History will remember 2020 as the year music educators reinvented how to teach general music to young students. Creating an exciting and active musical experience can be challenging online. Here are a few online tools and tricks to keep them coming back.
by Amy Burns
History will remember 2020 as the year music educators reinvented how to teach general music to young students.
We are teaching remotely or in hybrid to face-to-face (f2f) with restrictions. Most music educators have had to adapt to a unique teaching scenario and be prepared at a moment’s notice to switch into a different teaching model. Technology, once a passive tool an elementary music teacher used intermittently, has become one of our primary teaching vehicles.
Creating an exciting and active musical experience can be challenging online. Flaky internet connections and family disruptions are just a few of our students’ challenges when learning online. However, if your students can attend class, I recommend a few online tools and tricks to keep them coming back.
Flipgrid by Microsoft is a free online video tool that empowers social learning. Music teachers can set up Flipgrid (always have your school’s permission) so students can login with or without email addresses.
Students love this platform’s intuitiveness, including social media elements, like stickers and selfies, encouraging students to submit their work in a fun atmosphere. Flipgrid also allows students to create videos of themselves singing.
Teachers, with a little ingenuity, can create virtual concerts using Flipgrid. Teachers can add an accompaniment link to the topic and the students, with a little tweaking, can record themselves performing with the accompaniment. The teacher can then download the videos to create a virtual concert. Note: There are many more steps involved in this process; however, Flipgrid is a viable option if you want to create a virtual concert and if you have the time, effort, and patience.
Edpuzzle easily integrates with many LMS and allows you to track the students’ progress and comprehension. This program enables teachers to create self-paced interactive video lessons, follow the length of time students spend with the information, and check students’ understanding.
MusicFirst is an LMS created specifically for music education. MusicFirst has numerous apps integrated into the LMS to help teachers keep track of their progress, create lesson plans, and build assignments.
MusicFirst Jr, a subdivision of MusicFirst specifically designed for elementary students, includes lessons from multiple pedagogical approaches, digital manipulatives, recorder resources, and Boomwhacker resources. Also, MusicFirst Jr allows teachers to create and collect assignments.
Musicplay curriculum is a subscription-based website designed by Denise Gagne. Musicplay includes lessons, videos, digital manipulatives, online learning modules for remote teaching, weekly webinars, interactive virtual instruments, recorder resources, Boomwhacker resources, and so much more. Many of Musicplay’s resources are free during the pandemic. However, even at the regular price, this resource is exceptionally affordable.
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In addition to online resources, there are ways to structure online teaching to keep students engaged. Here are a few ideas.
Many video communication platforms have breakout room capacities. Breakout rooms allow students the opportunity to work in small groups in an online setting. Students miss collaborating with their peers, so even though it is challenging to monitor small group work online, I believe it is worth the effort.
Some of my favorite activities to have students explore in breakout rooms include:
Consider splitting longer class meetings into smaller segments. I have found that my older elementary classes (grades three and up) do very well with this strategy. I will teach for 25 minutes and then let students leave the class meeting to work on a project for 15 minutes.
Project work does not need to involve technology. I often have students write rhythm patterns incorporating food or names. At the end of the 15 minutes, students upload their work to their online platform. I can meet with individual students during those 15 minutes if they have questions by keeping my link in Zoom/Meet/Teams open.
Gamification of learning tasks keeps students engaged and excited about learning. Students earn digital badges for participating, submitting online work, and creating music. Teachers can find badges using Google search or create their own using an app like Canva (canva.com).
The teacher can distribute the badges using their online learning platform. One way to accomplish this is by creating an individual google slide for each student to display their badges or create a website using Google Sites.
We are currently teaching in a new and challenging paradigm. Each day brings about a feeling of exhaustion, one that many of us have not felt since our first year of teaching. Remember to take care of yourself, do the best job you can do, and know that at least one student smiled today because they were in your music class.
Part 1: Establishing Routine
Part 2: Singing Pandemic Style
Part 3: Deciphering Online Learning Platforms
Part 4: Motivating Student Musicians Online
Contributor
Amy M Burns has taught elementary general music for over 20 years at Far Hills Country Day School, a preschool through grade eight school in NJ. Amy earned her Bachelor’s of Music Education and Performance from Ithaca College and her Master’s of Science…
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