Around the country (and specifically in my home state of New York) politicians are forcing more and more evaluation on teachers. While observations and evaluations aren’t bad in and of themselves, it’s helpful when they are minimally invasive to our class material as opposed to evaluations such as a standardized test. Charlotte Danielson’s “Framework for Teaching” covers what we teach inside the classroom as well as what we do outside and it is perfect for us using popular music.
My school district has used the Danielson rubric for a few years and (warning: humblebrag) I have achieved perfect scores each year using popular music in my general music classroom. Some of the key points of the evaluation rubric (much like the Common Core or Core Arts standards) include elements of student engagement and few music lessons allow your students to take the lead more than popular music.
In order to go from a 3/4 score to a 4/4, you need to move from teacher-driven instruction to more student-led opportunities. Having students share recent experiences with popular music, choose accompaniment patterns to a song they’re learning, a students forming groups to learn a song together are just a few ways the teacher can take a back seat and let the students lead the way.
Don’t be scared to show your observing administrator what you can teach with popular music; creating, performing, and responding. All of it can be student-driven with teacher guidance for you to get that perfect evaluation.
Next read: CHARLOTTE DANIELSON’S “FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING” AND MUSIC COMPOSITION ASSESSMENT
@MattWarrenMusic
MattWarrenMusic 
[…] my previous post on the Danielson framework and popular music, this lesson is tailor-made for a perfect score, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need […]
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[…] cappella singing a good first step for adding pop music to school curriculum (2/22/2015) Danielson’s “Framework for Teaching” encourages popular music use in schools […]
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