Submitted by Caryn Mears, Kennewick, Washington
Idea posted June 24, 2011
I wanted to make sure that I included a purpose in my lesson, as our district uses P.E.R.R.s (which stands for Purpose, Engagement, Rigor, and Results). When the kids were coming in, I didn't really address what the purpose of the lesson was, so I decided to make a license-plate size piece of tag board that has slots to slide a flash card into. The tag is red and I wrote on it, "RED HOT WORD," so it is a way of developing lessons around vocabulary words. For instance, I started the year introducing the word "timbre." We listened to different voices and played singing games where we tried to guess whose voice was whose. I also have a puppet named Timbre, so he listened to sounds of the children singing, etc. The next word was "beat," as we started beat activities. It is a way for me to focus on a specific purpose. (In fact, I'm thinking of using a little melody to sing it next year... to the tune of "Camp Town Races" - "The purpose of the lesson is..." and then the star student tells us the word. Then we sing it again and sing the entire phrase.) It's easy to show "Engagement" in the music room, and "Rigor" is also easy as you watch who gets it and who doesn't. I just wasn't stating the purpose, so now by including it in the daily routine, the principal sees it when he comes in to observe, and the kids see it as we do the daily routine. I'm also thinking of singing the phrase again at the end of the activity, so students remember why we were doing whatever it is that we were doing!