If you’re a music teacher looking to make your lessons run more smoothly, keep students engaged, and cut down on classroom chaos, Classroomscreen might be exactly what you’ve been waiting for. This all-in-one digital tool acts as a home-base digital whiteboard and is packed with handy widgets that help your students stay focused, and your lessons stay on track. Whether you’re running a choir or band rehearsal, teaching music theory, or guiding a composition workshop, Classroomscreen is a one-stop platform to help cut wasted time and increase learning!
In this blog, we’ll be exploring Classroomscreen and all of the things it can do to tidy up your classroom management in the music classroom. Read on to learn about this fun and functional free tool.
What is Classroomscreen?
Classroomscreen is a modern digital whiteboard with integrated widgets that can be placed and moved throughout the screen. It serves as a consistent organization platform for many things that happen inside your classroom.
Why Classroomscreen Works for Music Teachers
Classroomscreen is great for addressing common classroom pain points like time management, student engagement, and task organization. Its widgets allow you to display instructions, set timers, monitor noise levels, and even form random groups on the fly. Instead of juggling multiple tools, apps, or tabs, Classroomscreen combines everything you need into one easy-to-use platform that you can project at the front of your classroom.
Here’s a sample Classroomscreen setup from Katie Argyle:
Essential Classroomscreen Widgets & Tools for Music Class
Here are some must-have widgets for music teachers to drag and drop onto their Classroomscreen:
- Embed: Easily embed a Powerpoint presentation, Canva slides, a YouTube video, Spotify playlist, and more right onto the screen.
- Timer: Keep warm-ups, theory exercises, and practice sessions on schedule.
- Sound Level Monitor: Visually show acceptable noise levels during individual or group practice.
- Randomizer: Fairly select students for solos or section leadership.
- Text Box: Display instructions, key terms, or daily learning objectives.
- Group Maker: Quickly create balanced small groups for ensemble practice (plus you can secretly ‘blacklist’ certain students from being grouped with other certain students – hidden from public display).
- Poll Widget: Check student understanding with quick multiple-choice quizzes they can answer on their devices.
- Traffic Lights: Quickly signal independent practice time or if students should be wrapping up.
- Timetable: Display an overview of what materials, concepts or pieces your ensemble will be working on as a schedule or list.
- Text box: Place reminders, special notes, or a student task on your screen.
- Countdown to Event: Easily display a countdown to your upcoming performance or event.
- QR Code Generator: Help your students quickly navigate to a website by creating a QR code they can scan on their own device.
- Scoreboard: Display a clickable scoreboard for games and competitions.
To view all of the available widgets, click here!
Time-Saving Tips for Lesson Planning with Classroomscreen
Save time by pre-setting timers and creating reusable templates for recurring classroom activities within your Classroomscreen.
For example:
- Use pinned widgets to keep certain tools consistent across multiple screens.
- Create a public view link to share with your substitute teacher for planned absences.
- Create student name lists and save them to reuse (3 name lists included in the free plan).
- Embed content into your Classroomscreen to save yourself wasted time opening multiple windows or tabs.
- Enable the stopwatch or timer features to track your movement between different activities or to challenge students to shorten their time.
Gallery of Sample Music Classroom Widget Setups
1. Traffic Light with Embedded Image and YouTube Video for Clarinet Sectional
2. Bellringer Question with Textbox, Draw, Countdown Timer, Schedule, and Event Countdown Reminder
3. Rhythm Game with Music Symbol Stickers, Drawing, Scoreboard, and 3 Option Dice
Template Library
The Classroomscreen Template Library is a collection of ready-to-use screens that teachers can instantly pull into their own Classroomscreen setup. These templates, created by both Classroomscreen and fellow educators, come pre-loaded with widgets, instructions, and activities tailored to various grade levels and subjects.
The best part? They’re free and fully customizable, letting you tweak any element to match your lesson goals.
Cost and Accessibility
Free Plan
The best part of Classroomscreen is that most basic functions are completely free to use with no signup needed. All you need to do is to go to the Classroomscreen App to get started! Note: Be aware that refreshing your screen will delete your Classroomscreen on the free version. The free version also allows for 3 saved name lists (with an account).
Pro Plan
If you need more functionality, the pro plan ($29.90/year, increasing to $36/year in 2025) adds features like saved screens, custom themes, and up to 100 name lists.
Final Thoughts
Classroomscreen is a wonderful and easy-to-use tool that makes lesson planning easier and enhances classroom management while making it more fun. With just a few clicks, you can create interactive, organized lessons that keep students engaged and focused. Ready to check it out for yourself? Visit Classroomscreen’s website to explore their free version and view their template library for even more ideas!
Have you used Classroomscreen in your music classroom? Share your thoughts below!
Want more resources for music tech teachers?
Hello! I’m Katie Argyle – an Australian music technology trainer and consultant with a passion for helping music teachers through my business Midnight Music.
I’m a qualified teacher but no, I don’t currently teach in a school. I help teachers through my online professional development space – the Midnight Music Community– where there are tutorial videos, courses, links and downloadable resources.
I like to focus on easy ways to incorporate technology into what you are already doing in your music curriculum through a range of creative projects. I also run live workshops and have presented at countless conferences and other music education events.
If you want simple, effective ideas for using technology in music education, I would LOVE to help you inside the Midnight Music Community.
