In this episode I sit down with THE Middle School choir guru, Dale Duncan to talk about sweet spot for success in Middle School vocal music. Middle School Singers are often overlooked and underestimated. What they need is an educator that believes in them, and provides high quality instruction in a school that supports them. We talk about the balance between high expectations, trust building, pitch matching in puberty, motivation of middle schoolers, connection and belonging and how they all serve each other. Dale also shares a bit about what it is like to be retired, his favorite things about teaching Middle School as well as talks through some of its greatest challenges. We ranged a bit into other areas too like pre and post pandemic choral music, and education and some of the changes we have seen, as well as why years 20-30 can be the “prime years” for teachers.
I have taught middle school students for well over 20 years. I currently teach over 340 un-auditioned choral students. I have up to 84 students in one class by myself. I could never have managed that as a young teacher, but along the way, I have learned several tips and tricks to help me successfully manage this age group of students in a positive learning environment.
I started my career in North Carolina where I taught for 5 years. In the beginning, I struggled enormously with classroom management. My middle school students totally “ran over me”. I was unstructured, inconsistent and ineffective. I was discouraged and felt like a total failure. I felt alone. I thought often about quitting teaching and doing something else. I was armed with a masters degree and absolutely no idea how to teach this age group.
I am not a quitter, so I kept going. I observed other teachers, and slowly began to figure a couple of things out that helped me hang in there.
I continued my career in New Jersey for the next 6 years. It was there that I saw an amazingly gifted choral educator who had created the most magnificent middle school choral program I had ever seen. She graciously allowed me to observe her teaching a few times, and that was when things began to click for me. I began to realize how to relate to and successfully teach this age group. That is when my programs began to grow exponentially.
Episode 200: Expanding the Boundaries of Choral Music with Katerina Gimon
Episode 199: Singing Alone, “The Boogey Man in the Closet”
Episode 198: Beating the Odds Through Choral Music with Steven Hankle
Episode 197: Ripping off the Band-Aid Volume 2
Episode 196: Educating the Anxious Generation
Episode 195: Elementary Choirs-Our Manhattan Project with Bruce Rockwell
Episode 194: A Round Peg Voice in a Square Hole Choir with Timothy Mount
Episode 193: The Aeolian Way with Jeremy Sovoy Jordan
Ep 192: Music Literacy for All: Debunking Myths and Embracing Diversity by Odell Zeigler
Episode 191: Rise Up and Sing with Shanan Estreicher
Episode 190: Girls Voices Change Too! With Dr. Bridget Sweet
Episode 189: Can We Meet Kids Where They Are Without Lowering Standards? With Jonathan Talberg
Episode 188: Why Don’t Boys Want to Sing? With Martin Ashley
Episode 187: Five Years of Changing and Expanding the Conversation and
Episode 186: It’s Time for Anti-Racism with Love, with Chloé Valdary
Episode 185: Bringing the Wisdom of Hebrew Texts into the Choral Canon with Nicholas Weininger
Episode 184: Should We Stop Assessing Sight Reading at All State Choir? With Drs. Marshaun Hymon and Chantae Pittman
Episode 183: At a Crossroads in Higher Ed with Lynn Atkins
Episode 182: Getting off on the Right Foot with a Young Teacher Panel
Episode 181: Finding Equilibrium in the Teacher Life with Jimmy Robertson
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