Teaching is a noble, rewarding profession—but no one would say that it is easy. Guiding a group of young people to learn and grow while also getting them to cooperate with one another and stay safe day after day is a huge challenge. At Go Fish, we love teachers and believe that everyone owes a debt of gratitude to the professionals who work so hard to guide our children.
Before we get into the different strategies and techniques that can be used to put music into action in the classroom, we wanted to back up and highlight some of the many reasons why it’s important for kids. With a clear picture in mind of what young people stand to gain, you’ll be far more likely to regularly pursue songs for the classroom. Here are a few points to keep in mind:
Emotional Engagement – Let’s face it—as teachers, it’s sometimes difficult to get kids to engage emotionally in what is going on in the classroom. Music is an excellent tool to break down some barriers and encourage everyone to get involved. You might even find that the benefits of getting some kids engaged through music carry over to other tasks in class.
Creative Exploration – Another thing that can be challenging with a group of students is to encourage them to think outside of the box and discover their own creativity in various ways. Again here, music can come to the rescue. With music as part of the regular activities in your classroom, kids will have a chance to explore a medium that is built on creativity and allows them to get their minds out of the textbook.
Boosting Memory – From a practical perspective, participating in musical activities requires developing memory skills to keep up with lyrics, notes (when playing an instrument), and even dance moves. This is particularly useful for young children who are just starting to engage more with the world around them, as they will be able to use the melody of a song to help remember the words, which can be a boost of confidence to go on and learn (and remember) other things.
It’s Fun! It’s all too easy to get bogged down in the technical details of the value of music, and there are plenty of great things to say, but ultimately music is great for kids because it is fun and enjoyable. You’ll be giving them an opportunity to develop an appreciation for music that could go on to last a lifetime.
Whether you have been using music in your classroom for years and just need some fresh ideas or this is your first time and you want to get off to a good start, we think you’ll find these strategies helpful. Of course, as with anything that you use in your class, these ideas should be customized to suit the needs of your room based on the age of the kids, your personal teaching style, and other variables that will contribute to the success of this initiative.
How can music be used in teaching and learning? One of the best ways to think about the role music can play in your classroom is as a transitional tool to get you from one activity or lesson to the next. For example, if you are completing a math session and the next academic work on the schedule is a reading session, you might want to use five or ten minutes in between those two to play some music and break up the focused study. This will not only become something the students look forward to, but it can also help their performance academically; it’s difficult for the human brain to maintain sustained focus over long periods, so dividing them up with something relaxing like music is an excellent approach.
Another popular method is to tie musical selections into the prevalent theme that you have going currently in your classroom. So, if you are learning about a particular geographical area or culture, you can sample music from that place as a way to enhance the learning experience and allow the kids to feel even more connected to the lesson. This same line of thinking could apply when you are studying history, as you can pick out songs from a particular time to transport the students back and give them a sense of what was popular in the culture at that point.
Finally, you can use music within projects and presentations to help the students open up and be more creative. Even those who aren’t particularly comfortable with it at first might find themselves coming to enjoy the opportunity to perform in front of the class. The kids could perform a version of one of their favorite classroom songs, or they could even write their own jingles. The more the students can be actively involved in the musical experience and what it brings to class, the better.
For the most part, using songs for teaching is nothing but successful in the classroom. Of course, no teaching method is perfect, so here are a few things to consider.
As a starting point, remember to always review the lyrics of any teacher song before you use it. Even if the song is designed to be used in front of kids, it might have some lyrics that you aren’t comfortable with or that you feel will cause problems in your class. No one knows your room better than you, so listen to any potential teaching songs a few times just to make sure there are no lyrics that might lead the class astray.
Generally speaking, music is a great break from rigorous academic work, as mentioned previously. As the students’ brains tire and they are naturally looking for a distraction or alternative to the focused effort that they’ve been expending, music will be perfect. You can’t go wrong with a music session right before a lunch break or toward the end of the day when it’s time to get those wiggles out.
So, how can teachers incorporate music in the classroom? It starts by having the right resources on hand. Go Fish would love to be one of the resources you can turn to when music is on the agenda, and our songs for teachers are designed to be an ideal choice. Take a moment today to listen to this collection of songs on your favorite platform, and we hope you’ll present them to your class sometime soon. Thanks for visiting Go Fish, and thank you for being awesome!
