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Episode 7 features an item that has been around for a long time, but many of us explored it greatly when having to teach in various teaching scenarios throughout this pandemic. I am speaking of the play-along videos. These are videos that include a song, various rhythm, melodic, or body percussion patterns, and a moving conductor so that the students can watch and actively “play along” with the video. It is very similar to “follow the bouncy ball” karaoke videos ..read more

This past year, many items that are usually paid for, became free for us to use, especially during the lockdown. Some of them were Denise Gagne’s Musicplay Online and MusicFirst. As we started back to school in the States in August and September of 2020, many of us came back to budget cuts or even, teaching a whole new subject. As we now return to the classroom in 2021 (or a concurrent teaching scenario) we find ourselves using and needing free tools more often than not to accommodate the ever-changing learning environments ..read more

Seesaw (web.seesaw.me) has been an amazing tool during the pandemic for music educators. Many of us used it before the pandemic, but when the lockdown occurred, numerous schools assigned Seesaw as a platform for #elmused to use to teach music. It consists of numerous tools to enhance advocacy, teaching, showcasing items, and so much more. Here are some examples of how Seesaw can continue to be used post-pandemic. Advocacy Seesaw has the capability of connecting the students’ journals with the students’ caregivers and families ..read more

The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) continued its elementary academy for the fourth day, with us further diving into Mind Brain Education (MBE). Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Music-brain.jpg Focus on Math Source: https://www.researchgate.net/post/To-what-extend-a-musician-needs-to-know-mathematics-and-acoustics-Dose-mathematical-knowledge-discourages-his-her-pure-inspirations Since yesterday’s focus was a deep dive into reading, it was a natural process to have today’s focus be on math. Our presenters explored research for instructional prac ..read more

The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) continued its elementary academy for the third day, with us further diving into Mind Brain Education (MBE). Focus on Reading Dan Willingham led an excellent deep-dive session titled “Everything Scientists Know About the Teaching of Reading.” This talk was divided into Decoding, Fluency, Comprehension, and Motivation. Dan spoke to how children learn to read and the myths about reading. As an elementary music educator, I had the following takeaways: Aural language is observed everywhere in every culture ..read more

The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) continued its elementary academy for the second day, with us further diving into Mind Brain Education (MBE). Mind Brain Education (MBE) Mythbusters We started the day by deciding whether statements about the brain and how children learn were true or false. This was done in small breakout rooms and it was a lot of fun. Trying to discuss and determine each statement was challenging and surprising ..read more

For the past few years, we have explored and studied Mind Brain Education (MBE) through reading Neuroteach, written by Glenn Whitman and Dr. Ian Kellener, through various webinars and conferences, took online Neuroteach Global (NTG) courses, and participated in a four-day deep dive provided by The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL). The latter is one that I have not had the opportunity to take. Many of my colleagues, who have taken all of the above, had advised me that once I took the four-day intensive training, all of the other pieces of the training would fall into plac ..read more

Teaching during a pandemic made many music educators find different ways to assist with their student’s learning and practice. Having students being able to access videos where they can follow a bouncy ball, see ukulele fingerings, or see recorder fingerings as they practice is a very helpful tool for the students. Though this became a necessity for some of our music classes throughout the pandemic, this is also a great tool to continue to use after the pandemic ..read more

One of the most fun and cross-curricular activities that we performed this past year, and in previous years, was creating new verses for the traditional song, Down by the Bay, using Book Creator. If you are not familiar with this song, it is a traditional call-and-response song where the leader sings the call and the group echos the same call as the response. Each verse involves rhyming words like, “Did you ever see a bat dancing with a rat ..read more