Old Dog Learns New Tricks

Old Dog Learns New Tricks to Reach Out to Her Music Students

Submitted by: Laura Sullivan
School: Rosman Elementary and TC Henderson School of Science and Technology
County: Transylvania

Ms. Laura transformed her daughters playroom into a Google Meet Music Classroom I had used some technology in the classroom, but my philosophy had always been that the elementary music room should be mostly screen-free, hands-on activities. Nothing on a screen can replace the magic of children working together in a classroom to create music, but for now, I had to figure out a way to reach out to my students and learn how to do it fast!

Here is what I have been doing for the past two months:

  1. Google Meet – I have had six live, online Music Classes every week- one class for each grade level. The students and I have chatted, sung, danced and played homemade instruments together. My favorite quote from one of my 4th grade students: “I have been counting down the minutes until our class started!”
  2. Google Classroom posts – I have posted Quizizz games and Quaver activities for our students to “play with” that help them review and practice musical skills they have been learning. They are also using Seesaw to submit videos of themselves making music.
  3. I have been making phone calls to my younger students just to let them know that “Ms. Laura is thinking about them and wanted to check in to see how they are doing.”

These experiences have been a mixture of joy and sadness because I am glad that I am helping my students in some way, but I miss the magic of the music classroom. Hopefully we will all feel that magic again soon.