Sub Plans
Never-Fail Music Videos PERFECT For Teacher Absences
My hat goes off to the many music teachers who write elaborate activity-based lesson plans each time they’re out of the classroom, and even more to the substitute teachers who implement those lesson plans successfully. In my experience however I’ve found that activity-based sub plans tend to be an enormous challenge to guest teachers who have no musical training (which is most), and I’ve come to the conclusion that using high quality, educational and inspiring music videos is a far more effective use of this precious time.
However, it takes the right kind of videos to maintain the attention of young learners, and finding developmentally appropriate and purposeful music videos is a task that I never knew would be so hard. Over the years I’ve tried many videos that I thought would fascinate my students as much as they fascinated me, only to find out from my subs that they fell flat during my time away. Still, I have managed to assemble a collection of videos that I’ve found to ALWAYS work. These are videos that inspire me, my students, and my guest teachers, and because we don’t regularly take the time to watch videos like these I’ve found that using them in my sub plans is a win for everyone!
I’ve organized these videos into two lists: one that tends to be more successful for lower elementary (grades K-1) and one that tends to be more successful for upper elementary (grades 2-5). Below each video shows its length, and I encourage my guest teachers to allow student role models to pick which video they’d like to see next until the class time runs out. I don’t worry about showing videos multiple times over multiple absences, and I don’t mind kids exploring both lists if time allows. The truth is kids will WANT to see these videos over and over again, so I don’t even keep track. Ads are also removed when played through this webpage.
Sub plans don’t have to be complicated. I know how hard it can be to take time off as a teacher, but I hope this page helps you inspire your kids through an authentic, practical, and creative approach to music education!
If you believe in the mission of Bow Tie Music, and if you'd like to support my work so I can keep doing it for as long as possible, you can send me a tip at buymeacoffee.com/BowTieMusic. I am incredibly honored and grateful that you'd consider sending anything my way!
For hundreds more great lesson ideas and notifications of new posts added regularly, make sure you subscribe to BowTieMusic.net and YouTube.com/BowTieMusic.