Meet the Teaching Artist: Liz Buchanan
Posted Sunday February 09 2014 at 4:13 pm.
Used tags: cool, drama, kids, music, teacher, vsa
My aim is to provide students with an exciting, meaningful and memorable learning experience through singing, movement and other musical activities.
I believe that music is the best way to teach certain pre-reading skills such as phonological awareness. Songs also can deepen students' understanding of almost any subject, especially stories and narrative. Music and movement engage multiple parts of the brain and the emotions. To paraphrase educator Bev Bos, "If it hasn't been in the hand, the body and the heart, it can't be in the brain."
What I do
My primary art form is music and songwriting, but I also incorporate drama, storytelling and movement. I mostly work with children aged 3 through first grade, with a focus on reading/language arts, though I also love using music to enrich learning in social studies, math and science. I am very excited to work in inclusion settings.
On any given day in the classroom, you might find me demonstrating a new finger play, singing the days of the week with a focus on the starting letter sounds, playing a rhyming game with a monster puppet, or having the children romp around the classroom as they act out "The Three Little Pigs." I seek to model techniques and offer tools that classroom teachers can use after I'm gone.
I hope my residencies provide an exceptional experience for students that will be one of the highlights of their school life.
Partnering with teachers
The active involvement of the classroom teacher in my residency is very important. I'm most successful when the teachers and I have had a chance to discuss and refine our goals – and when teachers let me know exactly what they want and what's working for their classrooms. I'm happy to lead workshops for teachers to help them incorporate more music into their practice.
What else I do with children's music
I've shared music in many educational settings, including several Boston Public Schools and Horizons for Homeless Children. I began my career in children's music in the 1990s, leading sing-along programs for young children and parents/caregivers in public libraries.
I've recorded three CDs for children, and have also written a musical play for family audiences. Two of my CDs have won Parents' Choice Awards. My music is available through my web page, AntelopeDance.com and at SongsForTeaching.com.
You can find videos of my work at my YouTube channel, how-to videos related to early literacy include the songs "Two Little Robins" and "Icky Sticky and Ooey Gooey."
Building community among artists and musicians who work with children is important to me. I have spent two years as President of The Children's Music Network, an international organization of performers, parents, teachers and others who share the love of making music with children.
Other Pursuits
Beyond teaching music, I have directed plays and taught drama classes. I run a two-week drama camp for children aged 6-8 every summer at the Arlington Center for the Arts.
In addition to my Masters in Education from Lesley University, I have an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College. My undergraduate degree is from Duke University.
In my earlier years, I had a career in journalism and political communications. I am currently working on a book about music and early literacy. Perhaps most important, I'm a mom with two daughters.
Outcomes for teachers and students
Skills students develop. Rhyming and learning letter sounds and word segmentation, understanding of the elements of stories. Older students develop writing skills, especially in the genre of poetry via songwriting activities.
Skills teachers take away. Simple songs for aiding learning, movement activities for literacy learning, techniques for using props and other visual cues, techniques for writing songs and poems with students, simple follow-up activities that invite students to be creative.
Teacher quotes:
"I think the most valuable aspect of this program is that it engages all of my students regardless of their cognitive functioning. It is very difficult to find activities that can support the needs of every student in my class."
"Liz was very flexible and always willing to try new songs/activities. She was extremely engaging and my students looked forward to her coming every week."
"Working with Liz really helped me with planning out lessons that involved some type of movement and musical aspect to it, which kept students engaged."
Student quotes:
"Dear Miss Liz, I want to thank you for all the times you came to our room. I have so much fun with you in Peter Rabbit, Bananas and a bunch of other stuff, but most fun of all is spending time with you from beginning to end of the year. Thank you Miss Liz for all the fun times I had. You're the best. Every time you come there is fun in each minute."
"Thank you Miss Liz for singing all those songs. My favorite song is "Can You Feel the Rhythm" because it gets energy bursting. Also it helps get active. Also because we got to shake the eggs. Also because you did the singing and we stopped when you said stop and when you said go we all started to jump, dance and shake our eggs!"
"Miss Liz we will miss you. . . My favorite song is "Peter Rabbit, Yes Ma'am." I have fun with you because you are so, so funny."
"Thank you Miss Liz. I liked every song you did and I liked the song "Clifford, the Big Red Dog" (class-created song). It was so much fun because you sang the song and Mrs. Cedrone (classroom teacher) was playing the drums . . . I liked all the songs and Clifford was the one I loved the most, and it was very fun to sing and record it."
"You are the best singer in the whole wide world."
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