by Karen Salvador and Keith Corbett Copyright © 2016 National Association for Music Education DOI: 10.1177/0027432116655199 http://mej.sagepub.com www.nafme.org 55 Can an educator who planned to teach high school ensembles become an enthusiastic music educator for young children? Karen Salvador is an associate professor of music and the music teacher certification program coordinator at the University of Michigan—Flint; she can be contacted at ksalvado@umflint.edu. Keith Corbett teaches K–8 general music, band, choir, and theatre at Chatfield School in Lapeer, Michigan; he can be contacted at kcorbett@chatfieldschool.org. “But I Never Thought I’d Teach the Little Kids” Secondary Teachers and Early- Grades Music Instruction Abstract: Even in states with K–12 music licensure, not all music education students take a course in elementary music methods, and even fewer take a course that specifically addresses early childhood music instruction. In this article, a music teacher educator and a self-described “band guy,” who initially struggled to work with young children, present strategies and mindsets that evolved through coursework, coteaching episodes, and interviews. During these interactions, the former “band guy” developed not only into an effective music teacher for young children but also into someone who enjoys working with “the little kids.” Adopting these strategies and mind-set could help music educators who struggle to work with young children, thus improving the qual- ity of music instruction for children in the early elementary grades. Keywords: DAP, early childhood, early elementary, instruction, kindergarten, music, preK, secondary, strategies NAfME is glad to offer recognition of professional development activity to you for reading this article. Please follow the link below and complete a short quiz to receive your certificate of completion. bit.ly/TeachingTheLittleKids T wenty-six kindergarten students stand “frozen,” breath coming fast, grins on their faces, sparkling eyes turned to Keith. They have been playing a move- ment game in which different ways to move through the room are signaled by differ- ent patterns played on a drum. Keith says, “Please come sit in our circle,” and the kids break their “statues” to head for the circle marked on the rug. While the students are getting settled, Keith sings “Donkeys Like to Munch on Carrots.” The kids listen to him sing this new song. Keith adds flicking hand motions on the beat, and the students copy him. After a few repetitions, many students join in singing. Keith brings out xylophones and metallophones, and groups of children take turns playing on the home tone while the rest of the class sings the song a few more times. When the song ends, Keith moves the xylophones and metallophones out of the way while chanting “My mother, your mother live by guest on September 5, 2016 mej.sagepub.com Downloaded from