Music Teacher Coffee Talk

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT Episode #90: Your Future Self Will Thank You In this episode, Carrie and Tanya share our end of the year plans and some things that we will do now so our future selves will thank us later. Highs and Lows "There's a Name for the Blah You're Feeling: It's Called Languishing" by Adam Grant Main Theme End of the year plans: -Individual work and project-based learning works well for older students this time of year (ie keyboards, Soundtrap, ukulele). -Get outside! Play outside games and try dictation activities with sidewalk chalk. -Have a singing game choice day on the last day. Check out wheelofnames.com as a fun tool for choosing games to play. Tasks to do now so your future self will thank you: -Create a master document where you can keep track of what concept/skills you taught this year in each grade level as well as a song list for each grade to help with planning next summer/fall. -Give students a survey to see what their favo...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT Episode #89   In this episode, Carrie and Tanya discuss things that we have done differently this year due to Covid restrictions and protocols that we plan on continuing when things go back to "normal."  Main Theme: Keepers from our Covid School Year Here are some thing that we did differently this year that we plan to continue into the future! Cleanliness: Sanitizing hands on the way in Better instrument cleaning procedures Use individual music kits for common manipulatives, if budget and time allow Philosophy and Curriculum: Larger focus on social-emotional learning Keep the lesson focus on one main concept rather than two or more Slow down, use less song literature, take more time to let concepts and skills sink in More inclusion of music listening and appreciation of diverse music Project based learning ( Check out great this project about Careers in Music from Michelle Rose) Tech and Tools: Continue using Seesaw and Google Classroom for...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT Episode #88: Preparing and Presenting Professional Development   In this episode, Carrie and Tanya share tips and strategies for preparing and presenting a professional development session. We talk about different ideas for presenting whole or half day workshops or shorter conference sessions. Highs and Lows Tanya has been enjoying using Blooket for fun trivia and review games with her student. Carrie has been enjoying a fun unit on Video Game Music with her 6th graders, using this product from Organized Chaos Music. Main Theme: Preparing and Presenting Professional Development Choosing your topic: Know your audience. Do research before your session to know what level and type of musical classes your participants teach and what their level of expertise and experience may be. Also, you could include poll at beginning of your PD to make quick adjustments as needed. Know current trends and needs from the music ed community. Know your venue, time fra...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT Episode #87: New Favorites for 1st Grade and Kindergarten   In this episode, Carrie and Tanya discuss their new and renewed favorites for 1st Grade and Kindergarten. Main Theme Tanya has been working a lot with Kindergarteners on the difference between beat and rhythm, aka "the way the words go." She mainly uses chants when doing beat vs. rhythm such as Engine Engine #9, Two Four Six Eight, and Queen Queen Caroline. She has also been doing spring themed pony songs and activities such as See the Pony Galloping (great triple meter song for steady beat) and moving to the Wild Horseman by Schumann. For 1st grade, Tanya has been focusing recently on rest using repertoire such as Bow Wow Wow, Pease Porridge Hot, and Just From the Kitchen . She also isolates patterns with rest using repeated phrases from picture books. For example, " Please Baby Please " is ta ti-ti ta rest, and " Click Clack Moo " is ta ta ta rest. Another new ...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT Episode #86: New Favorites in 2nd Grade In this episode, Carrie and Tanya discuss our new and renewed favorites for 2nd grade. We talk about our general curriculum for the year, and a few specific songs and activities that we have done this year, or will be trying soon. Main Theme Carrie started her 2nd grade year with a focus on SEL through music, identifying emotions in music, and reviewing instrument families and instruments of the orchestra. If you are interested in ideas and resources for teaching about instruments of the orchestra, check out our Episode #31 . Next we moved into rhythmic review of ta, ti-ti, and rest. One new favorite for teaching/reviewing rest is Zapatitos Blancos. After reviewing rest, we moved on to new material and I presented half note, aka "two." One favorite song for this are Button You Must Wander, assuming you are using the version that holds out the half note rather than a quarter-rest. In the second part of ...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT Episode #85: New Favorites for 3rd Grade In this episode, Carrie and Tanya discuss our new and renewed favorites for 3rd grade. We talk about our general curriculum for the year, and a few specific songs and activities that we have done this year, or will be trying soon. Highs and Lows Tanya had success with Alabama Gal this week with 4th graders. Check it out! Main Theme Tanya has been focusing on rhythm so far this year, especially songs that teach and reinforce tika-tika (16th notes). Here are some of her favorites for tika-tika: Alligator Pie Ding, Dong, Digga Digga Dong. Tanya likes to add hand chimes to play the do'-sol pattern. Tanya is now transitioning into focus on melody with songs that use low la. In addition to singing, students are playing extracted patterns from songs on the barred instruments. Here are some of her favorite songs for teaching low la: Old House Big Fat Biscuit Old Mr. Rabbit . Students improvise different things the ...

Music Teacher Coffee Talk · MTCT Episode #84: New Favorites for 4th Grade   In this episode, Tanya and Carrie discuss new favorites for 4th grade. We talk about our overall curricular goals for the year along with a few of favorite songs and activities. We also share our thoughts about the idea of combining pedagogical approaches (ie: Kodály and Orff) and the importance of really honing in on your personal philosophy of music education rather than trying to do ALL the things all the time. Highs and Lows While considering your approach to Black History Month, we encourage listening to Episode #7 of the Music Ed Amplified Podcast: Black History Year-Round with Jasmine Fripp . Main Theme Carrie  structured her 4th grade with tackling rhythmic concepts first and saving melodic concepts for the later part of the year hoping that COVID restrictions might loosen by then. So far she has: Reviewed 16th notes (tika-tika). Favorite song: Biddy Biddy Hold Fast Presented the 8th-quarter-...