Category: General Education
February in the Elementary Music Classroom
February is just about to begin, which means a variety of themes that can be approached in elementary general music. This month consists of Groundhog’s Day on February 2, the Chinese New Year on February 10 (the year of the snake), Valentine’s Day on February 14, the 100th day of school, and it is also [...]
Skyping Spain in Elementary Music/Spanish Class
Last month, the Spanish teacher and I worked together to have our second grade skype another second grade class in Spain. The Spanish teacher set this up with a teacher from Spain. The children in Spain wanted to sing and ask questions during the Skype interview so the Spanish teacher asked if our students could [...]
Online Best Practices: Celebrating Britten with Friday Afternoons
Every once in a while, I stumble upon an online resource that truly exemplifies best practice in terms of the intersection of music, education, and technology. It is pretty rare for me these days to find anything new, but when I do I feel like shouting from the rooftops to fellow music educators. I’m [...]
When Nature Makes Your School Year “Crash and Reboot”
This post is partly therapeutic and partly related to music education. I preface this post by stating a few things: 1) We were lucky when it came to Superstorm Sandy hitting NJ. Even though my family and I went for 13 days without power, our home and my school were not damaged and our friends [...]
Displaying Elementary Students’ Music Creations
Tomorrow I head back to Far Hills Country Day School to begin my 16th year of teaching at this school. I am excited to head back, to brainstorm new ideas, and to improve on old ideas as I teach general music to elementary students, beginning woodwinds to all fifth graders, direct the elementary band, and [...]
NoteWorks – a new, fun iPad app for note-learning and drilling
; ; As teachers head back to school for another year, it’s fun to look around for new iPad apps which we can use to enhance instruction. iPads are being used in more and more schools each year, and the number of excellent music apps is growing rapidly. With a little bit of research, everyone [...]
Digital Manners And Online Implications For Teachers And Students In A Web 2.0 World
Life is not so short but that there is always enough for courtesy –Emerson It’s so easy to become publicly criticized when writing ones’ thoughts about proper conduct and education, whether simply in the schools or now in a virtualized communication conduit. That being stated, it’s time to start openly talking about general civility as [...]
