Montgomery Community Media

What is important to us? About what do we care profoundly? The mask has served us well in digging deeply to uncover and discover our fears, our hopes and our vision for ourselves in the future. What am I hiding behind the mask? What am I hiding from? When do I put on my mask? […]

“Where am I? I feel scared. I’m confused. I’m going to fall.” These words were common among members of Take Off the Mask Kids Opera Company as they were blindfolded and led by a partner through the hallways of the school. Up and down stairwells they proceeded with great trepidation and anxiety. Each took turns […]

What is a logo? Why is it important to a company? What does it represent? These questions we pondered as we thought about our company name, Take Off the Mask Kids Opera Company. Each student drew a pictorial representation of our company name and composed a written defense proving its potential and significance in representing […]

We are Take Off the Mask Kids Opera Company.  On the first day of school when the class was presented with the mask and I asked, “How will the mask help in our learning this year?” Jasmine G suggested a powerful metaphor that has informed our instruction and our decisions as a company ever since. […]

After reading The Music Inside Me, a book written by fourth graders in Massachusetts, my students pondered their music within. They drew pictures. I asked if they wanted to represent these drawings with music. A collective yes resounded. We gathered in the music room, surrounded by an assortment of instruments. Bells, glockenspiels, xylophones and recorders […]

The first day of school I present my class with a challenging math problem. All the students know we are creating an original opera, but know little else about the process they will experience during the year. So, I let them know we must start working immediately, give them the date of the opera premiere […]

The first day of school beckons an intriguing metaphor, one that will pique the curiosity, create enthusiasm for learning, and open doors to discovering a new way of being in the classroom. A Venetian mask rests in a wrapped box, waiting to be revealed as a gift to begin the New Year. When opened, the […]

In their final words to the company on the last day of school, the students bared their souls in sharing their deepest emotions and heartfelt wishes for all. Though we will miss this circle and those who complete it, we will now move on to form new circles. And through these circles we will pass […]

On the last day of school, known as Move Up Day, all students travel as a group to meet their new teachers in the next grade level. Members of Harness the Stars Kids Opera Company made banners of welcome for the incoming company with sincere, thought provoking messages. They also wrote individual letters. Their words […]

After the opera, the company loses its sense of purpose for a short period and needs to find its way, its new path. The students try to revert to previous behaviors and “old ways” until they realize that they are changed forever. They can’t go back. Then, they determine the route for a new journey […]