Our students come to us with many interests and talents. Music is one of them. Whether it’s Beethoven, the Beatles, Bon Jovi or (Justin) Bieber, tapping into their love of listening to music can help students become better readers. The two disciplines are innately very similar, and teachers and parents can take advantage of these similarities to help struggling readers become motivated learners.
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Now, as a teacher, I use Beethoven’s birthday to celebrate the holiday season in a new way. All month we learn about the man and listen to his music. On his birth week, I integrate Beethoven into as many lessons as I can: from penmanship practice using Beethoven quotes and developing our understanding about fact and opinion using biographical articles about his life to practicing our math using Beethoven-based word problems. During the month we also focus on the virtue of perseverance – a virtue that Beethoven exemplified throughout his life.
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Educators need to do more than teach; they need to create experiences for their students. Experiences are what make learning come alive. Let’s face it, experiences are what life is made of and what we need to emphasize in our classrooms if we are to teach the whole child. The arts provide a wonderful way to bring experiences into your teaching.
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This Thanksgiving, I would like to give thanks to a special friend I have made on Twitter. Richard Lakin has been a wonderful supporter (and retweeter) for me even though he lives across the globe. (That’s the power of social media and a PLN!) Today I would like to feature his article on the importance [...]
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In my last post, on Engagement, I was responding to a post by Jessica Wakefield called, “Learning In and Through the Arts.” The title reminded me of a text I was reading for an “Arts and Learning” CAGS course through Plymouth State University a few months back titled Arts and Learning by Merryl Goldberg. In it, Goldberg [...]
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Many of our readers are interested in actual lesson plans and ideas. So, here you go! My mind over the last week has been focused on collaboration and how it is the key to effective integration. We cannot all be experts in everything, so we need to ask for assistance with things we may be [...]
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Shared experiences are what bond a group together. Whether the group is taking a nature walk, creating art, or sharing personal reflections about music or literature, it is all part of the process we need to share with our students. I believe that these experiences can all be linked to and integrated into the curriculum [...]
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Listening to music with your students can be a huge community builder. AND it is something that nearly any teacher can do in his or her classroom. (Even I can do it working in an open concept school!) It’s a simple concept, really: to listen to music each day with your students. It can be [...]
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