Beyond Bulletin Boards: It's Elemental!

I taught on a cart in the 2020-2021 school year. While I really did enjoy a lot about the situation, I can't wait to get back in my classroom! One of the biggest things I missed when I was teaching on the road was creating an information-rich learning environment with classroom displays. In my classroom, they're all about the musical elements!

WHAT'S ON THE WALLS?

Over the last few years my displays have grown and changed into direct teaching aids classified by the musical elements. Rhythm, Melody, Form, Tone Color, Expression, and Harmony are all highlighted in a way that makes musical information accessible for my students.

There is a LOT of information covered from K-5 in music class, and my displays need to work for all ages. I do not have actual bulletin boards in my room. My walls actually have a textured wallpaper that hides small holes. Staples can be used everywhere - I have a huge canvas! And I use as much of it as I can (while staying on the Fire Marshal's good side).

While the posters and visuals I display share basic information about music, we use them daily to influence our music making and give students the ability to make choices and create musical experiences unique to their classes.

CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS

Take my Expression wall as an example. This wall features Tempo, Dynamics, Movement, and Mood. It's invaluable when we are planning performances!

When my students were creating a program based on their winter experiences, we used this wall to explore the artistic decisions we needed to make before starting the composition process.

When one class wanted to compose about a deep snowfall, they had no experiences to draw from - it rarely snows where we live! Creative movement helped us role play what you might feel like moving through a few feet of snow. Students selected movements from our locomotor and non-locomotor displays and the whole class shared their observations.

We moved from there straight to the Mood wall. How would you feel if you were experiencing a big snowfall? Would different people feel different ways? What emotion do we want to focus on for our story?

Once we knew our emotional focus, we made some notes about what Tempo and Dynamic elements we thought we might want to feature in our final composition.

From there we just turn our bodies and face the Rhythm and Melody walls! Whether we are composing or I am teaching a melody, we use the magnetic solfege and xylophone bar visuals to prepare.

LEARN MORE

Want to know more about how I use each element wall? Check back all summer to read blog posts and see videos featuring each element. I'll show you exactly what I hang on my walls and how I use it with my students!

I can't wait to get my students back in my space and make some awesome music!