Nearly all music educators assign grades to students. However, not all methods for grading are equally effective at reporting student achievement. This article describes one approach to grading, standards-based grading, that has the potential to support music educators' efforts to achieve grades that are honest, meaningful, and fair. General…

Before our current notation system was widely adopted by musicians, improvisation was a key component of music throughout the Western world. One of the fundamental elements of the baroque style, namely, using improvised embellishment, offered musicians great artist liberty. During the baroque period, improvisation spread across Europe and beyond.…

The number of dual language learners in early childhood classrooms is expanding every year--and teachers often feel underprepared to bridge language barriers and effectively meet these students' learning needs. Help is here in this book--a toolbox of today's best strategies for supporting children and families from diverse backgrounds and ensuring…

This practical resource is brimming with ideas and guidance for using simple ideas from speech and language pathology and occupational therapy to boost communication, sensory integration, and coordination skills in children on the autism spectrum. Suitable for use in the classroom, at home, and in community settings, it is packed with…

How to choose the right conducting baton is a mystery to many music educators, especially young teachers who are less experienced on the podium. The selection of batons has grown dramatically, and a wide variety of materials, shapes, sizes, and even colors are available. Choosing the right baton requires finding a personal fit. In this article,…

Play provides young children with the opportunity to express their ideas, symbolize, and test their knowledge of the world. It provides the basis for inquiry in literacy, science, social studies, mathematics, art, music, and movement. Through play, young children become active learners engaged in explorations about themselves, their community, and…

A fun, simple, musical role-playing exercise that allows students to actively step through and visualize the biochemical steps of the Calvin cycle. This musical can easily be completed in about 15 minutes with more than enough time during a 50-minute class period to review the steps and clarify the process further.

Best-selling author Marcia L. Tate brings her trademark "dendrite-growing" teaching strategies to this practitioner-friendly collection of brain-compatible methods for engaging K-12 students in social studies. Included are 20 proven strategies and more than 200 grade-leveled activities for applying them. Teachers will find concrete ways to…

Teachers can provide joyful musical experiences for students with the simplest of instruments. Suggestions for instruments, songs to teach, notation, and tips are offered. (MT)

"Lessons in American Music," by Debra Kay Robinson Lindsay, is a collection of lessons covering William Billings, Stephen Foster, Scott Joplin, and "The Star-Spangled Banner." This book is an all-in-one resource for teachers, offering lesson plans, activities, sheet music, and assessments. The set of lessons on William Billings will let your…

Suggestions are made for using the brainstorming approach in improvisational music with students. Examples of approaches used with primary students as well as with beginning instrumentalists are cited. (CL)

Music instruction for gifted and talented students is described in terms of the three levels of activities in J. Renzulli's Enrichment Triad Model: general exploratory experiences, group training activities, and individual and small group investigations of real problems. (CL)

Picture books based on song lyrics can help mildly or moderately language disabled children increase their phonological, syntactic, and semantic competence. Song picture books can be very motivating to students as well. (CL)

Instructions are presented for making and using several musical instruments for primary- and intermediate-grade students. (CB)

The document offers suggestions for teaching a unit on self awareness through the use of silent communications for gifted and talented students. The unit focuses on movement and drama and begins with warm-ups followed by five lessons that cover awareness activities for self evaluation, using drama to analyze one's own limitations, developing group…