early childhood education Including Preschool Teachers in Your
Music Department Corynn Nordstrom, WMEA State Chair, Early Childhood Education
Most school districts and private schools in Wisconsin offer or have recently established a pre- school program. My school district just began this process, having implemented a K4 program for the
2016-17 school year. Preschool teachers are expected to teach all subjects, includ- ing physical education, art and music. Most often, preschool students attend school for half days and for only a few days of the week. Making time for every- thing is a herculean task, to say the least!
As school music educators, we are unique- ly situated to serve as a resource for the preschool teachers in our school systems to help preschool teachers incorporate purposeful, playful music making in their classrooms. Since preschool teachers are expected to teach the full gamut of sub- jects to their 4- and 5-year-old students, just a little direction or guidance can go a long way. In this article, I will illustrate how I am currently taking steps to help the 4K teachers in my district incorporate more singing, playing and moving into their curriculum.
This fall I contacted my district’s early childhood coordinator to see how I could be of assistance to the early childhood team. She was enthusiastic, mentioning that several teachers had been asking for guidance around incorporating music in- struction in their classes. We established that I would survey the early childhood teachers to understand their unique backgrounds and needs and then follow up by leading two professional develop- ment days based on their feedback. I used Google Forms to create an anonymous survey, including a brief introduction of myself and the purpose of the survey. Our early childhood coordinator then sent the survey to the K4 teaching staff (click here to view the survey). The results of the first few questions can be seen on the next page.
I was thrilled to learn that 100 percent of preschool teachers surveyed incorporate music into every class, and all are either “very comfortable” or “don’t mind” sing- ing for and with their students. Of the 12 respondents, five indicated they played an instrument, mostly piano and at a basic level or “a long time ago.” Two teachers also play wind instruments, flute and trom- bone, and one responded that they play “air guitar” which I thought was funny, making me look even more forward to
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meeting with this enthusiastic and playful team of teachers. The majority of respon- dents were most interested in fingerplays and action songs, beginning circle dances and music and movement activities. One teacher typed in the free-form response, “I do a lot of this already, but would love some new ideas. Thanks!” while another wrote, “I have a lot of instruments, tools, props from my aunt (retired music teach- er), I just need practice using them!”
facebook.com/ WSMAmusic
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This data gave me the background I needed to prepare a meaningful hour of professional development tailored to my 4K colleagues’ needs. The session is titled “Music and Movement: Fingerplays, Ac- tion Songs and Circle Games” and you can view the session handout here. I will first address the reasons why music and move- ment activities need to begin at a young age for brain development. Next, as the 4K team indicated that they are comfortable singing for and with their students, I will model appropriate singing voice range for young singers, engaging 4K teachers in multiple siren activities they can use to expand their own range and use with their students. I will also demonstrate ef- fective movement procedures for teaching young children to safely move to music in a classroom setting. Knowing that most of the 4K staff do not read music, I will recommend that the department purchase John Feierabend’s First Steps in Music: For Preschool and Beyond. This book is an accessible and comprehensive compilation of songs, chants and musical games. The accompanying recordings (an additional purchase) enable teachers who do not read music notation to learn the songs
January 2018
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