One of the stories in our second grade reading book is a story called Moses Goes to a Concert. It is about a boy who is deaf who goes to hear a concert with his classmates who are also deaf. When they arrive at the concert, they are surprised to find that the percussionist in the band is also deaf. She is able to keep up keep in sync with the rest of the members in the band by not wearing shoes allowing her to feel the vibrations of the music. The little boy, Moses, wants to be a precussionist when he grows up. It is a great story!
Today, we made the story even better. My friend Carlos Caro came to visit my class. He is a percussionist too, a Bongocero. He brought his Bongó to class today and mesmerized my students and the students next door with his Bongó skills and information about music. He was great. The kids couldn't get enough of him.
Not one student misbehaved or was not paying attention. He had 100% of their attention. He taught them all kinds of vocabulary such as:
* tuning
* pitch
* martillo: A Bongo Rhythm
* macho : the smaller of the two drums on the Bongo
* hembra: the larger of the two drums
The kids had lots of questions for him and he gave them very good responses. My favorite answer that he gave though was to this question "Are you famous?" He replied something to the effect that while he has a CD out and people know about him around the world he isn't famous, at least not like what the kids equate to famous. He went on to say that while he may not be famous in that way, he felt famous because he had the opportunity to be able to come and talk with the kids. I know that most of the kids didn't get that but the other teacher and I did for sure! What he was able to really drive home with the kids was his love and passion for his job as a musician. He told and showed them through his talk that they can do anything they want to, and be happy at what they are doing, if they work at it.
We had a great visit. After our visitor left, the kids talked about how they all wanted to be a Bongocero when they get older. What an inspiring visit it was!
******************
Now for a shameless plug:
You can visit the following two sites to get more information on Carlos and his band Vission Latina here:
www.vissionlatina.com
www.carloscaro.net
www.vissionlatina.blogspot.com
You can also download his songs on itunes. Which songs would I recommend for you to buy? ALl of them! They are all great. Sabina and I know the lyrics to almost all of the songs. It is in the car and we play it everyday!!!
Enjoy!
6 comments:
A VERY cool connection with Moses! Wish we could have had Carlos in my class last week.
--Margie
I wish that I could have you and Alan in my class sometime! :-)
It sounds cool because I only post the cool things we do! There will be a lot of that this month since we are trying not to get too bored now that testing is over and we are in school through the 30th!!!
Wait until you see what we are doing on Monday...that will be another cool post!!!!
If I had children, I would want them in your class.
Actually, I want to be in your class. :-)
If I had children I would want them learning reading, writing, and arithmatic instead of frivolous things like drums and snakes and cakes you bake in a croc pot. Who cares? Perhaps that way they would perform better on standardized tests.
Je Je Je..... just kidding. You know I think you are the shizzle, my sister! I have seen your students (and former students), and I know you are learning them well. Keep it up, homegirl!
Xolo:
Thx!
Nebur:
You brat!
Ok - you are not so bad little bro. I think you rock too! I would send your business your way but for some reason I don't know too many folks that need your kind of legal advice. Go figure...
Post a Comment