Are you exhausted after a day of teaching 6-7 different grade levels? Do you teach whole group all day long? It’s time to switch up the way you structure your lessons!
In today’s blog post, I’m going to give you some low prep independent work ideas you can use in your elementary music classroom next week! I’ll also be sharing why I think independent work time is important and how to give your students instant success!
In order for independent work time to be successful, it should be predictable, not include any new learning, and be something that is truly independent.
Predictable
In order for your students to be truly successful, their independent work must be predictable. For example, let them play a game that they have done as a class.
One of my go to activities for independent time is a smart board game. We do TONS of these in my classroom. Usually in the last five or so minutes of class as a wrap up or as an exit ticket type situation. This would be the perfect activity for independent learning. The students already know how to play the game and need literally zero instructions from you. Win win!
Practice (NOT New Learning)
One of the most important aspects of independent work time is that the students should be practicing concepts, not learning new ones. There’s no way they can work alone or even with a partner on something they’ve never done before.
My second graders have been learning the treble clef lines and spaces. They’ve been working on this concept for a few weeks, so they’re pretty well versed in it. Their current independent work has been some winter themed task cards for lines and spaces. We use these for stations, early finishers, and warm ups. Since they know their lines and spaces so well, they simply read the directions on each box and start working.
Truly Independent
You may be tempted to skip over this last one, but hear me out. I think it is important for these activities to be truly independent, meaning your students could complete them without any assistance from you or someone else.
I’m sure many teachers would agree with me when I say that each year our students seem to be more and more dependent on someone or something to do their work for them. We all know this attitude won’t fly when our kiddos leave school.
That being said, when choosing activities for your independent work time, think about YOUR students and what would benefit them most. When you introduce this idea of working on their own, maybe they need a simpler activity so they can be successful. That’s okay! They can always move up to something more challenging in the future.
You’ll be amazed at what your students can do if you push them!
One of the best resources for introducing independent work time is flashcards. Have students read the rhythm or melody and write it on a whiteboard, play it on an instrument, or create a variation on it. There are so many ways to use them and they can take up as much time as you need them to!
So, take a break from teaching whole group all day long. Choose one class to try out some independent work time. Use these low prep ideas to get you started! Once you’ve given it a shot, DM me on Instagram and let me know how it went! I can’t wait to hear!!
