Music in the Classroom

I'm very interested in how to integrate music into the classroom. I was originally going to be a music education major and hoped to direct secondary vocal choirs. My career path changed when I was observing in an elementary music classroom and saw how much the teacher enjoyed the younger students. I always knew that I wanted to teach, I just wasn't sure about which level. Over my years at Michigan State I've come to love teaching at the elementary level. I took a class called MUS 463, which is a class about integrating music into the elementary curriculum. It was a very fascinating class. I learned about so many ways to integrate music into all of the subjects such as math, science, literacy, and social studies. There are so many songs that can have the words changed to fit a certain subject. I know throughout my school career it's been very helpful to have certain songs that help you remember facts or a trick for an algorithm in math. Songs can be a great tool for memorizing and since they have catchy tunes they stick in your head better than just facts. I plan when I have my own classroom to use song as often as I can. Especially since music classes are becoming less popular in schools, giving students a bit of music within the regular curriculum will help them learn musical concepts as well as general education concepts. Whether it's just playing music for them to listen to or actually teaching them a song, I hope to be able to use music with my students to make their learning experience different and exciting. Over the years I will explore this more and more, searching out helpful websites and developing my own ideas for songs I can use during lessons.