So, you have seen many Spanish teachers talk and post about March Music Madness, but perhaps you still have questions.
For this reason, I decided to create a blog post beyond the regular music activities in Spanish class to address March Music Madness in high school Spanish classes.
I am also going to be doing a PD for this mighty engagement activator!
What is March Music Madness?
Basically, it is a musical tournament that last several days (and maybe even less days because you are in charge here!).
While there are several versions of this tournament, the original idea dates back to 2014 when Justin from SpanishPlans.org first came up with it.
Why Should I Participate?
There are several reasons for why I recommend you participate in March Music Madness:
- There is no right or wrong way to be part of the tournament!!!
- You can do as much or as little as you would like.
- It is perfect for March as it really elevates student engagement and students will get to acquire many words and target phrases depending on what you do with it.
- Massive opportunities for teacher collaboration as many materials are already created for you by many wonderful collaborators!
- It is a nationwide collective movement (more like a phenomenon in our Spanish teaching communities
) , and this is pretty cool to share with high school students.
) , and this is pretty cool to share with high school students.Do I Need to Purchase Resources for This?
You really don’t have to, and you can carry out the entire March Music Madness tournament without buying resources, but I highly encourage it.
The creators of these tournaments put a lot of planning into it and I believe it is a great way to say THANK YOU!
Justin has already organized all of the INCREDIBLE resources you will need in his blog!!!
Check out everything that is included in the free resources!!! You won’t believe your eyes.
Resources You Can Purchase to Bring this Activity to Life in Your Class!!!
If you would like detailed instructions to go all out with this activity, you can get support from Justin’s TpT store and purchase the accompanying March Music Madness Resources for this year! They are worth every single penny!!!
I will add more images to this blog post, as soon as I have my classroom updated and decorated with the awesome resources!!!
So, How To Carry Out March Music Madness?
Like everything else, it is all about how you present it to your learners. The excitement you get all depends on how much excitement you put into the presentation!
Will EVERY student be super excited? No, but the majority will be, and there is music for everyone’s liking in this tournament.
Throughout the years, I have done MMM with my learners in different ways.
My first year, I only showed them the songs, and we voted. Honestly, it was all the mental bandwidth that I had at the time, and I also did not want to stop my units.
On a different occasion, I went all in with the event…and it paid off!!! This is the reason I am sharing this blog post with you today!
Here are some suggestions of effective activities so that the time is well spent:
- Print all individual music brackets and allow each student to fill their own. You can even host a contest at the end.
- Go ahead and set up your bulletin board or wall size bracket while you are at it!
- Daily…Introduce the artist with comprehensible language to reinforce language they have already acquired.
- Daily or not…Play an interpretive listening game with the artists’ introductions to check for comprehension.
- Daily or not…Do a write and discuss about the artist.
- Daily or not…Sing part of the song
- Daily or not…Play other song, high-engagement games. Check out all of my music blog post for these ideas.
- Have students vote every day.
- Host dance challenges.
- Guide student through culture with videos of some of the songs that may contain cultural highlights, and also do map talks!!!
An Example: Encouraging Students to Connect with Songs with Text for Self Connections
A song is a powerful, authentic resource that often gets overlooked. Additionally, it may also get used at the very surface level, when in reality we can take it to a much deeper level with the proper scaffolds and an engaging activity.
Usually, after we listen to a song and students connect with it, I invite my students to write a thoughtful response to the song by creating a Tweet.
This is what their tweets look like:
These were the instructions I gave them:
This activity is guaranteed to lead your students to output thoughtful song connections that they’ve made, as well as lengthy song reviews, in the target language in paragraph form!!!
Try it yourself! Get it from my Tpt Store! You won’t regret it!
Have Additional Questions?
Grab this Free PD on Suggestions to Make the Most of March Music Madness!!!
I, along with my friend Sra. Galo, will be offering a free webinar with tons of ideas and suggestions to implement March Music Madness in your Spanish classes!!! Join us this Monday, Feb. 28th, 2022 at 8:00 PM EST!
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