So I Have This Idea...

...to have my 8th grade band students choose and teach/rehearse a piece for our Spring Concert in May.  I really want to do this, but I also really need to do better about planning it out than I have with other projects that have started with "I have this idea..."

They've picked pieces for our concerts twice this year, and we've been working on how to spend time when working in sectionals. It will take some work on things like score reading and basic conducting, but I really want to make it happen thanks to a discussion on Student Agency in on of my absolute favorite weekly Twitter chats, #WhatIsSchool. (I find that a lot of my "I have this idea..." statements come after a great chat. If you're not a regular on Twitter, you should check it out!)

Here are some of the logistics questions bouncing around in my head:

• Students will go through the same process of selecting, describing, and voting on a piece like we did earlier this year. I will make sure they're making their selection with the knowledge in mind that they'll be teaching this piece.
• Students will break themselves up into small groups of 3-5 students. I haven't decided yet if I should assign chunks of the piece, if I should break it up and then let students select the part they want to work on, or stay completely hands off and let them figure it out among themselves as to how it will be broken down.
• We'll have designated class days for groups to work on figuring out their section of the piece and how they'll teach it.  I'll take questions, but only after they can show that they've discussed and looked up the information they're seeking first.
• Do I set a schedule of who will teach when? Or let the groups talk to each other to plan a timeline? The first option would help streamline things, but again, I really want the students to have as much control of this process as possible.
• I'm not sure how to go about the actual conducting of the piece. When we start rehearsing it in larger chunks, will I take the lead, or will students from those groups? Who will conduct it at the concert?
• I loathe that I have to plan around this, but our glorious state testing season (yes, it's a whole season here) is coming up which will cut into rehearsal time. We'll need to plan ahead for the complications that will cause.

I'm going to set up a Google Form survey with many of these questions and post it in Google Classroom to get student feedback but I would really love some ideas from other teachers. Have you done something like this? How did you set it up? Or, (borrowing a questioning technique I also picked up in a chat) if you did decide to do this, how would you plan it out? What would you absolutely make sure was a part of this experience?

To see how this project is going, check out:

Part 2
Part 3

Part 4
Part 5
So I Had This Idea...