Hi Amy!
I had never heard Planets by Gustav Holst. What a great classroom activity, particularly for an upper primary context. You could also use these pieces in the Drawing the Music strategy that Gerard showed us- I imagined Mars being drawn in reds and oranges!
Sinclair, Jeanneret and O’Toole (2009) draw attention to the numerous challenges that new teachers face. The primary curriculum is already overcrowded and it seems as if leaving ‘music education’ to the specialist teacher is the reality in many classrooms. They go on to say that pre-service teachers receive 23 hours of music education over the course of their degree (and in our case, it is unfortunately much less!). Luckily, Gerard showed us some fantastic strategies. For me, the tutorial highlighted how beneficial it can be to teach music throughout the entire curriculum. Gerard drew attention to this when he discussed learning “through” music as well as about it. I started wondering how else learning could be achieved through music. Here are my ideas.
Sinclair, Jeanneret and O’Toole (2009) draw attention to the numerous challenges that new teachers face. The primary curriculum is already overcrowded and it seems as if leaving ‘music education’ to the specialist teacher is the reality in many classrooms. They go on to say that pre-service teachers receive 23 hours of music education over the course of their degree (and in our case, it is unfortunately much less!). Luckily, Gerard showed us some fantastic strategies. For me, the tutorial highlighted how beneficial it can be to teach music throughout the entire curriculum. Gerard drew attention to this when he discussed learning “through” music as well as about it. I started wondering how else learning could be achieved through music. Here are my ideas.
Music can be used...
as a creative writing launch pad (or pre-text).
As an ‘energiser’ throughout the day to engage students in learning.
In daily fitness.
As a gateway into a topic: during a topic on Orangutans, my grade 1/2 class wrote the ‘Orangutan Rap’ as a persuasive text about the effects of palm oil.
To help students memorise facts or details (e.g. the ‘Days of the Week’ song which is sung to the tune of the Adam’s Family).
As a behaviour management strategy (Clapping patterns etc.)
To build phonemic awareness by enhancing an understanding of rhyme and syllables.
As an ‘energiser’ throughout the day to engage students in learning.
In daily fitness.
As a gateway into a topic: during a topic on Orangutans, my grade 1/2 class wrote the ‘Orangutan Rap’ as a persuasive text about the effects of palm oil.
To help students memorise facts or details (e.g. the ‘Days of the Week’ song which is sung to the tune of the Adam’s Family).
As a behaviour management strategy (Clapping patterns etc.)
To build phonemic awareness by enhancing an understanding of rhyme and syllables.
It is useful to know that music can be incorporated into the classroom in so many ways!
Bethany
Great ideas Bethany - now we're cooking. Please look at the MyLO resources I went to so much trouble to prepare!!
ReplyDeleteBill