I have recently started participating in the peer mentoring scheme. I have been helping in a Year 8 music class and I am coming up to my 4th week helping out and so far it has been very eventful! In my first week mentoring we were given the task of drawing a graphic score for the song Billie Jean by Michael Jackson. The job of a graphic score is to give a performer the general theme and direction of the music through a combinations of pictures and words like coffee and directions like laugh, then let the performer figure out the rest, at the end of the session Miss Boyle was tasked to try and perform a couple of the student’s scores much to our amusement! The songs that she ended up performing were very fun to listen to and I would definitely buy from iTunes, but how closely they resembled Billie Jean is up for debate.
In my second week I was tasked to help the students create their own short repeated pattern, this week was also very fun as I would show the students an example of a ostinato and then a few of them would scramble to jot it down with varying degrees of success. In the end there were a few very original and very impressive little patterns of music. A few of the students were given merits and the promise of sweets for their pieces of music. Some of the inspirations were very interesting. My favourite had to be a piece written in the minor key and the inspiration was said to be a scary halloweeny night.
In my third and most recent week the lesson’s aim was to familiarise the students with keyboards, this was done by writing all the notes on the board and then writing the note names on the keyboard with a board marker. This lesson I really wasn’t needed much as the class picked up how to do it REALLY quickly. They were given the sheet music of a few well known little extracts from pieces, for example the national anthem, the Star Wars theme tune and even the theme tune from EastEnders with a few other tunes. The students worked in groups of two as they matched the notes on the score to the notes on the piano, at first it was difficult but there were many break through moments where the pieces were played perfectly, it was these moments and all the excitement and joy from the students with the breakthroughs that made me understand why some teachers decide to become teachers.
Sholto
As the school year has started students in year 12 (AS LEVEL) have started to peer mentor and work towards their golden CV’s. I have been helping out Mr Yazdi in his Tuesday Year 11 class where she quiz’s them on education videos they have watched and set them homework to revise everything they have learnt during the class/classes.
Here is a quote from a student in the Year 11 class. “Leyla is a good mentor because she helps a lot and explains things if you don’t understand.” Another also mentioned that she helps the students “concentrate” in class.
Leyla
In my second week I was tasked to help the students create their own short repeated pattern, this week was also very fun as I would show the students an example of a ostinato and then a few of them would scramble to jot it down with varying degrees of success. In the end there were a few very original and very impressive little patterns of music. A few of the students were given merits and the promise of sweets for their pieces of music. Some of the inspirations were very interesting. My favourite had to be a piece written in the minor key and the inspiration was said to be a scary halloweeny night.
In my third and most recent week the lesson’s aim was to familiarise the students with keyboards, this was done by writing all the notes on the board and then writing the note names on the keyboard with a board marker. This lesson I really wasn’t needed much as the class picked up how to do it REALLY quickly. They were given the sheet music of a few well known little extracts from pieces, for example the national anthem, the Star Wars theme tune and even the theme tune from EastEnders with a few other tunes. The students worked in groups of two as they matched the notes on the score to the notes on the piano, at first it was difficult but there were many break through moments where the pieces were played perfectly, it was these moments and all the excitement and joy from the students with the breakthroughs that made me understand why some teachers decide to become teachers.
Sholto
As the school year has started students in year 12 (AS LEVEL) have started to peer mentor and work towards their golden CV’s. I have been helping out Mr Yazdi in his Tuesday Year 11 class where she quiz’s them on education videos they have watched and set them homework to revise everything they have learnt during the class/classes.
Here is a quote from a student in the Year 11 class. “Leyla is a good mentor because she helps a lot and explains things if you don’t understand.” Another also mentioned that she helps the students “concentrate” in class.
Leyla