News Feed
12/28/19
Hello Orchestra Families,
I hope you are all having a restful and peaceful break! I have been enjoying the holidays as well, but, as always, I am still thinking about the orchestra and getting ready for next semester!
On that note, I wanted to let you know that I have been looking into ways of encouraging and incentivizing at-home practice. Different music programs have different approaches, but I am always on the lookout for something that is easy to use, holds students accountable for the time they put in, reward those that have a good practice routine, and also involve parents in supporting and monitoring practice routines.
I have found and researched a program that I would like to try with the students and families in the Lamar Orchestra for a trial-run this semester. It is called Practopus! It is a funny name, but a really neat and user-friendly website and app that will help record student’s individual practice time, and helps me and you track their practice. They will also be rewarded with incentives to hit certain practice goals each week.
To use this program, I need to submit student’s names linked with a parent email for you to create an account. It does not collect any more personal information from you other than the parent email, and does not require any information about your child other than their name.
You can check out what this program looks like and how to use it in the videos below (the videos are made by other music teachers, but are helpful for general use):
Practopus for students - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgnG3SnDFoA&t=233s
Practopus for parents - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xx4Z102bus
Of course I want to respect your and your child’s privacy, so if you would prefer me to use a different email than the one you are receiving this message on, or if you would prefer to not participate at all, please let me know.
If I do not hear back from you, I will assume that I can go ahead and submit your email and create an account for your child. You can then expect to get an email from Practopus.com before break is over, inviting you to verify and set up your account. So if you decide then not to participate at that point, you do not need to verify if you do not want. Students can also signup later at any time with your email, if you choose.
Before that email is sent to verify an account, I will send out a set of instructions of what you need to do when you activate the account. I hope to do a test run in January for a few weeks to judge the usefulness of the program before implementing it any further.
I appreciate your help with this, and really hope that this will help encourage more practice, incentivize practice, and reward those that have good practice routines. I also am hoping that this is something easy enough to fit into our busy lives and can involve parents, students, and me in being accountable for the time we spend on our instruments.
Hello Orchestra Families,
I hope you are all having a restful and peaceful break! I have been enjoying the holidays as well, but, as always, I am still thinking about the orchestra and getting ready for next semester!
On that note, I wanted to let you know that I have been looking into ways of encouraging and incentivizing at-home practice. Different music programs have different approaches, but I am always on the lookout for something that is easy to use, holds students accountable for the time they put in, reward those that have a good practice routine, and also involve parents in supporting and monitoring practice routines.
I have found and researched a program that I would like to try with the students and families in the Lamar Orchestra for a trial-run this semester. It is called Practopus! It is a funny name, but a really neat and user-friendly website and app that will help record student’s individual practice time, and helps me and you track their practice. They will also be rewarded with incentives to hit certain practice goals each week.
To use this program, I need to submit student’s names linked with a parent email for you to create an account. It does not collect any more personal information from you other than the parent email, and does not require any information about your child other than their name.
You can check out what this program looks like and how to use it in the videos below (the videos are made by other music teachers, but are helpful for general use):
Practopus for students - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgnG3SnDFoA&t=233s
Practopus for parents - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xx4Z102bus
Of course I want to respect your and your child’s privacy, so if you would prefer me to use a different email than the one you are receiving this message on, or if you would prefer to not participate at all, please let me know.
If I do not hear back from you, I will assume that I can go ahead and submit your email and create an account for your child. You can then expect to get an email from Practopus.com before break is over, inviting you to verify and set up your account. So if you decide then not to participate at that point, you do not need to verify if you do not want. Students can also signup later at any time with your email, if you choose.
Before that email is sent to verify an account, I will send out a set of instructions of what you need to do when you activate the account. I hope to do a test run in January for a few weeks to judge the usefulness of the program before implementing it any further.
I appreciate your help with this, and really hope that this will help encourage more practice, incentivize practice, and reward those that have good practice routines. I also am hoping that this is something easy enough to fit into our busy lives and can involve parents, students, and me in being accountable for the time we spend on our instruments.
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Symphony Orchestra National Winners in Mark of Excellence!!
From recordings submitted in May of our Symphony Orchestra and the Lamar Full Orchestra to the Mark of Excellence Orchestra Honors Contest BOTH orchestras were named NATIONAL WINNERS in both the Full and String orchestra categories!!! So happy to share this honor with members of our Lamar Scottie Band in the Full Orchestra! This means they were ranked in the top 25% of entries from across the country. Having both a String and Full Orchestra National Winner is an honor only held by one other middle school in Texas this year (from Allen, TX). We are so excited to put the Lamar Orchestra on the national stage and happy that the students are getting recognition for their hard work and amazing performances! |
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Click Here to Donate Supplies to the Orchestra!