Change up your sequence


Hi all, Christopher here.


One of the raps on Kodály-inspired teaching is that it can be rigid.  People think that there is some prescribed method that dictates exactly what you have to teach and when you have to teach it. 

Not true.

The reality is that while Kodály-inspired teaching is methodological and sequential, it doesn’t come in a one-size-fits-all package.  Every teacher has to take the overall principles and apply them to their own setting. 



For me, what that means is that each year, I re-visit my teaching sequence in the fall, when I am doing my long-term planning (see this link for a description of one way to do yearly planning).  Lately, my basic sequence of teaching rhythmic elements has been something like the following:



Etc.

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Music du Jour

Hello everyone! This is Tanya LeJeune from Teaching Music: Tanya's Kodály Aspiring Blog.

I feel like I'm always striving for balance of activities in my music room. In a perfect world, during every lesson my students would work on melodic and rhythmic concepts, practice ensemble work with and without instruments, dance, create in self-directed groups, listen to excellent music, and engage in higher level thinking through thoughtful questioning. Often, I'll look at my long-range plans and think, "I'm not on-track with the 3rd graders, and they haven't learned a folk dance for quite a while!" or "I need to make sure I get that 5th grade listening lesson in before Halloween!"

One of my goals this year is to include more listening in my lessons. My students are simply not exposed to a variety of music outside of the music room, unless it's pop or hip hop. It's wonderful that they listen to music at all as I believe that any music listening eventually leads to more listening of other genres. It's my responsibility to broaden students' music listening and expose them to genres they might not encounter outside of the music room. (Have you ever played a orchestral piece for young students and had several remark, "Is this from The Nutcracker?" That's a sign that they have not heard much classical music!)

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SLO's in the Kodaly-inspired classroom

Hi everyone! It's Aileen from Mrs. Miracle's Music Room. This week, I submitted my SLO's, or Student Learning Objectives, to my principal. If you are in Ohio or another state that requires SLO's, you know what I'm talking about and perhaps just submitted yours, but if you are in another state, you may have no idea what this means! In this blog post, I'll write about how I use SLO's to inform instruction, as well as how I use pre-tests and post-tests to improve each student's learning. Whether or not you have to submit a SLO, I hope you find this information helpful!

Looking for strategies for implementing SLO's, or Student Learning Objectives, in the Kodaly-inspired classroom? This blog post includes suggestions for pre-tests, post-tests, tracking data, and more!


First, a bit about SLO's. I wrote this blog post about creating a SLO, but just in case you haven't heard this terminology before, I'll briefly explain. In Ohio, teachers now have to turn in at least one SLO, which is a plan that tracks students' growth. The results of a teacher's SLO count for 50% of the teacher's evaluation. Admittedly I was a bit nervous when I first heard I would have to do this, but I believe the process has made me a better teacher and more mindful of how well students understand specific concepts in my classroom.

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