Winning Upper Elementary
When they "hate" everything
This is a common refrain I hear at my workshops and in online teacher communities… “My fifth graders hate everything.” Perhaps people see the introductory activities that I recommend at my clinics and they think “my older students will never go for this.” And… they aren’t wrong! Bringing fifth graders into a movement-based curriculum takes time, a cultural shift. But there are SLAM DUNK activities that your most difficult adolescent students will go for, and will allow them to practice ADVANCED musical skills without even realizing it! In this post I’ll share some of my thoughts on upper elementary strategies and a video of a GUARANTEED winner of a game to play TOMORROW. But first…
Housekeeping:
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From the Archive:
Upper Elementary Kids are TOO COOL
I've written about this topic before... and included some video of the kind of crazy creative things that this age of student is capable of. If you want to see what I am striving for with my upper elementary kids, check out this post! It is full of philosophical and practical ideas as well as video of my ACTUAL students.
First of all its important to remember that upper elementary kids are going through a very vulnerable period of IDENTITY FORMATION. This is a hard time for them! Many of these kids feel OBLIGATED to “hate” things. It is hard to admit you like something, and it is even more difficult if there are a few students who are expressing a genuine distaste for the material. In this light, I try to take their “eye rolling” and scoffing with a grain of salt. I think that down deep most of them love the class and just can’t express it. As music teachers, we’re used to our class being a love-fest… but that’s just not a realistic expectation of this age cohort.
That being said, I think its also important to understand that building a strong upper elementary program is a MULTI-YEAR project. When you matriculate students up through a strong movement-based curriculum in K-3, they will be much more likely to “play ball” with you in the upper grades. Give yourself a few years “swimming in the waters” of MusicXT before you give up hope!
OK… but there are DEFINITELY some things you can do TOMORROW to engage these kids and bring them into a JOYFUL experience. One game in particular I use with this age range that forms a foundation for some fundamental musical skills and also seems to excite the kids and invite them to participate.