GStephens

Part Three is basically a breakdown of how Bluestine teaches his elementary students.  He gives the objectives for second through fifth grades and then shows how he develops each unit.  This is a great resource to have!  I hope to try some of these lessons when I finish the musicals.  I wish I could watch him teach, but at least I have the process.

In chapter fourteen, he discusses the techniques for teaching patterns.  While he says that each teacher should develop his/her own techniques, he describes some techniques that work for him.  He gives a list of "do's and don't's" which are helpful in planning what to do and how long each part of the lesson should be.  He even shows how he documents each student's progress.  This is very helpful because it gives me a starting place to try this system of teaching music. 

This has been an interesting and thought-provoking book.  It's made me realize I need to do more tonal work with my students.  As I work with next year's crop of kindergarteners, my hope is to implement some of these objectives into my lessons.  It seems it will be tough at first, but I'm glad to get some new ideas.  It's so easy to burn-out in teaching.  Refreshing the planning and lessons will help me renew my enthusiasm and energy for teaching.