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Janine's Music Room

Janine's Music Room

Thoughts from a PYP music teacher

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Inquiry

Almost summer: end-of-year reflection questions

I’m seeing all the “last day of school” posts coming through my feed now, and I’m thinking about how to wrap up the year with my team. As teachers, we naturally want to improve our craft all the time, so

Janine 4. June 201922. June 2019 Inquiry, Teacher Tips No Comments Read more

Observing Earth Day with Your Students

Caring for our environment is becoming more and more important every day, and with Earth Day just around the corner, we have a perfect chance to integrate some environmental consciousness into our learning. Today’s students are very aware of environmental

Janine 6. April 20186. April 2018 Inquiry, Song, Whole class activity No Comments Read more

20+ Questions to Guide Inquiry-Based Learning

A teacher new to PYP asked me recently, “How do you do inquiry in a specialist class?” I remember how confused and overwhelmed I was when I first landed in a PYP school. I was the only music teacher there,

Janine 26. February 201827. March 2018 Inquiry, Teacher Tips 1 Comment Read more

Exploring Musical Expression using Carnival of the Animals

One of the most important concepts we teach is communication through music, or what we might call musical expression. Music, I emphasize to my students, is not just here to entertain you or fill the silence at the grocery store.

Janine 19. November 201711. March 2018 Assessment, Group activity, Inquiry, Whole class activity No Comments Read more

Setting up a Sound Exploration Station

Every music teacher knows how much students just want to experiment (make lots of noise) when they come into a room full of instruments. As people, this probably drives us crazy, but as teachers, we should rejoice in the enthusiasm

Janine 1. November 20166. April 2018 Inquiry No Comments Read more

Making Mistakes

I recently dedicated some time to closing some of the 86 tabs I had open, and I finally had a chance to read an Edutopia article that I’d opened long ago. As inquiry teachers, and certainly as music teachers as

Janine 23. September 201620. October 2016 Inquiry No Comments Read more

Using Music to Develop Critical Thinking

For many teachers, making the change to PYP can be overwhelming, not only with all the jargon, but the complete shift in thinking. It’s not that the concepts are strange—it’s not even that we weren’t already doing these things. The

Janine 24. May 201624. May 2016 Inquiry No Comments Read more

Responding to “I don’t know”

“I don’t know.” It’s a common response from students, particularly on those days when I make a point of calling on students who are avoiding eye contact and trying to hide behind someone. And I will start by saying this:

Janine 21. April 201621. April 2016 Inquiry, Thoughts 1 Comment Read more

Instead of “I don’t know”

Okay, the title is a ruse. Children say, “I don’t know.” You can’t stop them. It’s a go-to response, it’s natural, and it’s fine. But what we want is for students to not stop there. “So you don’t know (or

Janine 5. March 201621. April 2016 Inquiry, Thoughts 2 Comments Read more

Inquiry into Pitch

I’ve just started a sound exploration unit in Grade 2, focusing on pitch (and later, duration and dynamics). Last week was an introduction week, where the students tried singing from graphic notation. What began as the same up-and-down siren sound

Janine 21. January 20161. December 2016 Group activity, Inquiry No Comments Read more
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