Music for Room 11

$570 of $1,000 goal

Given by 6 generous donors in 10 weeks

It's time to change the way we are teaching our children! Let's create more passion, creativity, and happiness. Room 11 need more music.

Gisborne

This is the beginning of something that I believe will be truly wonderful for our children.

I am a teacher in 'Room 11' at a Decile 1 (lowest decile) school in the heart of Gisborne. I have always felt that we need to offer more to our children in our current education system so that they can connect more with their gifts and passions and - in turn - also succeed with the essential expectations of school; reading, writing, and maths.

I have begun to explore more research around offering creative pathways for our children and how these opportunities create new neural pathways in their brain that contribute positively to the overall learning experiences that children then choose to experience for themselves in class. Along with this we see more joy, more passion, and a more positive attitude within our kids.

I have a basic idea for a much bigger project in mind that I am wanting to work towards with injecting more creativity into our school system, and I want to begin with my current class this year and they have expressed to me their desire to explore their musical dreams; learning the GUITAR, DRUMS, and PIANO, and to be able to record their creations and SING as well.

I have volunteers on board who are willing to share their knowledge of guitar, piano, and drums with my children, but my children will only be able to learn with these tutors' instruments at the time of practice. I would love to be able to give my children the opportunity to further practice throughout the week outside of the 1x hour that I have been able to organise for tutoring.

At the end of the day, I want to see my children happy and excited for life and their future! And at this point in time, I want to use music to play my part in getting them there.

> I'd like to use this money raised to help pay for more experienced mentors to come in and share their time with us in these afternoons throughout the year; whether that be technological (recording) or musical (teaching an instrument).

> I would also use this money to buy headphones and quality recording equipment for my children.

> And I would like to buy some guitars, a keyboard, and a basic drum-kit so that my children can have access to their music passion outside of 1x hour a week (whether that be to practice, to manage emotions, as a source of therapy, or for inspiration).

Sara Gaertner's involvement (page creator)

I am the class teacher of 27 children in 'Room 11' at school, and I have 3x 'high-risk' boys (behaviour and social) who I will document the progress of in their learning and behaviour and mental and emotional well-being when they begin their journey in connecting with music (blogging, video documenting, learning and emotional goals, and achievements).

I also have a handful of girls who want to sing and begin a band in class. Plus the rest of my children who have expressed that they would love the opportunity to learn a musical instrument!

I have basic knowledge of how to play the piano and some chords on the guitar. I also sing with my girls in class and during break time. I have a very basic understanding of music and I will also be incorporating the Music Curriculum into our Maths, Reading, and Writing programme during school hours.

I will be keeping our learning space open to my children outside of school hours twice a week beginning in Term 2 to further the music practice for my children (which is where the instruments come into play). I am setting-up online music recording accounts for my children to begin to create their own music and bands, and I will have my children working collaboratively with one-another to support each-other with their musical practice and exploration.

I will also link this music experience with how their attitude and effort changes in class and in ALL of the learning experiences that I will create for them during school hours and outside of school hours for these 2x afternoons a week.

I have also opened up yoga classes twice a week at school for staff, whanau, and my children to attend. There is a koha for these classes, which I will be contributing towards giving our children more creative experiences in their learning experiences at school.

Again...

> I'd like to use this money raised to help pay for more experiences mentors to come in and share their time with us in these afternoons throughout the year; whether that be technological (recording) or musical (teaching an instrument).

> I would also use this money to buy headphones and quality recording equipment for my children.

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