I know I’m really behind the times on this, but I discovered Kahoot! this year, and my music classes can’t get enough of it! After I use one to review a lesson, they always ask for more. If I say
Easy assessment of music concepts—even for a sub!
The chaos of pandemic-year teaching sure compelled me to streamline my assessments! When working with early childhood classes, a lot of the learning is focused around contrasts in four main concepts: duration (long and short), tempo (fast and slow), dynamics
Recorders—at school or at home
Despite many jokes about children playing the recorder, music teachers know that the recorder is an accessible first step towards playing other instruments. It can be difficult for a small child to play a melodic instrument. String instruments require left
Are choice boards really that great? (Yes!)
Choice boards have exploded in popularity, especially with the expansion of online learning. They allow for differentiation, creativity, and student agency. You can use them to practice skills and concepts, build inquiry projects from them, or just use them for
Easy Classroom Hack for Recording
With this brilliant hack, the students aren’t self-conscious, and their individual voices are captured on the computer, louder than the other voices in the room.
Seesaw – An Introduction for Specialist Teachers
If you don’t know about Seesaw, back up quickly to read what I love about it here. If you are ready to see how specialist teachers can utilize this tool—because let’s face it, very few teaching tools are made with
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.
Google Forms as Exit Slips
Here’s an idea for people who are fortunate enough to have computer access. If you are in a one-to-one school, or even if you have a class set of iPads, this is something to try! Instead of a paper exit
Tweet Your Learning
A great “exit ticket” for older students: At the end of class, give your students a few minutes to tweet a summary of the lesson (in 140 characters or less) using a designated hashtag, like #<CLASSNAMEdate> or #<schoolabbreviation>music<date>. Encourage them
10 Fun Formative Assessments
Here are some creative formative assessments for this beautiful Friday! Get children using their critical thinking skills to synthesize their knowledge and apply what they have learned. These ideas can be used in any subject. Students design an ad (for a