Amy M. Burns

Elementary Music Technology and Integration

Amy M. Burns has taught PreK-grade 4 general music for over 25 years at Far Hills Country Day School (FH) (https://www.fhcds.org/). She also teaches grade 5 instrument class, directs the FH Philharmonic, is the Performing Arts Department Manager, and teaches privately in the after-school conservatory after being the director for over 20 years. She has authored four books and numerous articles on how to integrate tech into the elementary music classroom. She has presented many sessions on the topic, including four keynote addresses in TX, IN, St. Maarten, and AU. She is the recipient of the 2005 Technology in Music Education (TI:ME) Teacher of the Year, the 2016 New Jersey Music Educators Association (NJMEA) Master Music Teacher, the 2016 Governor’s Leader in Arts Education, and the 2017 NJ Nonpublic School Teacher of the Year Awards. Her most recent publication, Using Technology with Elementary Music Approaches (2020), published by Oxford University Press (OUP) is available from OUP and Amazon. Burns is also the Community Coordinator for Midnight Music (MMC) at https://midnightmusic.com/, the General Music Chair for NJMEA Board of Directors, and the Elementary Music Consultant for MusicFirst (https://www.musicfirst.com/), a company built by music educators for music educators, dedicated to helping music teachers and their students make the most of technology in the classroom.

Quick Elementary Songwriting Project for MLK Day

January 19, 2025  /  Amy M. Burns

In the States, we celebrate the third Monday of January to honor the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (1929-1968), who was a prominent American civil rights leader, Baptist minister, and advocate for nonviolent resistance, best known for his role in advancing racial equality and his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Songwriting Lesson

Objective:

  • This lesson integrates facts about his life with songwriting.

Materials:

  • I used this version of the song, Martin Luther King by Theresa Fullbright (1927-2019). found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnGO3B-Q6HY.

  • The lyrics of the song, which can be Googled, contain three verses. Each verse is in an AABA form, or a “same, same, different, same” form.

  • Papers with the verse you choose to use. I use verse 1. On the paper, it reads:

    • He wanted _____ and ____ all over this land.

    • He wanted _____ and ____ all over this land.

    • Martin Luther King was a _____ ______ man.

    • He wanted _____ and ____ all over this land.

  • Another option than paper to meet the Students where they are: I use Seesaw (https://app.seesaw.me/) and place this in an activity. Since we have this program and the students have devices that they can bring to class, they log into their Music Seesaw Class, and then they can use tools that increase the multiple modalities to reach every student. They can use:

    • T Text tool - to type their responses

    • ✏️ Pencil tool - to write with their fingers

    • 🎤 Microphone tool - to record themselves

  • Resources you are using to have your students learn about Dr. King. Here are three options:

Introduction:

  • Ask the students what they know about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and why we have the day off around his birthday. You can use a circle map/graphic organizer to record their answers.

  • Use one of your resources to assist the students with learning more about Dr. King and his life.

  • Afterward, ask the students to tell you what words describe Dr. King and what words describe what he did. Use a bubble map/graphic organizer to record their answers.

Songwriting

  • Give the students the paper or have them login online to their music classroom (we use Seesaw)

  • Encourage them to work individually (or this could be done in groups or as a station) and have them write new words to the ones that are blank.

  • Remind them that the form is AABA or “same, same, different, same” so that once they write and are happy with line 1, they copy it to lines 2 and 4.

    • In Seesaw, they can press the three dots (…) and click “Duplicate” to duplicate the text box to lines 2 and 4.

  • When finished, have them present it to you and/or the entire class.

I Can: I can write a verse of a song about Dr. King.

Extension:

If the students feel comfortable, have them record themselves singing their newly created verses. You could send these recordings to their families.

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