User Guide

How to Use MAPS

Overview

MAPS helps teachers quickly find practical music teaching activities that can be adapted to different classrooms. It provides flexible teaching activities rather than complete lesson plans that must be followed exactly.

Five Steps to Find and Use the Right Activity

STEP 1 — SEARCH

Start with a teaching need

Enter the words that most closely describe your teaching goal. You do not need to decide which MAPS category a term belongs to before searching. Activity fields and search tags will connect your keyword with relevant results.

Content you are teaching, such as syncopation, dynamics, intervals, or harmony
A skill students need to practice, such as ear training, sight-reading, or improvising
An activity format, such as singing, movement, games, or listening
A specific classroom need, such as steady beat, call and response, or group coordination

STEP 2 — FILTER

Match the activity to your classroom

Search answers “What activities are available?” Filters help answer “Which activities fit this lesson?” Combine filters when the musical content, teaching context, or classroom organization matters.

Teaching Context describes where, or in what instructional setting, an activity can be used: General Music, Class Piano, Individual Lesson, Theory / Sight-Singing / Ear-Training, or Ensemble / Choir.

Musical Concept
Musical Skill
Activity Type
Teaching Context
Learning Approach

For example, combining Tempo, Movement, and Class Piano can quickly locate a movement activity for practicing tempo in a class piano lesson.

STEP 3 — PREVIEW

Look inside before opening the full activity

You do not need to open every full activity page. Start by scanning the title, primary tags, illustration, and one-sentence summary on each activity card. When an activity looks promising, open Quick View to see the Activity Title, Summary, and Procedures without leaving the results page. From there, you can decide whether to save it or open the full activity page.

STEP 4 — SAVE

Keep useful activities for later

Save any activity you may want to return to. You can save directly from Quick View by selecting the heart icon. Saved activities are available from your account menu. If you are signed in, you can also organize saved activities into your own collections, making it easier to group ideas by course, unit, student need, or teaching purpose.

STEP 5 — ADAPT

Make the activity fit your lesson

When you need more detail, open the full activity page. Use the following sections to decide how to prepare, teach, and adapt the activity:

Summary — Understand what the activity is and its basic goal
Procedures — Follow the sequence of actions used in the classroom
Activity Preparation — Confirm the materials or conditions needed before teaching
Variations — Find ways to simplify, increase the challenge, or extend the activity
Activity Sources — Review the source and any organization or adaptation completed by MAPS

MAPS activities are starting points, not scripts. Adjust them for your students’ ages, prior experience, group size, available time, and learning goals. The same activity may introduce a concept during one lesson and later serve as practice or informal assessment.

Take the activity, not the entire lesson.

About Activity Sources

MAPS provides source information when it can be confirmed and notes relevant organization or adaptation. For the complete policy, see the Copyright and Content Use Notice on the MAPS website.