Rich Henderson's Diary
The First 180 Days

Rich Henderson, a lawyer, always dreamed of being a teacher. Last year, he gave up his law career and returned to the classroom to earn his teaching certification. This year, his dream finally comes true in a fifth-grade classroom in suburban Woodbury, Connecticut. Each week during this school year -- Rich's first year in the classroom -- he will share with Education World readers his thoughts and feelings about his first 180 days!

Rich's Diary: The Featured Artist of the Week

Week 24

EW Note: Last week, Rich Henderson's school was closed for winter vacation. In this week's entry, Rich describes one of his favorite classroom lessons.

Although there are many activities and lessons that I like to do with my class, my favorite activity is called the Featured Artist of the Week. It's fun, informative, and brings out a variety of opinions in my students.

Each day, my class listens to some type of music -- from Beethoven to Elvis, from Strauss to Glenn Miller. I play music each morning as the students enter the room, unpack their belongings, and begin their morning work. I also play it softly when we have our sustained silent reading time at the end of each school day.

I try to expose my students to a broad range of music and information about various musicians. Each month, we listen to one particular type of music -- jazz, classical, big band, for example. Each week, we listen to one artist associated with a particular type of music. Sometimes, we focus on one or two pieces of music by a particular artist or composer. For example, we recently concentrated on the first movement of Mozart's Symphony no. 40. When the class first heard this piece, many of my students acknowledged that they had heard it on television as part of a commercial. Naturally, to some of my students, it was the music of a certain company's product. They had no idea that it was a classical piece of music written more than 200 years ago. So, in an effort to put the proper name to this piece of music, we listened to it several times. Soon, most of my students were able to identify this musical piece by its name and composer -- and that was my goal.

My students don't have to like jazz, classical, or any other type of music I play. What they have to do is listen to the music. Why? Two important reasons: First, they learn to identify different types of music. Second, they learn whether or not they like particular types of music. If students like a certain type of music, perhaps they will want to learn more about the music. If they don't like a certain type of music, at least they have formed opinions based on one month's worth of listening. Either way, each student wins by acquiring a little more knowledge about music.

The Featured Artist of the Week has become a tradition in my class. Each Monday morning as my students walk into the room, they listen for the kind of music they will hear for the week. Sometimes I hear some moans and groans over the type of music. However, those sounds of distress pale to the ones heard if I should happen to forget to play the music. Speaking of moans and groans, next month we will start opera. My goal for next month is to convince my class that Puccini was not a shortstop for the New York Yankees. See, I told you this was fun.

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Rich Henderson
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03/08/2001