My Music Playlists!

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Y’all have been asking for these at conferences for AGES…. I am sorry it has taken me so long… and the silly thing is, it is probably going to be the easiest blog I’ve ever written… I just have to copy a few links and hit share!! WHAT?! Why haven’t I done this sooner!?

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I always talk about the importance of having MUSIC on in the background of your classroom ALL the time… You have it on LOUD, so that you can at any point hit your “mute” button and then boom, it is already on for you! This is brilliant for transition time or to mix the kids up to find different partners or for brain breaks, then just as easy as you “turned it on” you just hit the mute button again and it is off! You can read a whole blog about this here. Now, people always ask, WHAT music I have playing in the background.

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PANDORA

I used to use Pandora (but I didn’t pay for premium)… It became too risky to do this because of the commercials… I teach a couple of elementary grades this year and a sperm donor commercial came on one day…. needless to say I was SO thankful for that MUTE button that day, but I just didn’t want to mess with that anymore. If you already pay for Pandora Premium or you don’t care about the commercials, these are the Spanish stations I would recommend (typed just like this into your Pandora search bar):

  • Caraluna
  • Bacilos
  • Gypsy Kings
  • La Oreja de Van Gogh
  • Jessie and Joy
  • Buena Vista Social Club

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The reason I like these stations is, 9/10 times the songs that come on are appropriate and have a good beat to them for movement (they aren’t too slow). For the beginning of the class when we do silent Do Now work, I play one of these two stations (again typed exactly like this into Pandora):

  • Piano Music Radio
  • Flamenco

It is good to play songs without words or songs that students DO NOT know during work time… You’ll notice if you play your song of the month playlist during the do now, most of the kids are singing and dancing (even quietly) rather than having 100% of their attention on completing the do now. But can you blame them!?

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SPOTIFY

So NOW that I am not using Pandora, I use Spotify! I do pay for a membership each month. I am going to share MY playlists with you so you can follow them if you’d like, or you can get ideas to create your own!

It is made up of songs that we’ve HAD for song of the month or songs that we WILL have in the future. So students are pre-exposed to the music (and therefore tend to be excited and like it more when they hear it is the song of the month) or they are excited when it comes on because we’ve had it before, they recognize it, love it, and sing along.

This is what I have playing in the background most of the time in my classes. I just click “shuffle playlist” at the beginning of the day and hit the mute button knowing it will always be on in the background. Some of our songs of the month are also on this station. For the Do Now, I normally switch the station below that I found (someone else created) but there are TONS of playlists on Spotify you can search for, listen to, then use.

If you prefer to use Apple Music, feel free to take a look at my Spotify playlists and get song titles from there to add to your apple music.

There you have it! Took me long enough! I hope you’re enjoying your week (hopefully one of the last before your summer break!)

Until next time,

HAPPY TEACHING!

Love,

La Maestra Loca

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10 Comments

  1. Wow, I was able to add your playlist to my Spotify account. I always give you credit in my class for being the first Maestra Loca.

  2. Good Morning! I just read your post and I thank you for the information. I also use Spotify after an unwelcome “commercial” played on Pandora! Yikes, I teach in a Catholic middle school and that was interesting! Anyway, I have a Spotify subscription and I use the “mute” button on the keyboard all the time. I love it and it’s such an easy thing to use – my students love music and we are always playing something in the background.

    I was looking at your Spotify lists and I was wondering how you incorporated your Bitmoji on the playlist? I want to do this too. If you get a chance to reply great! I really appreciate it. Have a wonderful weekend.

    Susan O’Connor Middle School Spanish Teacher St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and School 12508 Lynn Avenue Savage, Minnesota 55378 soconnor@stjohns-savage.org

    An academically rigorous school guided by Catholic values.

    On Thu, May 23, 2019 at 12:10 PM La Maestra Loca wrote:

    > La Maestra Loca posted: “Y’all have been asking for these at conferences > for AGES…. I am sorry it has taken me so long… and the silly thing is, > it is probably going to be the easiest blog I’ve ever written… I just > have to copy a few links and hit share!! WHAT?! Why haven’t ” >

  3. You are an amazing person and obviously teacher! I always enjoy reading your blogs and I always learn something from it. Thank you for always sharing ❤️

  4. Great playlist. I added La Niagra en Bicicleta (Juan Luís Guerra) and Shakira’s Ojos Así and Ciega, Sordomuda to an Apple music playlist I shall name La Maestra Loca in your honor. You are an amazing, generous teacher.

  5. A million thanks for posting this link to your lists. I wanted to increase my own exposure to Good Spanish during the day so I downloaded your playlist to my phone so I could listen as I walk. I plan to use it a ton in class too this year. Finally got Spotify premium so that I could play in background and not worry about ads since I teach in a conservative middle school.

    I am new to this and still have to figure out how to add my own songs to a playlist I have downloaded but will look for Juanes Sueños and Bandera de Manos which are awesome to use with a class.

    Thanks for your generosity, I always read your emails and blog posts and am constantly learning.

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