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ORCHESTRA
{Music World}
Welcome to the
Calhoun Orchestra
The Calhoun Orchestra program is built on trust, respect, open-mindedness, and risk-taking. There are four groups in the CMS Orchestra: Amati, Guarneri, Stradivari and Swing Strings.
In Orchestra, I address the IB three fundamental concepts, which are Holistic Learning, Intercultural Awareness and Communication.
Holistic Learning is addressed through the focus on learning styles, and making connections to every class. All students track their practice progress in practice logs. Each week they answer the questions, "How did what I learned in Orchetra this week transfer to another class?" and, "How did collaboration improve my performance this week?" This way students are actively seeking connections and ways to collaborate. We discuss these questions frequently in class to determine each student's level of understanding.
Intercultural Awareness is a concept very familiar to Fine Arts students, and especially students in Orchestra. Students are exposed to music from all around the world and from many different cultures. In class we discuss ways that music is the international language. We learn to communicate, without words, but through our music. Students will learn what music means to different cultures, and how music is performed in different cultures.
Communication is a concept that is in everything that we do in Orchestra class. Students are learning to communicate their understanding in their practice logs for the purpose of receiving better feedback, learning to communicate with one another in order to form collaborative partnerships, learning to communicate and convey emotion with their audience members in performance settings, and learning to communicate with me as their teacher to help ensure that they are acquiring the knowledge that is being presented.
My personal philosophy of education relates to these fundamental concepts in the following ways:
I feel that every child should have the opportunity to explore their world through music; to use music as a tool to better understand this world and to better communicate with this world.
My student's learning reflects these fundamental concepts because I have seen, as they have been implemented further, students take control of their learning. My students have become teachers themselves. Each day I see students working together in collaborative ways, building positive relationships, supporting one another, coming up with new and ingenius ways of solving problems or seeing things from a different perspective, and communicating these problem-solving methods with one another and with me.
Please email or call me if you have any questions:
Sara Bollinger
sbollinger@dentonisd.org
940-369-2432
Be sure to check the calendar often for revisions and additions!
Campus Calendar
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