Elementary Music/Music Technology Blog

After editing and contributing to a book of lesson plans that integrates technology into the elementary music classroom, I tend to find myself searching the internet for various lesson plans that will fit my music curriculum. There are many lesson plan resources out there and the lessons in them work well in the general music classroom setting. However, I have also learned that as with any lesson you use that someone else wrote for his/her classroom, you will almost always have to adapt the lesson to your classroom setting. This is true with any lesson that you use whether it be a technology-enhanced lesson, a Kodaly-based lesson, an Orff-based lesson, or any elementary music methodology-type lesson.

With all that said, there are many good lesson plans out there. Here are some resources that you can check out to find some technology-enhanced lesson plans:

1. TI:ME Lesson Plan Database: As President-elect of the Technology Institute for Music Educators, I highly encourage music teachers to join this fine organization. As one of the membership benefits, members can access the lesson plan database. These lesson plans are written by music teachers who take the TI:ME workshops and the numerous music teachers and technology gurus who belong to TI:ME.
2. SoundTree Teaching Resources: SoundTree has an excellent database of lesson plans written by music teachers throughout the country. These lesson plans also include all of the materials needed to accomplish the lessons, such as reproducible work sheets, sound examples, resources, etc.
3. MENC’s “My Music Class”: If you are a member of MENC, you can search their lesson plan database, titled “My Music Class.” When I search for “Elementary Technology” I find about 25 lessons plans written by music teachers. You can also rate the lessons and leave comments about the lessons. In addition, you can contribute your own lesson plans to the “music class.” When you contribute a lesson, it is reviewed by MENC and if accepted, you will be notified that your lesson has been added to their database.
4. Music Tech Teacher: Karen Garrett, the 2006 TI:ME Teacher of the Year, has numerous lesson plans that she utilizes in her grades 2 through 5 music classroom. Karen’s website has won several website awards from Golden Web Award to Best Buy Tech Awards.
5. Apple Education Resources: See teachers’ lesson plans and sample projects that utilize Apple’s powerful digital media tools of the iPod, iLife, iWeb, iPhoto, GarageBand, and other software and hardware applications.
6. Connect with Music: On this website you will find 30 free interdisciplinary lesson plans that utilize multimedia, music, and technology to aid in the instruction of Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science at the middle school level. Included with each lesson plan are all of the associated materials to implement the lesson successfully, comprehensive scoring rubrics, links to standards in music, technology, and each subject area, and many useful links that enhance the lesson plans. While each lesson plan can be taught on it’s own, there are many that are linked together, providing each subject area with multi-faceted, classroom-tested, technology-rich interdisciplinary lesson plans.

These are just some examples of lesson plan resources that you can find online. If you have a suggestion of other places to find lesson plans online, please feel free to leave a comment.