Describes a unit that is appropriate for upper elementary and middle school students that focuses on jazz music using biographies about jazz musicians. Discusses the five sections of the unit. Includes a list of "Suggested Jazz Listening Samples," jazz videos, and a bibliography of resources related to jazz music. (CMK)

Discusses how to teach elementary students to become better singers. Focuses on how to develop their voices and listening skills in music class. Explores when to have students sing alone and in groups, how to use songs, and when to teach music vocabulary. (CMK)

Focuses on the use of cooperative learning in the music classroom to teach the National Standards for Music Education. Discusses how to create groups and other practical matters of cooperative learning that need to be addressed by teachers. Includes a bibliography of resources to assist teachers using cooperative learning. (CMK)

Discusses the importance of developing second grade student listening, singing, and composing skills. Explores the second-grade singing apprenticeship where students can sing alone, as a group, or listen to other groups. Focuses on teaching singing skills and allowing students to experiment with music. (CMK)

Discusses how to develop musicality in young percussion students. Focuses on training students in versatility, developing their skills in technical areas, teaching them about entrance, sustaining and release, and selecting the appropriate equipment. Includes a list of "Suggestions for Fostering Musicality in Student Percussionists." (CMK)

Focuses on why and how to integrate music education with children's literature. Discusses the use of the thematic approach. Describes a unit on animals, focusing on books to include in the unit. Includes a bibliography of children's books. (CMK)

Describes the philosophy of music education ascribed to by Alfred North Whitehead in the book, "The Aims of Education." Discusses the approach presented by Carl Orff and addresses the similarities between these two views of music education. Explores the implications for music education. (CMK)

Discusses the problems music teachers have with assessment because they teach a wide variety of students. Addresses the reasons why music teachers should assess their students. Includes ten tips for teachers on how to assess students in the music classroom. Provides information on using an electronic grade book. (CMK)

Discusses how to teach improvisation, creativity, and movement to beginning music classroom students. Includes background information on teaching each concept and lesson plans to be used with beginning string students. Provides rhythm patterns, exercises, and an assignment used in the lessons. (CMK)

Discusses two steps, focusing on improvisation, that teachers can follow in planning music lessons. Addresses how to include improvisation in the general music classroom by focusing on two different age groups: (1) kindergarten through grade three; and (3) grades four to six. (CMK)

Focuses on the role of music in children's daily lives. Offers examples of children's experiences with music, based on observations of and discussions with children. Believes that teachers should let children's behaviors and needs shape music education programs. (CMK)

Explores how choir directors choose the music repertoire for a concert. Offers six criteria (text, singability, form, part-writing, accompaniment, and instructional implications) when evaluating a piece for use with children. Discusses the process of developing the concert. Includes sources for listings of children's choir octavos and sample…

Explains that music teachers can hamper student creativity in music composition by restricting assignments. States that teachers should assign only one parameter, focusing on a broad overarching idea. Provides examples of enabling parameters. Addresses the teacher's response to student work and nurturing musical independence. (CMK)

Offers a means for slowly integrating assessment with the elementary music classroom instead of attempting a "whole program" conversion. Addresses how to get started, standards of achievement, how to record the assessment information, how to inform students and adults, and how teachers can review and revise their work. (CMK)

Discusses the use of rubrics in the music classroom, focusing on a description of rubrics, using rubrics for writing assignments and to assess performance and instruction, obtaining student input when creating rubrics, and the benefits of rubrics. Provides sample rubrics. (CMK)