product Description

3/4 Cup Learning + 1/4 Cup Fun

= 1 Cup Success!

This is a great bundle for people who are new to Mr D's teaching materials and who haven't purchased other lesson plans from his TPT store.

What will you get in this Starter Pack?

*Five power point presentations that include lesson plans, video links of Mr D’s teaching tips, and video teaching examples of Mr D working with his own students in a real public school classroom. Mr D talks directly to the camera to share ideas with you about how to present the material to your students to maximize the chances of success with your students.

*Info on how Mr. D sets up his classroom for success BEFORE the students show up for the first time as well

as help with the first 10 minutes of class on the first day with your students.

*Team Building games for your chorus classroom.

*Video links of parts of performances by Mr D’s students so you can see what types of repertoire he uses with his

Middle School Beginners to keep them excited about singing.

*Fun ideas on how to get your middle school students to watch you better when you conduct along with video links of Mr D coaching you through it.

*Links to many classroom management blog posts and YouTube videos to help you create just the right atmosphere for success for your middle school students including the well-received and humorous video starring his own students called “To Do’s and NOT to Do’s in Middle School Chorus”.

*Also as part of the “Middle School Chorus Teachers Starter Pack”, you get the first three power point presentations in the hugely popular 42-lesson sight singing series “S-Cubed Successful Sight Singing Program for Middle School Beginners”. S-Cubed is as much philosophy as it is method. S-Cubed has helped many teachers in their classrooms because it not only meets beginning readers where most of them are when they arrive in our classroom in regards to their reading ability, but it also helps the overall “fun factor” in your classroom. In 10-15 minutes per day, your singers will become fluent, competent readers with S-Cubed, and there won’t be any moaning when you do the sight singing portion of your lesson! With this sampling of the early lessons of S-Cubed Middle School Sight Singing Program for Beginners, you will have a great start to your S-Cubed journey if you decide to continue with lessons 4-27 in the original series after giving S-Cubed a try in this starter pack.

How will this Starter Pack impact my teaching?

*It will help you shape your philosophy and approach to teaching

middle school children.

*It will help you create a nurturing, structured environment with your

middle school children.

*It will help you establish daily routines during the first 10-15

minutes of class and beyond.

…And it is shared by someone who has worked with beginning choral music children in a non-auditioned public school environment in three states who come from a variety of economic and social backgrounds.

Who are these lessons for?

*Teachers who are new to teaching chorus to middle school.

*Teachers who have just graduated college or who are about to

start a career teaching this age group.

*Teachers who have struggled with discipline teaching music

to this age group.

*Teachers who are looking for a new way to teach their students

to read music at first sight and have fun while they do it.

Link to the Complete S-Cubed Middle School Sight Singing Bundle:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/S-Cubed-Complete-Bundle-How-to-Teach-Sight-Singing-to-Middle-School-Beginners-1208701

Link to info on why I created it:

http://inthemiddlewithmrd1.blogspot.com/p/about-s-cubed-successful-sight-singing.html

A "How To" Guide for Teachers Thinking About Starting S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners

Please click here to read the "How To Guide" for S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners!

Transitions

Making big decisions is never easy.

...But a moment comes, and in that moment, you know.

Before that moment, you were likely thinking about this decision, but you weren't ready...you weren't able...you were afraid of change...

My moment came on December 15, 2021.

I knew that it was time to retire from teaching public school in May 2022 on that very day.  

I remember the moment vividly.

I am a planner, and retiring in May 2022 wasn't my original intent.  

So, I sat on it for five days.  I didn't even tell my husband what I was thinking.   I wanted to make sure that within myself, I was 100% confident that this was my moment to make the transition out of teaching public education full-time and to free space in my life for whatever is next.

It was scary.  Teaching public school has been a huge part of my personal identity since 1989.

But I knew in my gut.

So, five days later, I had the conversation with my incredibly supportive husband of 27 years.  I played a game of 10 questions before I told him what I was feeling, and I only got to question 4 before he said, "You are retiring in May 2022".  

He knows me.

What I hoped was that, once I made the decision, I would be able to truly savor my final months of teaching at Henderson Middle School rather than approach those winter months with dread.  

I wanted to leave with joy.  

I didn't want to leave as a bitter old teacher who once had a heyday that had long since passed.  

I reconfigured lots of the planning for those final months once I made the decision.

What did I want from these final experiences?  How can I leave this school, my colleagues, these children and this community with the most joy possible one last time?

It was especially important after what every choral music educator has experienced since March 2020.  

I decided not to do our annual Georgia Music Educator's annual adjudication.  That was a very hard decision because I have shared S-Cubed Sight Singing Program through those experiences for many years.  

I asked myself...what do you love teaching your students?  

I knew that what makes me happiest is teaching musical theater and helping my students learn through that experience.  I've done it for many years.  

We don't have a theater.  We do it in a gym...and still... the experience changes their lives.  

So, starting in January, that was my sole focus.   And here is the outcome.

The joy that I felt watching this experience wash over these students, the community and the parents who had never experienced a show like this at Henderson was one of the most gratifying experiences of my life.  

In many ways, it felt like I was a first year teacher and a last year teacher from January 2022 until May 2022.

Retiring from teaching public school was not an easy decision.  

But it was the right decision.  

I have opened up my life to what is next.  I have no idea what that is, but I trust the universe to fill the space with things that make my heart sing. 

We all deserve to have our hearts sing.  

We all need to wake up each morning with the excitement of discovery.  

When we do that, we are using our talents and our spirits and our hearts in the way we should.

We had a joint rehearsal in mid-March for our spring musical revue.  This is the day I told them I was retiring.  I told them after the rehearsal.  In this photo, they didn't know.  

After the rehearsal, I shared the news.  It was surreal.  Students wanted selfies.  I'm like..."I'm not leaving tomorrow!"  ...But they live in the moment.  This selfie is with one of the students who impacted me the most in my final year.   He is a trans student who struggled with anxiety and depression in ways I'd never experienced during my 30 years teaching.   I think that this child's daily experience in chorus class may have saved him this year.  My eyes are red from the emotions I was experiencing.

This photo below was taken about 30 minutes after I announced my retirement to the students.   My sixth graders were processing the news, and they wanted to write on the board.  One of them said to me through tears that day...  "What are you going to do when you retire?  Sit in your house and get OLD?  Why don't you sit in here with us and get old?"  

I loved that moment so much.  It made me cry and laugh at the same time.  The incredibly clear way that this age group sees the world is and has always been one of the big reasons that I kept coming back year after year.  

And I wanted to answer her question with..."I'm already old honey!"  

I wanted my students to learn about my retirement from me.  I didn't want them to hear it from someone else.  

I followed my professional instincts about notifications.  I told my principal first back in January, and then I slowly shared the news only when necessary.   I had originally wanted to wait until mid-April to tell the students, but it became clear that if I did do that, the news would leak.  I wanted them to learn about this news from me because the relationship they have with me is so deeply personal and sacred in many ways.  We see each other 5 days a week...They deserved to hear it from me.

I wanted to do what I had always tried to do...to respect them...to respect their feelings...

And boy...did they return that over the final two months of school.

These are scenes from our final preparations for our show.  These rehearsals happened at 7:30 in the morning before school and on Saturdays as we've done for years.

We opened the show with "It's Time to Dance" from The Prom.  

One of the most magical rehearsal moments..."Superboy and the Invisible Girl" from Next to Normal.  

Here is the link.

The next link is from a Saturday rehearsal.  They were on break, and Rosario, one of my 8th grade Assistant Director's for the show decided everyone should do a "Just Dance" video.  

Perfect.  

Here is the link.

The joy in the video above is how I wanted to walk out the door.  

I am not sure what I want to be when I grow up, but I know that ending this chapter at this moment was exactly what I should do.  I wanted it to end joyfully, and it did.  I will hold these memories so close to my heart.

And now, I can create new memories in new ways that I never could have imagined.  

I've opened up my world to what is next, and I am excited about it.  

I want to continue to meet teachers online on Facebook and Instagram "live" events.  I want to meet teachers in person who have supported my online work for the last decade, and lead Honor's Chorus events and Allstate events.  I want to go to events and be a clinician working with your students.  I want to be involved in conversations about the future of choral music for this age group.  I want to continue to impact the education of teachers who teach middle school chorus in ways that are useful and helpful to the teachers who are in the trenches day in and day out.  

I am not finished with my contributions. 

I will meet some of you in Oklahoma and Missouri in July when I headline your summer events.  I will meet teachers in Iowa and Nebraska in November.  In August, I will teach workshops for the Atlanta Public Schools.   I will judge events in Alabama and Louisiana in early 2023.  

I am transitioning to a new chapter...and I can't wait!