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How To: The Making of a Winter Concert video

The world has gone through some unprecedented changes in the last 2+ years, education included. Yet we’re still asked to replicate lessons, ideas, and events as if there wasn’t a global pandemic happening. The Winter Concert, an annual mainstay in almost every school, is a great example of this. Many music teachers are being asked…

8th Grade Class Songs & Graduation Playlist

Engaging 8th graders in the final weeks of school is always a challenge, especially for enrichment teachers. However, I found a modest amount of success this year with a student-driven lesson plan based around selecting songs for their own graduation. Students first suggested songs, we compiled them into a bracket-style tournament, and then the winners…

2021 Arts Education Conference: Rest & Renew

Ingenuity and Chicago Public Schools co-hosted the annual arts conference on Friday, April 16th. This year’s conference had a unique theme; Rest& Renew. Featuring a variety of calming, centering, and energizing creative experiences, the 2021 Arts Education Conference: Rest and Renew is designed to provide arts teachers and partners space to reconnect with one another,…

Sing about Martin!

A small collection of resources I’ve compiled over that deal with Martin Luther King. Call and response songs, biographical raps, read-alouds, sign language, and other videos help give students different ways to participate in this lesson. While MLK can be a somber holiday, it can also be a celebration of his life.

How to host a Virtual Winter Concert

With everything up in the air at the end of the year, the annual “Winter Concert” might be low on the list of your priorities. Don’t scrap this time-honored tradition, use the new setting, and circumstances to re-invent what it can be! Sure packing hundreds of students and parents into a gymnasium might not work…

How to create a Self-Directed Playlist using SeeSaw

Using the ed-tech platform SeeSaw, I’ve been able to create self-directed independent learning playlists (menus). These are amazing for asynchronous learning, independent learning, self-directed learning, or even learning centers. The menus are easy to navigate but provide students with the choice and voice that is so essential when trying to foster participation and buy-in. This…

No Instruments? No Problem!

Teaching remotely can be a real challenge. Teaching music remotely can seem impossible! Students often don’t have the resources or instruments necessary to participate in traditional activities. However, I’ve found great success in this first month of online learning by using found-percussion. Just like STOMP! students are clapping, slapping, and taping their way to success…

Pacific Islander Heritage Month (FREE materials)

May is Asian American, Pacific Islander Heritage Month. An important celebration, but one that doesn’t typically draw the fanfare of February’s Black History Month, or Hispanic Heritage Month. However, with the popularity of Disney’s Moana and Lava songs I have found an easy engagement piece that allows students to access a part of the world…

Example PBL Units

I’m a huge advocate of Project-based learning (PBL) and have slowly been transitioning my instruction this way. As part of my studies while receiving my Masters in Teaching & Inquiry, I did a lot of research and was intrigued because it seemed like the perfect fit for my students.

The Music Box: A Project Based Learning Activity

A great introductory project that is based on student interests. Can be modified easily to work in any subject, and incorporates numeracy, budgeting, and other math skills. This open-ended idea has students creating monthly “loot crates” based around a central theme (music in this case) and then they have to create a budget figuring out…