There is no question that creativity is a vital skill for the 21st century. But at the same time, thanks to the increasing obsession with standardized testing and other high levels of quantifiable achievement, creative subjects like art and music
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
I’ve been experimenting with learning stations, or centers, in my music classroom. I’m always intrigued when I walk into classrooms that are set up with exciting experiments, games, and other provocations for learning. But a long time passed between admiring
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,
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.
I’m sure that I’m mostly preaching to the choir here, but more and more research is coming out with a clear message about childhood: Children learn through play. This is how human beings are programmed to learn. And yet, more
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
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
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
After a number of years in PYP, most teachers lose track of how many Post-Its they have used: in workshops, in meetings, and hopefully also in class. I used to roll my eyes when those little yellow packs would come