Music Exploration and Creation
Purpose
This curriculum is intended for elementary general music students. Its exploratory design reflects Maxine Greene's aims of music education including:
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Fostering imagination and active learning
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Cultivating subjectivity and personal expression
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Promoting critical thinking and dialogue
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Fostering cultural appreciation and understanding
About Me
Hello! My name is Elira Mavraj and I am the K-5 General Music and Chorus teacher in the Cohoes City School District. Music education encompasses establishing a positive learning environment, engaging learners, and deepening learners understanding. I aspire to teach the whole student, and with that provide enriching experiential activities that lead towards a lifelong love and appreciation for music. Flexibility and adaptability within a structured setting are key to providing both stability and responsiveness to my student's everchanging needs. I believe that education should empower students of all backgrounds and provide students with the tools to become active and thoughtful individuals. Critical thinking and problem-solving are foundational to music education, and these dispositions are constantly evolving in and outside of the classroom. As a lifelong learner myself, I continue to grow by seeking professional development opportunities at the local and state level.
Settings & Context
This curriculum is intended for use within the elementary general music setting. With emphasis on creating, connection, and collaboration, this curriculum can be adapted for use at any grade level and within different environmental context. Teachers are encouraged to reflect and abide by the following principles when implementing this curriculum:
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Students are lifelong learners.
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Educational experiences lead to transformational growth and critical thinking.
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Context is key - the curriculum should reflect the students in front of us.
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We are facilitators of learning, and students are at the center of what we do.
“Our classrooms ought to be nurturing and thoughtful and just all at once; they ought to pulsate with multiple conceptions of what it means to be human and alive…We must want our students to achieve friendship as each one stirs to wide awakeness, to imaginative action, and to renewed consciousness of possibility.”
Maxine Greene, Releasing the Imagination, 1995