Week 3: Music Education Idea Bank

 I love this site and the idea bank! Lots of fun ideas to do with substitutes and ways to beef up your lessons on the "classics." If you take the time to wade through the "fluff," you can find a lot of neat extensions and fun activities!

 http://www.musick8.com/html/ideabank.php

Week 3: Curriculum Mapping: A Must or Bust?

Hi all, We started Curriculum Mapping at our school this year. Don't get me wrong, we have always had a scope and sequence for every grade/subject, but we hired a curriculum director and it is now official, we are going with Curriculum Mapping and EVERYONE'S frustrated. For music, our curriculum is aligned and has been for years with our scope and sequence, so it is very simple for us to imput our information into a new template. However, for others, it's proven to be quite challenging! Do any of you utilize Curriculum Mapping at your school and if so, does your curriculum director create the maps or do you/teammates take this task on? It seems very overwheleming and extremely time consuming. I am hoping as it continues and they finally pick a company, we will be able to use one program with ease. Thoughts? Kodaly and Orff Music Teacher's blog: Curriculum Mapping: "Have a curriculum map so that, when your world is turned upside down, you can still teach well. Death of a parent, divorce, illness, famil..."

Thinking of getting an Ipad for the music classroom...any thoughts?

I was thinking of getting an ipad for my classroom this coming school year. I would love to use it not only as a tablet, but also itunes, camera, camecorder, and music reader. Here is an article about using the ipad in the music classroom but I would appreciate any additional info. anyone has on the subject. Thanks!

http://www.musick8.com/techtalk/?p=18

Texas Education...48th and counting!

Well, Texas Governor, Rick Perry, is bound and determined to take us all the way down to the BIG 50. Texas education is currently ranked 48th in the United States and with the proposed budget cuts for the upcoming school year, things are not looking any better. Gover Perry is calling on legislators to pass a bill that would cut $27 billion dollars from the education fund. He refuses to take responsibility for this by passing it on to local school districts to decide how they are going to do their part to help with this deficit. The arts are always in trouble, who knows what will happen now!?!

Texas educators gathered at the state capitol this past weekend to let them know education is too important to make these kind of adjustments to. I have posted the article below for more info.

What is the education climate where you live? Are the Arts supported in your state?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7469904.html

Children's Literature in the music classroom

I teach at a Pre-K through 8 school known for its Orff based music program so it's no surprise I'm an advocate of the Orff process. Through this position, I have found I really enjoy creating sharings using folktales and children's literature. If I can't find a piece that works well in the story, it forces me to go to the volumes or use my composition skills to create music appropriate for the students to play, sing, dance, and create. I have attached a website that will get you started with fun books to incorporate into the music classroom for lessons and possible sharings (we call programs "sharings" at our school). PLEASE let me know if you have some others, I always love discovering new literature!

Whitney

http://www.menc.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=3779

I heart my Smartboard!

If there is one thing I can't live without in my elementary music classroom, it's my Smartboard! I LOVE it!!! I love looking at smarttech.com for new and fun lessons that teachers have shared, so I thought I would post a few of my favorites! These save me a TON of time with sub plans, they're user friendly, and the kids love the activities! If you have an interactive whiteboard, check these out! Even if you don't, you can still play them through your computer and have a blast!

http://www.exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=x29013a71515f4b6480cf64da5d87780b

http://www.exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=x29e58366078e4020a283d2894a5061dd

http://www.exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=x91255e24c1ca4e37ad5d7dc93cd588f8 (note names)