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The web is an excellent resource for music teachers who need free education materials for the elementary classroom. There are a number of sites that offers articles about music education and teaching strategies, lesson plans, classroom tools, children’s songs, fingerplays, and other helpful materials. Here are 15 sites to explore throughout the school year

The web is an excellent resource for music teachers who need free education materials for the elementary classroom. There are a number of sites that offers articles about music education and teaching strategies, lesson plans, classroom tools, children’s songs, fingerplays, and other helpful materials. Here are 15 sites to explore throughout the school year. MusTech.net – Created by Dr. Prof. Joseph Pisano, this music technology site is a good place for elementary teachers to read about music education, music technology, and music advocacy. Other site features include links to

music-related hardware, software, and freeware.

This web-based computer program for music teachers tracks lesson schedules, invoices, payments, and more. It is free to use for teachers who have three students or less.

Sequencing with a SmartBoard- In this lesson, students will be assembled into groups of three or four. Students will be responsible for reading a selected picture book, identifying six main ideas from the text, and mixing the main events into an unorganized list. Student groups will then record their unorganized lists into the SMARTBoard notebook software. Once all groups have entered their list, student groups will receive a different group’s book and their created list. Students will organize the new list of main events, and using the Smart Ideas Software or concept mapping software, create a concept map of the assigned story and events.

SmartBoard Lessons Podcast Collection -The purpose of this site is to accompany a free podcast that focuses on using SMART Boards in the classroom. Each episode will feature a lesson, a podcast, and user comments. The hosts, Joan Badger and Ben Hazzard, have been recognized as Canadian & International Innovative Teachers by Microsoft, SMART Exemplary Educators, Peer Educators, Tradeshow Teachers, and Conference Presenters on the use of SMARTBoards in the classroom.

To answer these questions and begin formulating goals for professional learning, schools must collect data and complete a needs assessment about students and staff, capacity, and available resources

requent evaluation allows schools to readily address issues that may be affecting the efficacy of the intervention and then to refine goals and activities accordingly.

Once partners were selected, CITEd helped districts refine their goals, particularly when goals were too ambitious for a year-long intervention

Even when purchases are made with the best of intentions, the shift from the shelf to the classroom can be difficult. Many of the schools and districts selected as TIP sites had purchased software, often accompanied by extensive technology training for teachers. However, they were still struggling with getting the software into teaching practice.

Teachers may learn how to use a tool during a summer workshop, but unless the tool is directly linked to the curriculum and teachers are given ample time for experimentation, they will be unlikely to adopt it into their practice

teachers need basic technical knowledge about how to use a tool and knowledge about how to integrate the tool into their existing curriculum (CEO Forum, 2000). To achieve full-scale change, schools need to ensure that strong professional development programs are in place and that teachers have a variety of opportunities for learning and growth

methods used by TIP sites were examples of teacher-centered professional development—workshops and learning opportunities were structured to fit the needs, goals, and learning objectives of the teachers involved and grew and changed according to teacher needs

he literature shows that any new initiative will be more successful if it meshes well with existing programs