Oswego High School Choirs/ Music Theory

I had the privilege of observing at my high school, Oswego High School, and it's choirs under the direction of Frank Tieri. Although it is not a choir, Mr. Tieri also teaches an AP Music Theory course as his first class of the day. In this class, they were studying for an upcoming test so he decided to play a game where the class was divided into three teams and once asked a question, a member of the team must rush to sit in a chair before answering the question. Whichever team sat in the chair first and gave the correct answer, they would win.
This was a very good game to play because it got the students up, moving, and thinking early in the morning. The competitive nature of the game riled up the students which gave them a more positive energy when leaving the class. Not to mention the game was a great study tool for thinking on the fly because the students were forced into thinking quickly if they wanted to win the game.
The next class was combined choir. Being the biggest choir in OHS made up of around 80 students, combined choir can be a challenge for most teachers. Along with having many students, Mr. Tieri also opens this choir up to students with learning disabilities so there were 5 student that fit that category. The wonderful thing about Mr. Tieri is that he opens up his class to these students and makes it an inclusive environment where they can be themselves, yell, and scream. Mr. Tieri just moves along and works with them the best he can while also including them in with the rest of the students in the choir. The students spent most of their time in sectionals because they just had a concert and had just recently received new music. By giving them sectional time, Mr. Tieri allowed the students to work through their own parts with people that had the same part as them on the piano. All of the students in his choirs are required to know basic skills on the piano so they know how to practice effectively.
One problem with sending students out to sectionals in such a big choir is that there is more of a chance of students goofing around and not getting things done. By putting certain students in each section in charge, they have accountability for one another and thus get more things done.
Most of the choirs throughout the day were on a similar schedule with running sectionals aside from the school's top choir, A Cappella Choir. A Cappella Choir was working on music because the next day, 8th graders from two neighboring junior high schools would be coming and doing a concert with the members of the choir. AC was working on the 8th graders' music and making sure they had al of the parts down in preparation for the next day so they would have the ability to help if needed.
Overall, it was a very productive day at OHS and I could definitely tell why Mr. Tieri is so widely admired for his teaching. His teaching styles and how he adapts to each class according to the certain abilities of the students was wonderful to see. A lot of new teachers are so focused on what they are doing instead of thinking about the students and it was refreshing to see an older teacher truly caring for the well being of his students.