If there is one thing I insist upon when it comes to my bulletin boards, it’s that they serve a practical purpose. I want them to be functional for my students as well as myself. While browsing Pinterest one night, I came across a bulletin board featuring ipods. I forget now what the theme of the bulletin board was, but I immediately thought of a way to bring the same thing into my room, and give it a practical use.
Which turned into this…
The picture is a little fuzzy, but you get the idea. I took this picture before the first day of school, after having had only a week to get my classroom ready. This was due to summer construction, which had lasted longer than anticipated. Let’s just say that I wasn’t too particular about how “pretty” my bulletin boards were. I was just happy to have them up before the students came through the door!
Whether they’re perfectly shaped or not, these ipods have become a staple in our room. If you’re anything like me, your day is a revolving door of classes, and you can’t always remember the song you practiced with the students two months ago. So, if we’re waiting in line to leave, I can glance at the list, choose a song, and play “name the tune” until the teacher arrives to pick up the class. Sometimes I’ll speak a phrase from a song, and ask them to decode the rhythm. It’s important that my students spend every last second in the room actively engaged in music, and these ipods help me to do that.
The best part is how excited the students get when they ask to add a song to their playlist. And because I explain the meaning of “repertoire”, they understand that a song can’t be added until they’re prepared to perform it accurately without my help.
Next year I’ll be doing this again, hopefully with a little more finesse, and a lot less construction dust.
Musically Yours,
Jennifer