I have always loved clouds. Fascinating things. I have memories of being a kid laying on a blanket on the grass in the summer, just watching and finding shapes, animals, faces, and things in the shapes of the ever-changing clouds. Hope you enjoy these and find some ways to use them with your students.
I love teaching Theme and Variations! My friend Kate introduced me to two very amazing sites - no login, no ads, and I knew I needed to figure out a way to use them beyond the "echo my rhythm" idea. So, Theme and Variations Reboot was invented!
Get the complete Google Slide here - it will prompt you to make a copy. Theme and Variations
Social Justice, Anti-Racist, Decolonization
Five words with power. Five words that confuse. Five words that need to be talked about right now.
Most of us are hearing words and having conversations about needing to do the hard work, but what does that mean? Reading books like Waking Up White, How to Be an Anti-Racist, White Awake, Blind Spot, and the plethora of books on the subjects of helping all of us to understand the struggle, biases, and injustices is only a START. Acknowledging white privilege, acknowledging bias, helping our littles to see color and to call out injustice is also a part.
Here is my latest read- I will need to go back and re-read. SO good.
If you haven't been here before, or you have forgotten about some other posts on the subject - this post is about being sensitive (and inclusive, not exclusive or hurtful) with our song material. Songs are listed in alphabetical order and source information is included as is a short synopsis of why the material is problematic.
This post delves into the research study conducted in 2019 that researches the CONTENT of Dr. Seuss books and the stereotypes, anti-Semitic, disproportionally male characters, and other content issue within Dr. Seuss books.
A few years ago I started taking a hard look at my curriculum, songs, and children's literature and went through ALL my song books and started making X's through songs and adding a note as to why a song was problematic. For future music teachers, I wanted there to be an immediate understanding (if they were not already aware) of why a particular song should not be used. I also wanted the reminder for myself. I also threw away books - yes, really. It was hard to do that, but I will never use, nor do I want anyone else to use those books that mock, harm, and perpetuate stereotypes. That is what is meant by disrupting the system. That is part of being ant-racist. The songs, stories, and books we use should be mirrors that reflect our students, windows into another's story or culture or way of being and doing, sliding glass doors to let students walk (or sing/dance/play) into another culture or way of being and doing, and sometimes we need to close the curtains.
I recently heard this quote and had to make it into a quick post for instagram.
If you haven't joined already, join the Diverse and Inclusive Children's Books for the Music Classroom page on facebook. There are wonderful books with lesson ideas posted.
We also need to talk about teaching - how we teach is MORE important than what we teach. Examining our bias, the words, gestures, speech, etc. in our teaching- especially with students that are having a hard time in school for whatever reason- trauma. learning differences, ability, developmental maturation, family changes, home life, equity, etc. It is a LOT. But the littles in our life are EVERYTHING. Remember teaching is a marathon, not a sprint or a 5K. Yes, we will make a plethora of mistakes. We are, after all, human.
I recently saw a conversation on facebook that was an "Ouch" moment. When we say, "All are welcome" do we really mean all and do we really mean welcome or do we mean ASSIMILATED?
Our school recently finished a 21-Week Racial Equity Challenge where we had small and large group conversations- REAL, hard, tough to hear conversations. It was amazing. We wondered what to do next. I am honored to serve on our YBG - You Belong Group - that focuses on issues of Social Justice and Equity. We are reading this book:
One of my absolute favorites when I want to jam is listening and playing around with the music of New Orleans musician Troy Andrews, AKA "Trombone Shorty". There are a couple of great children's books featuring his music and his story - check them out!
Today I have a rhythm stick arrangement I have been working on for the past couple of weeks to Hurricane Season - the music is here:
This year at our school, in addition to dismantling some long-held traditions that were problematic, and engaging in a 21-week Racial Equity Challenge- which has been amazing, we are celebrating Black History Month in a way we have never done before. I am so incredibly proud of my school for embracing change and valuing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice work year round. If you celebrate Black History Month, I hope we all realize the importance of celebrating Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian People of Color (BBIAPOC) music and musicians throughout the year, not only during the nationally designated, recognized, and celebrated months.
This year we are also having a door decoration contest, with each teacher celebrating one African American/Black person of influence and importance. Teachers are relating this to content within the classroom and students will have a socially-distanced gallery crawl as well as a time to hear about each person by the students via video announcements in classrooms. It is exciting, but we also need to work on our curricula, traditions, histories, and centering voices of BBIAPOC within our classrooms.
I chose Ella Fitzgerald, and students will be listening to and learning about this barrier-breaker and glass-ceiling-shatterer throughout the month as well as learning about Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Esperanza Spalding - here is one of my favorite videos of her!
Enjoy!
My friend Ardith is a lovely music educator with a passion for children and music education. Many thanks to her for giving me permission to share this oh-so-lovely lesson today! Perfect for Valentines Day!
Read the book and insert the pages after every three animals. This is SO adorable!
The full google slide is here.
Enjoy!
My daughter and I went to New York City for our first girls week during the summer of 2019. It was an amazing week and while we did not plan to arrive on the day of the largest PRIDE parade in Manhattan, it was a fabulous week! My daughter is Chinese, and loves everything about her birth culture. We stayed in Midtown Manhattan but she wanted to spend every waking moment in Chinatown. One of my sweet music teacher blogger friends, Elizabeth from Organized Chaos lives in Connecticut and so we met up for lunch one day at the Golden Unicorn in Chinatown (HIGHLY recommend!).
Many thanks to my friend Marcia B for her inspiration!
Hope you enjoy Dim Sum For Everyone and if you get a chance to enjoy Dim Sum, eat up!
For the full google slide, click on the link and make a copy Dim Sum For Everyone
