Reply To: Guitar class with a sub

[nafmeadmin]

I see in your profile you teach elementary/middle school students. A sub with music experience but no guitar experience can have its advantages. For your age level students here are some things you can try:

1) Simple rhythmic dictation. If you have a piano in the room you can have the sub hand out staff paper (they are available free on the internet) and have them play predetermined simple rhythms to the students to write out. It’s a great activity and helps students develop their listening skills.

2) On the flip side you can also do this with simple melodic dictation. This is more challenging for students yet again, it helps them develop their “ear”.

3) Another fun activity is to have a contest in each class (age appropriate more for younger students) with two teams. One student from each team takes turns going to the board and writes answers to music items you taught in class. Good for review.

3) If the classes are mature enough, they can also practice on their own. I teach high school. When I am absent I have my students in Guitar 1 classes practice on their own. The always have work to do. For my four Guitar Ensembles I have them do sectionals and collaboratively work together to improve their parts.

Hope this is a spring board for you.