To All the Teacher's I Admire

  "Harmony at Home: Researched Benefits of Singing with Your Family" Singing at home with family is more than just a joyful activity; it's a scientifically proven means of enhancing well-being, fostering emotional bonds, and promoting cognitive development in individuals of all ages. From the youngest members to the more seasoned participants, engaging in musical activities within the family setting has been shown to yield a myriad of positive effects. In this research-based article, we explore the evidence supporting the practice of singing at home with your loved ones. 1. Emotional Well-being: Numerous studies have highlighted the positive impact of singing on emotional well-being. Singing releases endorphins, commonly known as "feel-good" hormones, reducing stress and promoting a sense of happiness. A research study published in the "Journal of Positive Psychology" found that group singing significantly increased feelings of well-being and decrease...

 When I think of school starting I want to run and hug my own kids.  They inspire me to work harder and find more solutions. As school starts soon for so many teachers I wonder if they get nervous to re-kindle their artistry as I do.  I think so often "how am I going to get started" or "how can I remember how to connect with kids in real-time." Last year during Covid-19 when things were really tough, teachers bonded, united, and found new ways to do so many lessons.  Teachers looked at their lessons objectively and discovered what was important and what could be let go of.  As we re-boot this year, will we still remember to re-boot and re-kindle those lessons?  Driving into the first day of school today made me wonder about teacher artistry.  I wondered who had written about it and what was significant. I discovered a great article on my i-phone and was reading just a bit while driving and then decided to continue this pursuit later. Important realizat...

  Meetings or Meanings? When I think back to starting in my educational pursuit, I dreamt of becoming a singer, sharing songs with those that would listen. I loved music, any music, singing it, playing it on my french horn, or even practicing the piano when I had time in college. I think now to teaching, the expectations whether it's meeting the demands of the curriculum, more and more meetings with colleagues, or student's music learning, developing their ideas into realities: educating turns into and is born from a meeting. I know that we are bound by obligations. Meetings are one of those expectations. It is possibly out of obligation to meet that meetings have turned from deep and meaningful conversations and sharing of ideas and dreams into many other things. Some colleagues may really look forward to meeting and discussing, learning from each other. I know from my very first two weeks of teaching that was what I looked forward to. My best colleague in the whole world turn...

  There it is again - a cookies invitation to accept! Educators have faced so many "cookie" invitations these past months that facing each day is building new abilities never known possible. Just this morning, I opened up my lesson plans which were technology-centered, then the internet shut down. So I created new plans and thought about the relevance to what the curriculum I had intended to teach and discovered this plan too, was able to achieve what I needed to accomplish today.  Just like each challenge that is thrown our way, these "cookies" are certainly presenting themselves often! Daily I have wondered recently if these "new opportunities" will continue to present themselves or slowly ebb away. Just today we were faced with many districts around us shutting their doors due to inclement weather while we did not close, of which has become our standard. We are open for education and our district has taken a stand on developing resiliency in all: studen...

  To all the teachers I admire: If you are feeling frustrated with a student’s workability…….pause and ask yourself what really matters right now: the assignment or the child’s emotional state? If you are seeing patterns of behaviors crop up about kids’ disengagement…..pause and ask yourself what really matters right now: building a bridge with this student or correcting the behavior? If you see that students are off task but connecting with other students…...pause and notice what are these students doing right now….can you redirect positively or is it important to control the students’ thinking? As the end of the year begins to wind up, pause and take a moment for yourself: How are you feeling?  What have you done to refresh your energy for the day and the week? We are in the marathon of Covid-19.  We are teachers that care and inspire learning.  Owning our strengths and pushing aside the normal tendencies could become our true growth mindset. Allow yourself to paus...