As the music teacher, you might want to collaborate and share ideas with the other teachers on your team, but you aren’t sure how. When talking about your team, of course this will look different from a grade level team. Your team consists of other related arts teachers like the art teacher, librarian, physical education teacher, and computer teacher. Maybe what’s held you back from planning or collaboration is the fact that you all teach different subject areas.
It is definitely possible and worth it to work together on shared ideas. In this blog post, and on episode 240 of The Elementary Music Teacher podcast (where I go into all of this in much more detail), I’ll talk about practical ways you can collaborate with the other related arts teachers. Of course there are MANY ideas you can implement, but I’ll be sharing a couple of my favorites. Oh yeah, and make sure to sign up to attend the “Reflect and Renew” challenge that’s coming up soon.
Art Teacher
Think about music appreciation activities you do with your students where you have them coloring or drawing while listening to a piece of music. One of my absolute favorite songs to do this with is “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. In the lyrics, there are many words students can paint a picture of or they can be creative in drawing or writing about their feelings. With the art teacher, you can take this activity a step further. Students can take the art they started in the music room and while in the art room, they can add to their pictures, create a collage, add paint to their drawings, or any other ideas you and the art teacher come up with.
Another great way to collaborate with the art teacher is for programs and performances. While students are working on music in the music room (duh), they can help create art work for the programs in the art room. On each page of the program (whether a virtual program with a QR code or a paper program), students from each class can create art to represent different songs. On top of that, students can help create decorations for the stage as well. What other ways can you and the art teacher collaborate together? Sit down and have a discussion and you’ll be surprised by how many ideas you come up with.
Librarian
Think about ways you already bring books and literature into your music room. You might be reading stories, having students do movement activities to the action words, or even creating programs around various books. One easy and obvious way to collaborate with the librarian is to have them help you to choose the material for your program. The librarian would also love to help you find books that would be great to use in the music room and to give you ideas of ways to bring stories to life.
While the librarian is reading to students in the library, collaborate and share songs that would go perfectly with the stories she/he is sharing with the students. If one day students are in the library learning the story, and the next day they’re in the music room learning a song that goes along with the book, it will all seem interconnected and will be a cohesive lesson. I know your librarian will have many more ideas, so make sure to ask.
Physical Education Teacher
The best way to collaborate with the P.E. teacher is with movement ideas. While students are learning various dances and movement activities in the music room, they can also be working on those same movement ideas in the gym. If the P.E. teacher is working on jump roping, have students do this in the music room and practice jumping to a steady beat. If the P.E. teacher is working on various dances, collaborate with them to see which standards and objectives are being covered in both of your classes.
Another fun idea is rhythm basketball. Students can bounce the basketball (or tennis ball) to the steady beat and while in their P.E. class, they can do that as well. If students are doing hula hoops in the gym, have students see if they can hop from hula hoop to hula hoop with various rhythmic patterns. Just like with the other related arts teachers, have a conversation with the physical education teacher to see what other ideas they have!
Computer Teacher
You may or may not have a computer or technology class at your school. If you do, then just think about the endless opportunities that are available to collaborate when it comes to using various websites and apps. What technology do you already use in the music room? As you know, you’re limited in the amount of time you see your students. But guess what? Students can login during computer class and finish working on a musical composition project or if they have extra time, they can play a musical game you have posted on your Google Classroom.
Another great way to collaborate with the computer teacher is to have them show you ideas for creating slide decks, using various learning management systems, using Google suite, or anything else you might feel stuck on when it comes to technology. They would love to help you out and definitely want to see you succeed when it comes to using and integrating technology into your music room.
How do you collaborate with the other related arts teachers at your school? Tell me about it in the comments below or share your thoughts on social media as you share this post. I’d love for you to share this post or any of the resources on my website with a friend or colleague who you know NEEDS to see it too.
P.S. Are you feeling frustrated or stuck as an elementary music teacher? Check out these free resources to help you teach elementary music with confidence!
Also…I wrote a book called “Make A Note: What You Really Need To Know About Teaching Elementary Music” to help music teachers move forward in your teaching career. You can get your copy here.
