Up Next Recordings

James Lyng CLC is an Urban Arts School in Montreal which has over the last 3 years developed exciting school-community partnerships with organizations led by members of Montreal’s vibrant hip hop scene, and students have recently launched their very own record label: Up Next Recordings.

“Between W.O.R.D. (an extra-curricular Hip Hop literacy program), a curated  multi-media art exhibit, a student-centered music program and school choir, there is an amazing amount of high quality music created at our school. The students saw a need to promote our school's music and decided to create a record label and release a mixtape entitled "Up Next Mixtape #1” comments James Lyng CLC teacher Nathan Gage.  

Nathan,the music and entrepreneurship teacher points out "Artists like Drake got their start by releasing mixtapes which fans could download for free.”

"Through community partners and our partnership with McGill's Department of Integrated Studies in Education, my students have developed working relationships with amazing and inspiring adults. I have seen my students benefit greatly from these interactions".

The CLC approach of school-community partnerships develops the supports and conditions for students to contribute to projects that have a life outside the confines of the school and helps provide authentic opportunities for students to engage with their school community.

Reflecting on the impact of the project, Nathan observed that  his students "have benefited by seeing their hard work come to fruition and be recognized.”

How did they do it?

The class was divided into 4 groups

1.     social media and website

2.     communications and media

3.     marketing and accounting

4.     art and advertising (poster, graphic design)

I asked Nathan how he managed the class and kept a record of student learning.  He used a different binder for each group, and students logged what they did each day.

Specific tasks included:

• Creating a budget
• Creating a website
• Setting up a social media presence
• Designing posters
• Designing a logo
• Designing cover art for the mixtape
• Helping a professional studio engineer record the James Lyng choir
• Assigning track order and song transitions for the mixtape
• Creating CD copies to give to students involved in the project
• Writing a press release
• Writing a one sheet
• Emailing radio stations across the country
• Contacting local media

You can hear more about the project from a great interview on CBC Montreal's Daybreak and the CBC radio program Cinq à Six.

Check out the Montreal Gazette article about James Lyng's Urban Arts Initiative here.

Teaching Tolerance Through Music

The staff and students at Centennial Park School (CPS) in Chateauguay worked hard to put on a musical called Honk Jr!  Students in grade 4,5 and 6 were involved in the play as actors and the whole school was involved in lessons surrounding the meaning behind the play. 

CPS teacher Moira Lemme explains that Honk JR! is “based on the story of the ugly duckling, and teaches us that everyone is different in their own way... and different isn't a good thing or a bad thing - it’s just different, and if we were all the same we would live in such a boring world”.

It was noted that some students who at times struggle in academics, blew the audience away with their performance and gained a lot of confidence.  Specifically, “students directly involved [in the musical] learned that they are capable of things they had no idea of. They gained confidence and understanding that places to learn outside of the regular classroom exist and as young people, they too can give back to the community and teach lessons to the younger students”.

Partnerships

Howard S. Billings High School supported the musical by setting up the sound and lighting. Secondary students in the IB program taught the elementary students a few things about life on the stage. The musical was performed for the Chateauguay English Community Network, a group of seniors dedicated to lifelong learning, as well as the school community.

Learning Happens Everywhere

We asked Ms. Lemme  what the students learned by participating in the Community Service Learning project?  She wrote that “students learned that it is unkind to say mean things to each other, and that we can't judge people based on what they look like”.  Grade 1 teacher, and director of the play - Carol Ann Fruciano, taught students about making connections and noted that after reading a book about a “mean” character the grade one students immediately related it to Honk.  Realizing a direct expectation from the QEPs  “Connecting text to text and text to world”.

Ms. Lemme concludes by saying that “Honk Jr! was a fabulous experience for the students at CPS. The audience was blown away at the level of professionalism and performance that 9-12 year olds could create. It was A LOT of work for the teacher involved (some of us are still recovering) but it was well worth it to hear the kids say after how great they felt. One student said after his performance "Ms. Lemme, that was the greatest thing I have ever done - I didn't know I could do something that well!"”

Thank you and congratulations to everyone that was involved.   I imagine the anti-bullying message will stick in the minds of everyone involved. The leadership opportunities, and chances to shine will positively engage the students as they continue along their education path.

Centennial Park School is located in the community of Chateauguay- New Frontiers School Board

Music through the Decades

Music through the decades is a wonderful service learning project addressing the authentic community need of reducing isolation of seniors from the Mary- Elizabeth Residence in Châteauguay while being integrated into the music, math, English and French curriculum.  The project was lead by two teachers from the New Frontiers School Board, Moira Lemme from Centennial Park Elementary School and Melissa Ianniciello from St. Willibrord.

FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The project started with students interviewing seniors and taking notes about music they loved throughout their lives.  The students took the information back to the classroom analyzing the results with surveys, bar graphs and answered questions using the information.  Perhaps not surprisingly, some students less engaged by math, “took the assignment very seriously as we were analyzing data. They wanted to understand - what the averages were and most common answers”  Ms. Lemme noted “Projects like this lead to better understanding for students, especially typically lower scoring students who can make connections and be excited about the work they are doing”.

The project didn’t stop there, students responded to what they had learned by working hard to put together a set of songs that would appeal to seniors.

Let’s not pretend inter-generational projects like Music through the generations are not without some challenges, even with the support of a great CLC Coordinator like Anthony Spadaccino.   Ms. Lemme mentioned the difficulty in finding time to visit the seniors and the arranging transportation logistics.   After some back and forth with the seniors home, it became apparent the seniors did not want to leave their home to see the show in the school gym.  So instead, the class brought the concert to them (with a cold buffet, props, and costumes).

Reflecting on the concert, The most popular songs were Brown Eye'd Girl and Can't Help Falling In Love. The students brought the seniors potted flowers and presented cards saying "thanks for having us" and "have a good summer".

A lot of work went into this project, and we have a few clues that the event was successful for the seniors and students.

After the concert, Ms. Lemme was proud to say she had received 4 calls from seniors at the residence “to thank us for our show, the flowers and the snacks!”  She also said the “students wrote a journal today about their experience and many of them noted that they felt really good doing something for their community. They also loved learning songs that they don't hear every day. (A few also said their parents were happy to hear some classics when their child practiced at home)”.  “I was very pleased! The kids were happy and the seniors seemed very happy!”

Metis Beach School Healthy Heritage Project

Métis Beach School

Students and community had the opportunity to take part in a workshop geared toward cultural understanding and acceptance of differences through some activities quite non-traditional to the area!

For three days the African percussion teacher, Louise Amyot, came to Metis Beach School to work with students and community members developing new skills and further understanding through documentary film, storytelling, songs and percussion practice.

This turned out to be very successful, and creative. As participants explored different artistic media and aspects of African culture, a positive sense of belonging was generated and positive relationships were bolstered. This is the sort of experience that we find contributing to reducing bullying.

To achieve the goal of acceptance students had the opportunity to learn by engaging themselves in a part of a culture foreign to their own. Students worked with the community members to create different rhythms and provide sounds effects for traditional stories. Aiding to understanding and acceptance of differences.

The community links greatly increased our success. For ten days before and after the activities at the school, Métis-sur-Mer Public Library brought together resources and information about African countries, cultures and the changing political situations in a free exhibition. Students as well as community members, including those who were unable to attend the workshops, were invited to view and discuss.

The success of this intergenerational and community building program was due to the diligent efforts of the partners involved including Louise Amyot who provided the cultural expertise and insight, the seniors who participated and Métis-sur-Mer Public Library. 

Blue and Gold Studios presents the Blue and Gold Christmas Album

Blue and Gold Studios presents the Blue and Gold Christmas Album

Quebec High School

Quebec High School’s singer-songwriter club had an idea to build a music-recording studio.  Over the course of a year, grants were written, permission from administration was received, parent and student volunteers renovated an old book room in the basement and equipment and sound proofing was installed.  

Once the studio was completed, A group of secondary 5 students had the idea of making a Christmas album with money raised being split between the annual Christmas hamper and the studio.  The Christmas album was released in December 2012 and featured an original song and cover songs by students and teachers. Students recorded and produced the sound, liner note and artwork.   A highlight of the album was a rendition of the “12 days of Christmas” featuring verses by each department including Administration, Secretaries, and Students from the Challenges Program and Work Oriented Training Program (WOTP).

The recording studio provided a service to the school community by a niche in school  for students who were not necessarily interested in sports, to be connected to the school and contribute collectively.

As a result of the studio, QHS has become a spot for artists traveling through Quebec to stop and perform, allowing them to inspire and mentor young musicians and music producers.  Many artists have performed at QHS’s annual coffeehouse to a large crowd.  Students have been recording musical performances in the studio and posting the video to a youtube video page. Check out a performance with Hey Ocean.

You can read more about the project by clicking here.

QHS Teacher DJ Awalt is very proud of all the accomplishments. He writes...
 

Blue and Gold Studio started out two years ago and has evolved into what we have today. We transformed what was once a room full of moldy books to welcoming 7 different Canadian musicians into QHS’s very own recording studio.  Our first album “Blue and Gold Christmas” was produced last December  and was a great success and sold close to 100 copies!  When we look back on this year we can see proof of the determined and creative spirit that embodies all of us at QHS.  B & G Studio has inspired all who has taken part in its creation and production of the music that is captured within its walls to push our creativity to the next level. Thank you to all that supported us and volunteered their time and money to making this project a success. This is only the beginning!

For further information check out the links below.

Interview on CBC Radio One – “Breakaway” 

Blue and Gold Studio – Facebook page

Stacey's Adventures in Chevery

Stacey's Adventures in Chevery

Netagamiou School

Marguerite Cox

In the small community of Chevery, on Quebec’s Lower North Shore, students in Ms. Cox’s Pre K, Kindergarten and Primary Cycle 1 class created a book about a baby emperor penguin plush toy named Stacey who came to the class looking for adventures. Each student took Stacey home, and took pictures of an adventure with their parents.

The creation of a student-authored book met a need in the community because there is a lack of local literary activities. There is no bookstore and the library is only open sporadically. Ms. Cox felt people need access to books for early-readers and the children need to realize the importance of books and become active in their community.

  
The book of adventures was written in the third person and publishing using blurb.ca.  The project was woven through English and Science and Technology competencies. 

Once completed, a copy of the book will remain in the Netagamiou School/Municipal Library and Centre régional de services aux bibliothèques publiques (C.R.S.B.P.) de la Côte-Nord. Ms. Cox and her students also made a community presentation at the local Salon des Livres in June 2013the classroom, and available for loan to all students in the school library and the Biblioteque Cote Nord. Ms. Cox and her students also made a community presentation at the local Salon des Livres in May 2013.

For more information on the project, click here.