Season One
Episode Ten
Victoria Boler
I enjoyed this talk with Victoria Boler. She shared some great ideas for goal setting, data collection, informances, and long range lesson planning. On Victoria's website, you can find templates, resources, folk songs organized by rhythmic and melodic concepts and posts about music lesson ideas.
In Episode 10 Part I, Victoria talks about her music background, Kodaly and Orff approaches, and information about goal setting, data collection, and informances.
In Episode 10 Part II, you'll hear about lesson planning, transitions, and her teacher capsule wardrobe.
Victoria Boler teaches Transitional Kindergarten through 5th Grade general music, choir, and percussion ensemble in Southern California. She is also the director of the arts department at her school, which encompasses her own programs as well as visual arts, band, orchestra, technical arts, and musical theater. Victoria has degrees in both instrumental and vocal music education, as well as levels training in both Kodaly and Orff. You can find her teaching strategies at her website (www.wemakethemusic.org) or on Instagram.
Part I:
Part II:
Here are a few highlights from the conversations:
Kodaly/Orff Approaches
Kodaly - "Only the best is good enough for children"
Orff - "Let children be their own composers"
Goal Setting
For the 2018-2019 School Year, Victoria shares about her goal of highlighting and documenting student improvisations, arrangements, and compositions. You'll hear about how she is working to highlight the ownership that students have in the learning process and demonstrating that the music in our classrooms live and breathe and have student input. This ties into her documenting process (data collection).
Data Collection
There are many different ways to assess and document student learning. When choosing how you want to look at student learning, think about what evidence would prove students are learning, and then keep assessments simple. A few resources that Victoria mentions:
SeeSaw - a great resource for recording students during class
Seating Chart - a great place to make notes
QR Codes - create an interactive wall with pictures of students playing instruments or singing games. Add a QR code to the picture so that parents can scan it to take them to a private YouTube video of students demonstrating musical learning of that specific piece in class.
Informances
Victoria shares some great ideas for how to implement informances. An informance is any presentation that is for the purpose of education. It can be formal or informal with more of a focus on the process rather than the product. You can find her post about how to plan an elementary music informances here: Part I and Part II.
Lesson Planning
Everything rhythmic starts with beat; everything melodic starts with the singing voice. One of the ideas that Victoria shares is to start class with a body percussion piece. Students enter the room as music is playing. They create body percussion patterns to the beat of the music - freely, without being told what rhythms to perform. Nice way to warm-up and prepare for music making!
A possible outline for organizing the structure of a single class period:
Warm-Up
Main Activity
Movement/Game
Main Activity 2
Wrap it up!
Google Drive - consider using Google Drive for lesson planning; great ease of use and accessibility
Warm Up Routine
Concept Plans - a great way to organize longer term lesson plans for a specific concept
Transitions
Transitions - find ideas for how to move from one musical piece to another
Episode Ten
Victoria Boler
I enjoyed this talk with Victoria Boler. She shared some great ideas for goal setting, data collection, informances, and long range lesson planning. On Victoria's website, you can find templates, resources, folk songs organized by rhythmic and melodic concepts and posts about music lesson ideas.
In Episode 10 Part I, Victoria talks about her music background, Kodaly and Orff approaches, and information about goal setting, data collection, and informances.
In Episode 10 Part II, you'll hear about lesson planning, transitions, and her teacher capsule wardrobe.
Victoria Boler teaches Transitional Kindergarten through 5th Grade general music, choir, and percussion ensemble in Southern California. She is also the director of the arts department at her school, which encompasses her own programs as well as visual arts, band, orchestra, technical arts, and musical theater. Victoria has degrees in both instrumental and vocal music education, as well as levels training in both Kodaly and Orff. You can find her teaching strategies at her website (www.wemakethemusic.org) or on Instagram.
Part I:
Part II:
Here are a few highlights from the conversations:
Kodaly/Orff Approaches
Kodaly - "Only the best is good enough for children"
Orff - "Let children be their own composers"
Goal Setting
For the 2018-2019 School Year, Victoria shares about her goal of highlighting and documenting student improvisations, arrangements, and compositions. You'll hear about how she is working to highlight the ownership that students have in the learning process and demonstrating that the music in our classrooms live and breathe and have student input. This ties into her documenting process (data collection).
Data Collection
There are many different ways to assess and document student learning. When choosing how you want to look at student learning, think about what evidence would prove students are learning, and then keep assessments simple. A few resources that Victoria mentions:
SeeSaw - a great resource for recording students during class
Seating Chart - a great place to make notes
QR Codes - create an interactive wall with pictures of students playing instruments or singing games. Add a QR code to the picture so that parents can scan it to take them to a private YouTube video of students demonstrating musical learning of that specific piece in class.
Informances
Victoria shares some great ideas for how to implement informances. An informance is any presentation that is for the purpose of education. It can be formal or informal with more of a focus on the process rather than the product. You can find her post about how to plan an elementary music informances here: Part I and Part II.
Lesson Planning
Everything rhythmic starts with beat; everything melodic starts with the singing voice. One of the ideas that Victoria shares is to start class with a body percussion piece. Students enter the room as music is playing. They create body percussion patterns to the beat of the music - freely, without being told what rhythms to perform. Nice way to warm-up and prepare for music making!
A possible outline for organizing the structure of a single class period:
Warm-Up
Main Activity
Movement/Game
Main Activity 2
Wrap it up!
Google Drive - consider using Google Drive for lesson planning; great ease of use and accessibility
Warm Up Routine
Concept Plans - a great way to organize longer term lesson plans for a specific concept
Transitions
Transitions - find ideas for how to move from one musical piece to another
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