Category: online teaching

Recently, I received the following question from a reader:

“Hi Joy, Can you see doing your “Music of the World” camp as an online camp? Thanks!”
–C.M. from New York

Great question! I haven’t tried it myself, but after thinking it through my answer is yes, I do think this camp would work very effectively offered in an online format. What follows are a few thoughts about how to do this.
The goal of the “Music of the World” camp is to increase the students’ awareness of and appreciation for cultures that are different from their own through experiencing the music and studying the instruments of other countries.  Students will have a blast hearing the music from other cultures and learning about each counties’ musical instruments, landmarks, and animals.

Each day of camp focuses on a different country. The curriculum includes a set of slides and YouTube playlists for the teacher to use each day. In an online format, the teacher can screenshare the slides and music during a Zoom meeting. Easy!
This camp also includes a variety of arts and crafts activities. The key to facilitating this in an online camp format, I think, would be to provide students with the printed materials in advance. I suggest creating a “goodie bag” that can be dropped off at students’ homes or a “camp packet” that can sent through the mail. The printouts can be organized by day using paper clips, with each stack labeled using sticky notes (e.g., “Day 1”).

There are four craft projects included in the camp lesson plan for students to create their own musical instruments. Some of these materials can be included in the goodie bag, while others can be gathered by the parent/student ahead of time. I suggest giving parents a shortlist of any materials students should have on hand during online camp. For example: pencils, scissors, crayons, glue stick, craft materials, and a snack for snack break.

Another activity included in the camp involves a “passport”. I suggest assembling each students’ passport in advance and including it in the goodie bag. Ask parents for a photo of each student so you can print and glue it inside the passport. During camp, students can fill in their personal information and glue each day’s visa stamp inside the booklet.

The only other modification to the camp I might suggest would be to modify the age range slightly from what is suggested in the original lesson plan. Rather than offering the online camp to ages 5-12, I would suggest ages 6-12 or even 7-12. It’s possible younger ages might have a harder time focusing online and completing some of the writing and crafting in this camp, so it might be smart to adjust the age range accordingly unless you personally know the students’ attention spans.
I hope you can see how the Music of the World camp curriculum can both fun and extremely effective in both an in-person and online format! Either way, the camp experience (as with any curriculum) just requires a little forethought and planning. 🙂
Learn more about the Music of the World camp curriculum here.
Your turn: Have you ever offered a camp to your students online? Please tell us about it in the comments below!

Thanks for reading! Have your own question to ask? Submit it here, and your question could be featured in a future blog post!

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