In Part 1 of “Poetry in Balance”, I focused on the importance of teaching students poetry appreciation. But to have a good study of poetry, just as with the study of any art form, you must balance it out with creation. This month I am requiring my students to write one poem each day in [...]
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With April here, I can’t help but reflect on the ideas of improvisation! It’s Jazz Appreciation Month and National Poetry Month. Jazz and poetry: two art forms that emulate improv! “Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one’s [...]
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Last night on #ntchat (New Teacher chat) we discussed resources and ideas to use for National Poetry Month. During the chat, someone tweeted me a “ponder”: I was taught a poet, then made 2 mimic. Valuable? Exposure was, not regurgitation. how to start? #ntchat ~@theHelpGroup To which I replied: I hear ya! There needs to [...]
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Daffodils start sprouting, Rain comes showering down, A joke, a stroke of laughter And then there’s snow, a frown. A jazzy rhythm’s happen’n And poems fill the air April’s now upon us There’s so much to do, to share! I’ve come to realize how much I really love April. Not just because it sends us [...]
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Oddly enough, it’s been almost an entire month of writing about music and literacy and I haven’t even mentioned lyrics in music! Well, now is the time. Of course lyrics are a natural connection music has to literacy. They are authentic texts! Composers and song writers go through their own creative writing process to come [...]
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The anniversary of the penning of our National Anthem is September 14th. MENC, the National Association for Music Education, has made this historic date an annual event! In an effort to help get Americans singing again, they have called this “The Campaign to Restore America’s Voice.” Schools across the nation will participate in this event [...]
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A few weeks ago, I pledged online through Twitter to “Go Paperless” for Earth Day. Soon after, I told my students about it and they were so excited! They immediately started to offer ideas and suggestions of how we could Go Paperless for an entire day. “We can work on the computers,” said one student. [...]
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One of the best ways to illustrate freedom in structure is in a drum circle. Here, a leader starts by drumming an ostinato or rhythm that is repeated over and over. Then the others in the circle begin to play. Some play alongside the leader, others play their own creations, adding their own creative rhythms. [...]
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This month we celebrate POETRY and JAZZ. Here is an activity I would like to share with you that you can use immediately with your students to celebrate jazz, poetry and promote freedom in structure! DADA poetry was first written by artists and poets in Paris France. They clipped words from newspapers, scrambled them and [...]
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