March Music Madness 2021 FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
This annual competition is held every March and features 16 songs from the previous year. For each bracket, students listen to two songs and vote for their favorite. The song 
with the most votes moves on in the tournament.
Students can vote online at SpanishPlans.org/mmm21/vote
When does this start?
The 2021 tournament starts on Monday, March 1st and runs through Friday, March 20th.
However our tournament is flexible so that you can do it in your own classroom at any point.
How do I participate?
Download the official bracket from SpanishPlans.org/mmm21. You can pass these out to students. Each day in class play the songs for that day’s bracket and have your students vote for their favorite. A link with a playlist of the songs will also be posted.
For the first round, I personally do not show the official video, as I want the students to focus on the music/song itself and not vote based on the video. You can choose to show the lyric video instead?
How are the songs chosen?
All songs must be released within the past 12 months. We start by looking at the top hits of the year and weed out the inappropriate songs. We look for songs that are popular and would likely be heard on the radio within latin stations in the US. We try to include a variety of genres and also look at the awards shows to find award winning artists.
Are these songs appropriate?
The songs have been screened for their appropriateness for a school setting. That being said, you should preview the song before to make sure it is appropriate for your particular school setting. All videos should be appropriate for most school settings, however, you will want to screen any videos before showing them in your classroom.
Do I have to vote online?
Online polls will be set up so that students can vote with their peers across the nation. Voting will be conducted through an online poll so all votes must be entered from an internet-connected device.
Teachers may direct students to the voting page or you will be able to send them a direct link to the poll. You might send this link to students via email, your own website, sharing the url in class, or posting to a class management sites like Google Classroom.
Students find it motivating to vote when they are voting with a national audience. However, you could also vote in class and choose the winning some from your own classes/students. You can also do both and compare your classes tally with the national poll.
Do I have to follow the same schedule?
No, you can choose your own schedule, however, the “official” winner, as voted on by our national poll, will be determined by the end of the 2nd day of the poll.
However, we realize that every school has a different schedule, especially this year due to different hybrid and online settings. Also, many districts have a week for Spring break at different times during the year. For that reason, we make our bracket available for teachers to choose how to best use it in their own classroom according to a schedule that makes most sense for them.
If you wish to team up with other teachers who are using an alternative schedule and create your own polls, try to find teachers to collaborate with in our Facebook group. You are welcome to use these alternative schedules.
How long will the polls be open?
The polls will be left open for teachers who are not following the official schedule on the exact same schedule, but the official winner will be determined by the number of votes received at the end of the second day.
Do I need to buy anything?
Nope. Participation in the tournament is completely free as teachers can download the bracket, access a playlist, and vote all on our website. We do offer a product that includes all the printable materials (brackets), as well as full lyrics for all songs, and 8 ready-to-use activities for 8 of this year’s song. We also give you 18 ideas on creating your own activities for ANY song, whether for this tournament or at any point of the year. If you participants and want to support us, you can purchase our product on TpT. Join our facebook group to collaborate with other teachers and share materials.
Prizes?
Oh yes! We are hosting a contest open to teachers only. Before the tournament starts, teachers can submit their predictions on which songs they think will win. No purchase is necessary for teachers to participate in the tournament or the contest.
If you wish to do prediction brackets with your own students, we have a survey that is included in our March Music Madness 2021 packet, which you can purchase.
For any additional questions please ask below, or post on our Facebook group, or on any of our social media @spanishplans.
Social Media:
Tag us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @Spanishplans and use the hashtag #MusicaDeMarzo21
SpanishPlans.org 