If your school is like mine, you might be asked or required to have a music website that links off the school’s main website. A website is a great way to communicate information to parents and to showcase students’ compositions and performances.
If your school does not have a platform for you to create a website, then you can create a free wikispace at wikispaces.com to serve as your website, or even to have as a music class wikispace where students contribute their works, opinions, and homework assignments.
Some items that can be added to your music website:
- Concert Calendar
- Concert Dress Code
- Students’ Compositions
- National and/or State Standards
- Recordings of Students’ Improvisations or Performances (I tend to stay away from music that is copyrighted)
- Your Curriculum
- Grading Rubrics
- Monthly Music Newsletter
- Assignments for Music Class
- Blog of the music teacher asking musical questions and the music students answering them (this depends on the age of the students)
- Contact Information - your email address
- Your bio so that parents know a little bit about you
- Music Field Trip Information and Forms
- Classroom Rules or Expectations
- Pictures of Concerts - Check with the school if you are allowed to post pictures of your students
Some examples of music websites (I found the first three on the MENC Discussion Board and they are wonderful):
- http://woodstown.org/~nowmos.c/ - Christine is a music teacher in Southern NJ. I had the pleasure of viewing her in action last year and she has an excellent music program. Her website is nicely organized and very thorough.
- http://vandaliabutlerschools.org/helke/music.htm - Wonderful information for parents so they know what their children are learning in music and what is expected of them.
- http://schools.portnet.k12.ny.us/~afriedman/ - This website is beautifully set up! Just take a look at it!
- http://musicmusic.musiced.net/ - Jean Fadiga’s blog for her piano/theory course. Jean is the TI:ME MD Chapter President. She learned how to create a blog in her music class in a TI:ME 1B course that I taught this summer.
- http://msumusictech.wikispaces.com/Day+3 - When I taught Technology for Music Teachers at Montclair State this summer, the participants created these wikispaces for their music classes. Though these are works in progress, they were excellent beginnings.
Need music graphics for your website? Then look no further. http://www.musicgraphicsgalore.net/ has a collection of free musical icons, clipart, graphics, backgrounds, and images.
I would show you my school’s music website, but it is password protected. Therefore, I showcase most of my students’ works on my own website: http://www.amymburns.com so the parents can view and hear them easily.
What is on your school’s music website?
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