Curriculum for instruction in public schools

[Jennifer Fyock]

Hello,

My name is Jennifer Fyock. I am a middle school choral/general music teacher in Spanish Fort, Alabama. I have been teaching for 25 years.

I read the article in the April issue of the MENC Teaching Music Journal. I am so excited that there is discussion of a curriculum for teaching American Popular Music. I have been doing this for the past two years at a brand new middle school! The unit I teach as an Enrichment Class for 6th grade is entitled American Pop Culture. The unit correlates with the Social Studies class for 6th grade, American History.

In this class we discuss how the arts reflect the history of our American culture. We complete research projects, power point assignemts, watch videos, and learn about composers/artists that span the period of time from Pilgrims-present day.

I would love to be a part of the team that organizes a curriculum for this kind of study in public schools! My students enjoy this class! They can also connect ideas and concepts with their Social Studies curriculum very easily. Hardly a day goes by without a student saying, "We talked about this in history class" or "I know who was president during this time period" etc.

I am so excited to be a part of this and look forward to hearing from you soon.

 

Sincerely,

Jennifer Fyock

Music Specialist

Spanish Fort Middle School

Spanish Fort, AL

 

[Craig Cortello]

Jennifer:

You might get some ideas from this lecture by J.B. Dyas of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz regarding the integration of Jazz in the classroom.

Good luck!

http://www.artistshousemusic.org/videos/teaching+jazz+fundamentals+...

[DANDARA]

Jennifer,

My name is DANDARA and I'm based in Rio de Janeiro, BRASIL, where I'm starting a Group to support music education, using the Q Musiq Consortium tools. We're very far from organizing a curriculum to teach popular music in P.Schools... Right now, teachers here struggle against violence (inside classrooms!) and to earn enougth money to avoid multiple jobs. However, we'd like to learn from your experience, for it may guide us when the moment comes for us to move ahead. I've copyed your syllabus and would appreciate if you'd post here news and outcomes of your work-in-progress. 

 

Best,

DANDARA