by Glen McCarthy | Jan 16, 2013 | Classroom, Education, News, Tips + Tricks
A Day in the Life – An Ode to Week Two Week two in guitar class we concentrated pretty heavily on notation on strings one and two. Most all of my students learned the notes B,C,D,E,F, and G in sixth grade with their introduction to guitar. So theoretically this is...
by Glen McCarthy | Jan 11, 2013 | Classroom, Education, News, Tips + Tricks
A Day in the Life – Fretboard Test As 2013 started I was dealt a new batch of students in all my sections. I teach 4 sections of sixth grade general music (we do a 6 week unit on the guitar as an introduction to the instrument as a part of this class), and two...
by Glen McCarthy | Jan 10, 2013 | Classroom, Education, News, Tips + Tricks
A Day in the Life – Teaching Middle School Guitar John Lennon sings … “I read the news today oh, boy About a lucky man who made the grade” I start this blog today as a very lucky man. One who has been fortunate enough to have found a line of work that makes me truly...
by Glen McCarthy | Jan 5, 2013 | Classroom, Education, Tips + Tricks
Suggestions for sub-plans? Plans for substitutes are tricky in a guitar class. I never had the kids get the guitars out on those days. They most often did worksheets related to the guitar. Several of the textbooks include a teacher manual, and there are great...
by Glen McCarthy | Nov 28, 2012 | Classroom, Education, Tips + Tricks
How do you do assessments….especially in classes of 30 – 40? When I was teaching at Ernest Becker Middle School in Las Vegas in 1996-2002, I had many of the same questions. In large classes, it is difficult to do assessment unless you have a plan. In my...
by Glen McCarthy | Nov 16, 2012 | Classroom, Education, Tips + Tricks
What I Have Learned About Teaching Beginning Guitar in the Classroom by Bill Swick Lesson 1 The more students there are in the class, the slower the pace, the more times it is necessary to repeat things, and modeling and classroom practice become of the utmost...
