Mizan

Have you ever met someone whose personality is larger than life? Someone who finds joy in everything he/she does? Someone who shares that joy and love of life with everyone around him/her?  I have.  Her name is Andi Hill aka Mizan. 


Mizan teaches at Parkside Elementary and she teaches both PE and Music.  Her PE classes are 2 days a week and her Music classes are 2 days a week.  I've never been to PE with her...but music is soooo much fun! 


Mizan begins every class with a listening activity to get the kids focused for the day.  The kids lie on the floor with the lights off while she plays some music for them and asks very intentional questions.  When they answer they are not allowed to only answer yes or no, they have to provide a reason behind their answer.  The day I visited Mizan was talking about how music makes you feel and asking if the titles of the music she played represented what the kids were feeling.  She used music from a Harry Potter sound track.  It was so interesting to hear the different responses from 1st graders and 6th graders.  The 1st graders gave answers like:  It makes me feel sad, mad, bad, tired, scared, etc., while the 6th graders gave answers like:  It makes me imagine that I'm at a funeral.  Both are appropriate responses but when you consistently use activities like this your kids start thinking deeper and relate music to their own experiences. 


Here is a picture of Andi walking around the kids asking those great questions.

Later in the day Mizan reviewed Rain, Rain Go Away with the kids.  She asked them about things they wanted to go away and had them replace Rain, Rain with the things they had suggested.  Some ideas they came up with were: homework, chores, bullies, annoying siblings (lol) and my favorite...CLOTHES!  What?  I'll keep mine thank you!


Then the kids sang another Rain Song and composed a storm for the interlude with body percussion and tennis balls.  They had so much fun!  Here is what sounded like:

Thanks for sharing your love of life and music with me, Mizan!