Teaching Major and Minor

To be honest I was shocked to realize recently that I've never written a blog post on my favorite ways to teach major and minor- I love teaching tonality in my upper elementary grades! It's so much fun when they finally start to get it. They always seem to feel like they've unlocked the mysteries of the universe! Here are a few of my favorite ways...

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Using Viral Songs in Elementary Music

How can we continue to include music that is "of the moment" in our music lessons now that trends come and go so quickly? And how do we really create meaningful lesson plans with these little snippets of songs that our students are most likely to recognize from social media clips that are under a minute? Here are some of my favorite ways to incorporate...

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Accountability Without Escalation

Kids want to know, when they do something wrong, that they can recover. I've found that it's important for me to remind myself of this truth lately to help keep me responding in constructive ways while also holding students accountable for their actions. Here are two concrete strategies for de-escalating a situation and helping students to solve problems,...

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3 Advocacy Resources for Music Education

It's sad that this is still something we have to fight for, especially after everyone proclaimed newfound appreciation for the arts during the pandemic, but in the United States and in many other countries around the world, music teachers are continuing to face lack of respect for music as a school subject. In honor of Music In Our Schools Month® just...

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