Part of the reasoning behind selecting the Ukulele for this project was how diverse the instrument is. Throughout the semester, I have been observing at a school with a guitar class, and I thought the ideas and assignments were excellent, so I am borrowing heavily from that teacher.

They always start with a class-wide warm-up, normally with call and response. They have a textbook and have been playing out of that, which could work if there was a ukulele one, but at the beginning of the term the teacher gives each student a pre-compiled songbook, and each class they play a few songs out of that, and the teacher will sing normally, and if the students feel comfortable and able to sing and play at the same time. Some assignments they do are a songwriting assignment and a group composition which they performed for the class. The compositions were lovely and very relaxing. The students stepped up to the challenge and did an incredible job since all of them have been learning to read music as well as learning to play guitar.

These assignments are both excellent for ukulele class as well. Additionally, having the students create their own strumming pattern could be educational because the strumming pattern you use can change the tune you are playing substantially. Near the end of the semester, you could give students the option to pick any song they like (as long as it is lyrically appropriate for school) and learn and record themselves playing it, documenting their progress with video diaries that can be privately uploaded on youtube, emailed directly or on google classroom if that is being used. It can serve as an inquiry for them, and they can play a song they really enjoy and document learning it!

These are ideas for now, but if I was ever teaching a class in the future, I intend to return here to look back on this post and ideas and use some!

-K