Providing innovative ways to teach music in the classroom.
By Kristin Clark Taylor
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It’s Friday evening and as our interview is about to begin, Becki Pochon looks at me with a bright, eager smile.
Perhaps I should clarify: It’s not actually Friday evening for Becki. It’s early in the morning — because Becki is joining me, via Zoom, from her marvelous music classroom in Busan Foreign School in Busan, South Korea. Regardless of the thousands of miles that unfold between us, however, it’s clear that this elementary music teach and choir director has a song of praise she’d like to sing.
And sing she does.
“Quaver helps make learning feel fun for my students,” she says with that bright smile.
“Their all-time favorite song, especially with my 2nd and 3rd-graders, is called ‘Blastoff!’ and they love it because it feels like they’re blasting into space!”
Without hesitation, she launches into the melody: “Go and tell everyone what we did in Outer Space today!” she sings in a clear, happy voice.
“’Blastoff!’ is a count-down song,” she explains, “so when the kids start singing, ’10! … 9! … 8! …’ they just get so excited! Seeing them so happy and excited makes me happy and excited. I have Quaver to thank for that,” she says.
Try “Blast Off” with your students!
“Quaver gave me Solid Ground to stand on.”
Becki is no stranger to Quaver. Before she moved to South Korea two years ago to teach music in Busan, she was a music teacher at Bonner Middle School in Danville, Virginia, where she already used Quaver in her classroom.
“I was already familiar with the exceptional quality of the curriculum before I moved to South Korea,” Becki puts it plainly. “And I knew I wasn’t going anywhere without Quaver coming along with me. In fact, it was the one and only request I made to my new boss – and I made it right up-front, during the job interview!”
A huge move indeed, but it’s clear that Quaver’s easy-to-use resources and customizable curriculum helped make Becki’s relocation across the globe feel a little less daunting.
“The transition I had to make was major,” she readily admits. “Not just from teaching middle school to teaching elementary, but moving to another country. In many ways, it felt like I was a beginner all over again … because I was.”
But Becki says Quaver provided a solid, stable foundation that allowed her to place all of her emotional and physical energy into making a smooth transition and being the very best teacher she could possibly be for her new students.
“I guess you could say Quaver gave me solid ground to stand on. Here I was, a new teacher in a new country, but having Quaver in my classroom gave me the confidence I needed.”
Her smile continues to shine; her enthusiasm fills our shared space like a bright light.
“I follow the curriculum pretty much to the tee. I see other teachers struggling to get their plans together and develop their curriculum, but I don’t have to worry, not even for a second. This allows me to put my students first.”
The Fish Make it Fun!
Becki describes a recent struggle with trying to teach her students a lesson in note duration. “They just weren’t getting it,” she says.
“Then one day, almost by mistake, I flipped to the very end of Quaver’s 1st-grade lesson on ‘Notes and Rest,’ and look what I found!”
She holds a handful of colorful cut-outs up to the screen; I lean in closer to get a better look.
“I found these colorful little fishies!” she says with excitement. “I printed them out and then I made some fishing poles with pencils and magnets” — she holds the pencils and magnets up for me to see, too – “and before I knew it, my students were fishing! We had fish all over the place!”
Becki describes how she required each student to hold their fishing pole for a certain duration before they could catch a fish and place it into their basket. “And guess what? We learned about note duration!”
Whether it’s a handful of colorful fish, a singing trip into outer space, or making a major move to a new country to teach K-5 music, Becki says Quaver helped make it all possible.
She flashes that happy smile again and holds up a few more brightly-colored fish.
“I couldn’t do any of this without Quaver.”
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Kristin Clark Taylor is an author and a journalist.
