Becoming a Better Music Teacher: The Never-Ending Quest!
I need materials to help me continue and grow as a music educator. This tools will also help me share with my colleagues and school families what I am doing in my classroom.
I teach in two very different schools within the same district. At both of my schools, I teach K-5 General music, as well as two classes of severely autistic children. I also teach 4th and 5th grade chorus.
My students love to sing, dance, drum, and learn about different cultures!
As a general music teacher, we teach every student in the building, regardless of their interest level in music. It is my goal to try and reach even the most hesitant of music learners, and to provide enriching musical experiences for them throughout their six years with me!
My Project
As a newer teacher, it is so easy to feel overwhelmed at all the demands being placed on you as you begin to grow into your new position. NYS law also requires teachers to do many hours of self-directed professional development.
These resources will help to focus my teaching, and to provide me with ways to communicate to colleagues and families the importance and joy of a quality music education at the elementary level.
I am a very reflective teacher, and I am always looking for ways to refine the work that I do with my students. I want to be the best that I can be in order to better cultivate musicianship in these crucial years of musical development.
I am requesting a series of DVD lectures by Dr. John Feierabend that detail his First Steps in Music Curriculum. This set will help me refresh my training in early childhood music, and also equip me with the research behind it to discuss with colleagues and parents. I am also requesting a DVD by Jill Trinka that demonstrates a variety of folk songs and instruments, as well as activities to use in the early childhood music classroom. One of my goals as a teacher is to connect with my students and their families beyond the classroom, and the "Family Folk Song Project" is a book that I hope will provide me with ideas to do so. "El Patio de mi Casa" is a song collection and CD in Spanish that will help me form deeper connections with my English Language Learners in one of the schools that I teach in. I am always trying to find ways to celebrate the diversity in my room, and this resource will help me to add to my toolkit.
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