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Thoughts from a PYP music teacher

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thinking skills

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

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

Janine 26. February 20162. March 2016 Assessment No Comments Read more

Encouraging Critical Thinking in Music Class, Part II

In Part I, I connected critical thinking skills to the Learner Profile and the PYP Transdisciplinary Skills. As a follow-up, here are some prompts—through the lens of the PYP Key Concepts—to get you started with your students. I’ve kept these

Janine 16. December 20158. January 2016 Inquiry No Comments Read more

Encouraging Critical Thinking in Music Class, Part I

Critical thinking. This skill, highly valued by educators and continuously devalued by policymakers, is core to PYP or any other high quality education. The IB Mission Statement refers to an understanding that different people can be “right” in different ways.

Janine 25. November 201516. December 2015 Inquiry No Comments Read more

Questions and Student Inquiry

Today I just want to share an article I read. I’m not a huge fan of Alfie Kohn in general, but I think what he has written about getting down to truly essential questions, and encouraging thoughtful questioning from students,

Janine 14. September 201526. July 2020 Inquiry No Comments Read more

Part II: Using Socratic Questioning in Music

(This post follows on with examples of how Socratic questioning might move an inquiry forward in Music class. If you haven’t read it yet, start with Part I: The Framework to get an overview of the method.) Socratic questioning provides

Janine 20. February 20155. August 2015 Inquiry, Whole class activity No Comments Read more

Socratic Questioning (Part I: The Framework)

Socrates was one of the founders of Western philosophy, and is often credited for saying that true knowledge is knowing that you know nothing. His method of elenchus involves breaking down a problem into a series of questions. In contrast

Janine 16. February 201529. June 2015 Inquiry, Whole class activity No Comments Read more

Expression and the Elements of Music

In Grade 2, I do a focus on the elements of music, reviewing many familiar terms (tempo, dynamics, pitch) and introducing new musical terminology as well. It’s the common PYP cycle of analysis and synthesis: We break the music down

Janine 14. December 20149. August 2015 Group activity, Inquiry, Unit 2 Comments Read more

Questioning for Thinking and Learning

Let’s face it: Despite the research, many public/state schools are clinging to standardized testing in a desperate attempt to easily measure learning and make comparisons. As many schools (unwillingly) turn their focus to memorizing facts and “teaching to the test,”

Janine 9. November 201418. July 2015 Inquiry, Thoughts No Comments Read more

HOTS for the Elements

I took a new approach to introducing the elements of music this time around. Inspired by oh-so-many PYP workshops where we split up the reading and then taught each other, I split up the students into groups so that each

Janine 8. October 20149. August 2015 Assessment, Group activity, Inquiry No Comments Read more
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