Montgomery Community Media

Merriam Webster defines collaboration as “the action of working with someone to produce or create something.” When stated as such, the act itself sounds relatively simple to achieve, yet most of us struggle in situations where we are expected to work together to accomplish a common goal. We see this everywhere . . . in […]

The opera third grade students at Stedwick Elementary have worked on all school year will not be performed at the Kennedy Center after all. The Discover the Music Inside Kids Opera Company was scheduled to perform “Falling from Judgment” on May 24.  The opera company plans to put on a puppet show to share their work. […]

A lot of public safety news were top stories last week, including a fatal house fire, a gun store robbery and a Montgomery County Public Schools bus driver arrested on sex charges. But to even out the bad news, one of our top stories also was a group of students creating an opera.   UPDATED: […]

Writing and composing an original opera keeps third graders at Stedwick Elementary on a year long mission of learning. This week the students in Mary Ruth McGinn’s class in Montgomery Village worked on polishing their opera’s theme song. Students visiting from the International School of the Hague (ISH) helped arrange the music. MyMCMedia’s Phyllis Armstrong […]

Third graders at Stedwick Elementary School in Montgomery Village are preparing for the performance of their lives. The 25 third graders in Mary Ruth McGinn’s class are creating an original opera, “Falling from Judgment.” Students visiting the U.S. from the International School of the Hague (ISH) helped fine tune the theme song for the opera. […]

Though almost half of the class had never roller skated before, the company decided that the best setting for our opera story would be a skating rink. So, last week we went on a field trip to Wheels Skating Center in Odenton, Maryland. Owner and professional skater, Pam Muegge, welcomed us and opened her rink […]

The goal is that each day will be purpose driven and meaningful in a way that engages and excites all students in the learning process. When we notice that much of our space is filled with the “silly, stupid things” that get in the way of learning, it’s time to step back and ask ourselves, […]

The day after the election, my students wanted to talk. They wanted to tell me how they were feeling and what they were thinking. I listened. Then I encouraged them to write their thoughts in a letter to America. Below are excerpts from their writing. I am hopeful as I think about the future of […]

In education today, play and improvisation are often regarded as frivolous, fluff, a waste of time. In reality, they hold the key to learning and understanding the world around us. By creating an environment and simulating a situation to explore our opera theme of judgment, students bring to life an imaginary world by improvising a […]

We are now in the process of introducing all jobs in the opera company. As a writer, a chief responsibility is composing song lyrics. Given a familiar story about fishermen from The Congo, small groups set to work crafting lyrics for an aria to be sung by one of the main characters, Benguela. Generally speaking, […]