A week ago, I attended a wonderful concert of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. It was a fairly last minute decision, which in itself is a rarity these days. The dark times of report cards are upon me and that means planning out my time awfully carefully. Nonetheless, the program was all Mozart and I could not resist. Plus, at $15 per ticket, the price was right. I ended up trudging through the rain with my dear friend Christina to attend this event.
It has been said of Mozart that his music is God speaking to us. As a Bible-believing Christian, I know that God has spoken to us through His Word but I do not discount that Mozart's music has the power to invoke thoughts of God.
The first piece was the surreal, Ave Verum Corpus, K. 618. This is the last religious work that Mozart composed before dying at age 35. Jesus says in John 14:27 : "Peace I leave with you; mypeace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." The gentle and prayerful mood that Mozart creates in this short but stunningly beautiful work reminded me of the peace that we receive from believing in the promises that Jesus fulfills by dying on the cross - the promise of eternal life in the high courts of Heaven.
After the intermission, the orchestra and choir performed Mozart's Mass in c minor, K. 427. From the very introductory notes of music in the Kyrie, my heart was deeply moved. Kyrie is the first part of the traditional Latin Mass and means "Lord have mercy." That's when I realized, again, that it is indeed Christ's property to have mercy upon those who are faithful and turn to Him in repentance. As Mozart's music filled my ears, my soul began to understand once again that God is rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us (Eph. 2:4). As the choir made supplications for mercy, it became clear to me that Christ's response is to indeed have mercy and "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." (1 John 1:9).
Recently, I have been struggling with guilt and just feeling generally weighed down by sin. Whether or not Mozart believed in God or Jesus is not for me to know or to even speculate. I simply know that the music that Mozart composed communicated to me a sense of truth - the most comforting truth. I left the Orpheum Theatre very convicted that indeed my transgressions have been wiped out by God by His one and sufficient sacrifice - Jesus Christ.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insightmaking known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christas a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. - Ephesians 1:7-10
What now? I am graduating with a Masters in Literacy Education from UBC in a week? Unreal! The day is finally here. Over the last two years (beginning in September 2010), my life has been dedicated to my studies and trying to maintain some semblance of a running classroom. Often, when my graduate studies were going well, my teaching seem less organized. Often, when teaching seemed to be going well, my grades in my Masters seemed to suffer oh so slightly. (Alternately, I just did not sleep.) One of the biggest sacrifices, however, was that the amount of music in my life decreased hugely and my soul felt that. I was no longer able to take violin lessons because, well, there just wasn't the time to properly dedicate to practising. I wasn't able to attend as many concerts due to ticket prices and time constraints. Between tuition rates and twenty-five page papers, live music had to move down on the priority list. After having my thesis approved on August 26th, I've been able to attend more recitals and concerts and it is simply wonderful! Nonetheless, graduating in a week has rendered me quite reflective. Be forewarned, this list is a combination of the utterly ridiculous and the very serious. I present to you my Top 10 Things I did in Grad School. 1) I read a lot of stuff. (No like actually, I really did.)
2) I spoke a lot of French and learned many new French words, like "jaser" - which means to chat! 3) I learned how to teach a child to read - properly.
4) I got to live and study in Montreal - twice. These were, without a doubt, the two most incredible summers of my life. I wouldn't trade them for an entire Henle edition of all Schubert's works. 5) I learned about ethics in research, teaching, and writing and the value of intellectual property. 6) I complained a lot. 7) I didn't sleep. (Needed Wotan to cast a spell of Magic Fire I guess!)
8) I typed a lot of words on the computer screen. I think I used that keyboard thing that has letters? 9) I kind of went to the library...twice?
10) I was privileged to work with the most amazing group of educators in BC and saw what true, selfless collaboration looks like in a professional setting.
Hats off in a week to finishing and to the pay raise that means more classical music albums! Hurrah!
There comes a point in the school year where the class melds together and cohesion happens. Today was that glorious point!
Generally, the school year has started very well. I have an extremely full class of 29 students which makes addressing their individual needs quite challenging. Nonetheless, it has been my delight to see them come together as a group, care for each other, learn to be more independent, and to appreciate classical music.
I saw some astonishing things occurring in my classroom today that made me pause and ask myself: "Wait, how did that happen? How can a climate of learning be created for that to happen again?"
Our day started beautifully with silent reading (en français bien sûr!) The musical selection during silent reading was Beethoven's exquisite Sonata no. 3 in A Major for cello and piano. This is one of my absolute favourite pieces of chamber music because Beethoven has so much contrast in this one work. You'll never guess who plays this on YouTube! You've got it - Glenn Gould!
One of my students who was initially resistant to the idea of listening to classical music found this piece exhilarating and enjoyable. Can one blame him? The energy in this composition is remarkable. I firmly believe that the classical music is an excellent complement to their silent reading programme. This class has become increasingly disciplined with their silent reading practice and are starting to value literacy on their own accord.
After silent reading, the class worked in small groups on a French vocabulary activity related to a novel we're currently studying. The students put themselves into partners or groups of three with ease and not a single person was left out. I am so fortunate to teach such a caring class where students seem to be highly aware of the needs of other people. Each partnership was engaged in the activity and I heard an increasing amount of French spoken amongst the students! This was truly encouraging.
After recess, I witnessed pure magic. The greatest challenge I have faced this year is providing each of my students with an appropriate yet challenging Math curriculum. I've struggled with this because each child comes to my class with a different set of numeracy skills. Moreover, the Grade 5 Math curriculum is a gigantic leap from Grade 4. To compound the challenge, I only have seven Grade 5 students so the other students in my class must be working independently for me to give the Grade 5s the attention necessary. Today, after two previous lessons working on double-digit multiplication, I let all of the Grade 5 students work together on the Math that was assigned. The rule was that the whole group had to wait until each student had finished the question before moving on. Also, the group had to agree upon an answer before proceeding to the next question. I sat beside them and observed. To my awe and amazement, not only were they graciously helping each other, but they were in fact SPEAKING FRENCH. You will just have to believe me when I tell you that they were not prompted by me to speak French. They just simply understood that French is the language of communication in our class.
I immediately praised this group for their use of French as it has been one area in which they needed to improve. Moreover, one of the students in Grade 5 chose to work on the Math alone, which is fine. The student also asked if they could listen to Mozart while doing their Math! (By this point, I'm beaming.) I supply the student with headphones at our listening station and off they go! Multiplication and Mozart: does it get better?
After a lovely lunch in the sunshine with my colleagues, the Grade 4 students returned to work on their French vocabulary assignment while the Grade 5 students still had Math that needed to be completed. Again, they were collaborating IN FRENCH without my prompting. The students invited people they did not normally associate with into their groups to work. I could see new social connections forming. The highlight of my day was when one of the students who has resisted speaking French said to me (direct translation): "I think we should work in groups more because that's going to make us speak more French."
Of course, this makes perfect sense to me. French is a language of communication - not simply the language of instruction in the class. Having lived in Montreal for the last two summers, I understand that French is a living language. People do business in French, eat in French, work in French, and having friendships in French. For these students to sense that French is a living language, they need to be interacting in French with each other even more than they already are.
Today at school was a blessing. I witnessed what my students are capable of. My class is a group of children who love to learn together and wish to help each other on their educational journey. Oh, and they don't mind one bit if that journey is en français. Tomorrow the school bell will ring once again and I can not wait to see what extraordinary learning my students accomplish - just by the virtue of their own abilities.
