On February 1st, CPS Arts held a city-wide PD day at the Chicago Cultural Center, I was lucky enough to talk about how I use integrated assessment as parts of my lessons. I wanted to share the resources I used during the presentation with anyone who is interested. Assessment shouldn’t be a distraction from how […]
Free Lessons
Keepin’ it 100
In honor of having both my 100th follower and 100th review on Teacher’s Pay Teachers I’m making everything 20% off (the highest discount) for the entire weekend.
FREE Concerts from Chicago Symphony Orchestra!
CSO School Concerts feature the world-renowned music making of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, exploring orchestral masterpieces and illuminating connections to students’ daily lives. Join us for four exciting programs that explore where great orchestral music comes from, what it means to be a listener in the 21st century and how composers, musicians and audiences are […]
K-pop Listening Lesson
K-pop (abbreviation of Korean popular music or Korean pop; (케이팝) is a music genre originating in South Korea, characterized by a wide variety of audio-visual elements. Although it includes all genres of “popular music” within South Korea, the term is often used in a narrower sense to describe a modern form of South Korean pop music drawing inspiration from a range of styles and […]
Google Expeditions
Google brought the world into our school as part of the Google Expedition AR program. Each class took an augmented reality field trip to an exotic location like the International Space Station, or Ancient Rome. Students were able to learn and interact as they physically walked around experiencing these locations in augmented reality (AR). An amazing […]
Lesson Lab: Arts & Tech Swap & Share
*ARTS & TECHNOLOGY: A LESSON PLAN SWAP & SHARE* In the modern classroom, tech and 21st-century learning skills are more than just trends. On Thursday, Feb 1st, come swap and share your favorite tech-based arts lesson plans while you connect, collaborate, and learn with peers. First, discipline-specific breakout groups will learn stop-motion animation using iPads, creating digital music online, and […]
Winter Concert: A new approach to old ideas
With another year in the books I wanted to take a look at what I felt was one of the most successful Winter Concert / Holidays Shows I’ve ever put together. A thematic show is something that a lot of music teachers struggle with, since there are only so many options year after year. […]
Vince Guaraldi & A Very Jazzy Christmas
Jazz up the holidays with this fun and informative lesson about one of history’s most well-known & commercially successful jazz composers, Vince Guaraldi. The man behind the memorable music from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special, did more than just a short soundtrack. Explore the beginnings of his story and the history of a genres with […]
Google Doodle: Oskar Fischinger
Happy 117th birthday to the visionary artist Oskar Fischinger. Oskar was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter, notable for creating abstract musical animation many decades before the appearance of computer graphics and music videos. In this amazing interactive doodle it lets you not only create music but also art in real-time. It’s […]
MCA Creation Lab: A FREE Field Trip!
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago offers up to 5 free field trips per school per year. I took my middle school music class to one of their creation labs, where students worked directly with one of the museum’s resident artists to hone their creative skills. Here’s my thoughts on the trip and how […]
