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www.marthabeesmusic.com/squiltpage.html
by Martha Stanley, NBCT

 SQUILT

for music students

 Super

Quiet

Un-

Interrupted

Listening

Time

Below you will find a graphic organizer to help your students as they respond in writing to a listening selection.

What is SQUILT?

SQUILT was apparently conceived/developed by an elementary music teacher who wanted an organized way to present listening experiences to students. I became aware of SQUILT through my participation on the fabulous list at Music K-8. According to the contributors to that list, a great many teachers use SQUILT in their music classrooms. There are many variations on the original idea - there are many creative teachers!

Typically, the teacher plays a listening selection of three minutes or less on about three occasions to familiarize the students with the piece. Some teachers play it at the beginning of class to help settle the class as it enters and to take role; some play it at the end for the same reasons and also use the time to make entries in their gradebooks. If the originating teacher will contact me, I will give him/her full credit!

My contribution to the SQUILT "body of literature" is the SQUILT form. I want my students to write about their listening experiences in a simple, consistent manner. It is good for kids to manipulate language in thoughtful and analytical ways. This form is a useful tool for integrating a higher-level critical thinking experience into the elementary music classroom. It is not burdensome for the students or the teacher.

Ideas for Using the SQUILT Form

1. Run off the form on recyled paper for your students. Keep a zillion on hand - you can always use them for SQUILT activities, but they are also useful for many other writing activities.

2. Use one of the forms and make a transparency from it.  On it, write the questions you want the students to write about. Project the questions while they listen to the listening selection.

3. After the third listening, have the students answer the questions using their own SQUILT form. Have the students write their answers in the same place that the question is written. For example, if the question is written on the head of the left eighth note, the students should write their answers in the head of the left eighth note.

4. While many of the questions you ask may remain constant, you can always customize your questions for each listening selection.

5.  Run off about 10 copies of the form for each child. That should be enough for SQUILT listening during the year.  Add more if you wish to use the form for more activities.  Bind them together into a journal by using 18X24" construction paper for the cover.  Fold the construction paper in half, insert the forms flush with the inner fold and then staple through all layers two or three times. Let the students decorate the covers if desired.

6. In a completely different vein - - - have your students create their own rondo patterns by writing a different rhythm in each of the note heads and the beam connecting them, giving them A, B and C ideas. Let them decide what order the rondo will be in. What fun!

7. A teacher emailed me and suggested that the SQUILT form can be used as a Venn diagram-type activity. Put characteristics of two compositions in the note heads and put the matching characteristics in the beam.

You can download this in .doc format or .pdf format. You can also copy the .jpg and paste it into a word-processing document. The graphic will copy and paste nicely even if it looks wonky on your monitor.

SQUILT form

 

Contact Me
with your comments, suggestions and other ideas for using SQUILT forms.

Updated 1-18-04