Past Music Ed Tech Talk guest, Theresa Hoover, has a new book out with Kathryn Finch.
All too often the music classroom stifles students with one-size-fits-all curricula and repertoire. In Pass the Baton, authors Kathryn Finch and Theresa Hoover turn that paradigm on its head, offering a vision of music education that empowers students as critical thinkers who exercise voice and choice to question, discover, connect, and play like never before—in and out of the classroom.
Pass the Baton offers readers a comprehensive guide to crafting engaging music lessons that transform students from passive consumers to vibrant creatives. Whether you’re looking to rethink general music or overhaul your ensemble groups, Pass the Baton is chock-full of generative, actionable, and impactful tools. Finch and Hoover have drawn on deep research and years of experience in the music room to provide a guide for all music educators to create a learner-centered environment and give students the opportunity to truly own the creative process.
Giving students leadership in the classroom is the one sure way to make sure they understand and engage with your instruction. Though this book has been in development for a long time, I think it’s worth noting also that these strategies have huge relevance in an online or hybrid learning environment, just as they do in person. Click the link above to check the book out on Amazon and purchase it.
You can listen to Theresa discuss the book with me on the podcast episode she was on here. That episode was great fun to record and we covered a ton of topics including student engagement, tech tools, productivity tips, and virtual teaching strategies.