TEACHING AND CURRICULAR ORGANIZATION

Michelle L. Swanson
Malcolm Price Laboratory School

My teaching of elementary general music is very organized and structured.  Being that I do not utilize any particular text book series, I have divided the curriculum into units:  beat, rhythm, meter, melody, harmony, form, and tone color.  There are other special areas that we also visit during the year, for example jazz, recorder, and performance.

I utilize the Orff Schulwerk method of teaching elementary music.  The approach, named after Carl Orff, is basically a “hands-on” technique.  Each day the students will sing, play instruments, move and listen.  Our daily focus is related to the current unit of study.

Within each unit or special area, I have outlined the precise objectives and outcomes for each grade level, nursery-kindergarten through 5th grade.  Each and every lesson that I utilize, whether from books, magazines, workshops, or self-authored, are identified and labeled.  I created a spreadsheet for the organization of every lesson within each unit.  This makes for most efficient use.  It also creates simplified explanation and utilization by the college students (:018’s).

Evaluation is much easier, following this organization of the curriculum and teaching.  My communication to parents includes every detail from the units we have covered thus far in the school year.  The evaluations also include behavioral expectations and summaries.

I have included copies of my scope and sequence, the special unit objectives, as well as my evaluation tools.

Updated Feb. 2000