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Consider the Learner Experience
One thing we have learned over the last nine months is that music teachers are incredibly creative people and very capable of innovation! We’ve seen bitmoji classrooms, virtual field trips, bouncing ball videos and more. All of this to meet the musical needs of our students during a highly unusual time in history. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! As we enter the second half of the school year and continue on this creative path, we should keep one thing in mind: always consider the learner experience. We’ve seen teachers post on social media about how they’ve spent 30 minutes explaining a concept only to have student submissions lacking…
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From A Distance: Giving Students Voice and Choice
Providing opportunities for voice and choice is one of the most basic ways to empower students (and personalize learning) in the music room. When students feel they have a voice in their musical journey and can make choices for themselves, they can take ownership of their learning. While we have found many ways to give students voice and choice in a variety of music classrooms, our new existence of distance learning provides some challenges. I still believe voice and choice is possible and is something we should strive for.
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Pass the Baton Sneak Peek: Virtual Ensembles With Michelle Rose
In August 2019 I interviewed Michelle Rose, a music teacher at North Carolina Virtual Academy. Michelle and I spoke about an innovative way she was connecting the music students in her cyber school - through virtual ensembles! At the time, this idea was pushing the envelope. Few music teachers could conceive of why virtual ensembles might be worth doing. And then COVID-19 hit, and our lives as music teachers changed drastically!
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Focus on What We Can Do
Many of us have been in this new “distance learning” phase for a few weeks now – or as A.J. Juliani calls it “emergency remote learning.” Whatever term you use, we’re discovering that it’s not the same. We can’t replicate what happens in our classrooms online. And that’s ok. I think instead we need to focus on what we can do with this time.
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The Qualities of an Empowered Music Student
For a long time, our focus was on engaging the learners and making sure students were “actively engaged” in music-making in the music classroom. But more recently, we have discovered that engagement is not enough. To make an impact and to optimize life-long learning, students must be empowered.