"Keep it Simple, Do MORE with LESS!"
Our jobs as general music educators can be complex– typically teaching five or six different grade levels during the course of a week, each with its own content and skills. But with this challenge comes the opportunity to teach students multiple years in a row where we can build on their skills and sequence our instruction. Here’s where I invite you to consider doing MORE with LESS– how can one song or experience apply to multiple areas of learning? How can a piece grow from a song and game in first grade into an arrangement of barred instruments and recorder improvisation in third or fourth grade? Experience several activities that can work with multiple grade levels, depending on the focus YOU want to have in your instruction!
ABOUT CHRISTINE BALLENGER
Christine Ballenger currently teaches general music and chorus (1-6) in Washington D.C. at Georgetown Day School. She holds degrees in music education and clarinet performance from the University of New Mexico (M.M.) and the University of Puget Sound (B.M. in Music Education), and received her Orff Schulwerk certification from George Mason University. Christine is on the American Orff-Schulwerk Association list of approved instructors for Basic Pedagogy Level I-II, Movement (Levels I-III), and Recorder (Level I), and recently completed two terms on editorial board of The Orff Echo. Additionally, she has taught courses in music for elementary education majors at Bismarck State College and Dickinson State University. Christine has also received training in Kodaly and World Music Drumming, and completed the “International Summer Course” in 2018 at the Orff Institute, in Salzburg, Austria.
Our jobs as general music educators can be complex– typically teaching five or six different grade levels during the course of a week, each with its own content and skills. But with this challenge comes the opportunity to teach students multiple years in a row where we can build on their skills and sequence our instruction. Here’s where I invite you to consider doing MORE with LESS– how can one song or experience apply to multiple areas of learning? How can a piece grow from a song and game in first grade into an arrangement of barred instruments and recorder improvisation in third or fourth grade? Experience several activities that can work with multiple grade levels, depending on the focus YOU want to have in your instruction!
ABOUT CHRISTINE BALLENGER
Christine Ballenger currently teaches general music and chorus (1-6) in Washington D.C. at Georgetown Day School. She holds degrees in music education and clarinet performance from the University of New Mexico (M.M.) and the University of Puget Sound (B.M. in Music Education), and received her Orff Schulwerk certification from George Mason University. Christine is on the American Orff-Schulwerk Association list of approved instructors for Basic Pedagogy Level I-II, Movement (Levels I-III), and Recorder (Level I), and recently completed two terms on editorial board of The Orff Echo. Additionally, she has taught courses in music for elementary education majors at Bismarck State College and Dickinson State University. Christine has also received training in Kodaly and World Music Drumming, and completed the “International Summer Course” in 2018 at the Orff Institute, in Salzburg, Austria.