Go-Go is Inside: Pre-K Students Learn About Go-Go Music
It’s FUN Friday! Let me see you move! JOYFUL experiences are alway happening at @WheatleyDCPS Checkout Mrs. Sphale incorporating Go-Go into her SEL morning meeting! Go Whales 🐳 @dcpublicschools @teachingchange pic.twitter.com/sFbb0CTmua
— WheatleyWhalesDCPS (@WheatleyDCPS) September 3, 2021
She plays instrumental go-go during brain breaks, uses go-go beats during phonemic awareness lessons to teach syllables, and has even integrated go-go into a dramatic play station where students can make beats with various instruments. Go-go has especially helped Cabrera-Spahle navigate teaching during the pandemic. As her students physically returned to the classroom — and, for some, entered for the first time — Cabrera-Spahle noticed many had difficulty with bodily awareness and spacing, so she has utilized go-go to teach lessons around safe hands, safe touch, and general body awareness. Cabrera-Spahle has incorporated go-go so comprehensively into the classroom, students even request go-go at home.
Cabrera-Spahle credits go-go as a way to “make connections as a community.” She intentionally integrates go-go into the classroom because she wants her students to “know it is theirs and it is important that we keep our history.” Just as she was first captured by go-go’s unique sound as a child, Cabrera-Spahle has brought similar wonder and excitement to her pre-K students at Wheatley. For resources to teach go-go, including lessons and classroom visits, check out the website Teach the Beat.
Kimberly Ellis is an Education Anew Fellow with Teaching for Change and Communities for Just Schools Fund. Read more of her stories.