by SillyOMusic | Uncategorized
One of my classroom management tools is to have a set routine so that students can get into good habits. To break up the monotony of teaching the same routine throughout the week, I try to incorporate an exciting, whole-group game at the end of each lesson. Musical 4... by SillyOMusic | Uncategorized
My first teaching job was an elementary general music position at 2 schools. One of the schools was toxic and chaotic, the other was friendly and supportive. Both taught me important lessons about the importance of choosing the right teacher friends.The Timesucker vs.... by SillyOMusic | Uncategorized
Record the Students Saying their NamesThis seems so obvious, but it never occurred to me to record a 30 second video on my phone of the students saying their names. I recently began teaching part-time at a middle school and my phone helped me learn about 45 names in a... by SillyOMusic | Uncategorized
It is so frustrating to have students drop out of your after-school choral program mid-year. Reasons for dropping out range from students wanting to join other clubs, to parents taking away chorus as a punishment for poor grades. After loosing a chunk of my chorus to... by SillyOMusic | Uncategorized
Sometimes I’ll start an activity will start to morph into something totally new by the end of the week. Probably common among music teachers. This activity is an example of one of those instances. I was playing Musical Four Corners with my 4th graders... by SillyOMusic | Uncategorized
I inherited several pocket charts in my last classroom and didn’t know what to do with them for about 5 months. For a while, I tried putting objectives in the pockets but it was easier just to write the them on the board. Then, a PreK teacher was throwing out...