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Aileen Miracle
May 26, 2016

Creating an end-of-the-year slideshow

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Recently, I had to create an end-of-the-year slideshow for my school. It's the second year I've had to do this (because I am the Instructional Technology Chair at my school), and both years, I've had to teach and re-teach myself how to do certain things to create the slideshow. Today, I thought I'd share tips for creating your own slideshow, whether it be for the whole school, for your choir, for a grade-level classroom, or whatever you need! First, a little background about me...I have enjoyed creating slideshows with music for about 12 years---since my oldest was born. I star…

May 14, 2016

End-of-the-Year Music Lessons

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As I'm writing this, I have one week of school left. This seems a bit crazy to me, as it is only May 13 (and I first taught in Michigan, where we taught until the middle of June!) I recently wrote about surviving the end of the year as a teacher , but today I'm writing specifically about end-of-the-year music lessons. Here are my thoughts and ideas for your music lessons this time of year! Review Games At the end of the year, I like to do review games with my students so I can gauge how well they learned what I taught them during the year. Seventeen years ago, when I first began teaching,…

May 02, 2016

Using Pop Songs in your Music Classroom

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Today, I'm writing about something somewhat controversial--a topic that five or so years ago, I would have shied away from completely: using pop music in your music classroom. There are a few reasons I have shied away from using pop music in the past. Even before I began my  Kodály  training, my thought was that kids hear pop music ALL THE TIME. Why do they have to hear it in my class too? When I began my  Kodály  training, I heard the same sentiment: we should be teaching them music of the masters, and folk music that is accessible and part of their heritage. I still believe that it's very…

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