Comments on: The Essence of Hope http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-essence-of-hope/ Providing HOPE for educators since 2007 Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:59:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Joelhttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-essence-of-hope/#comment-2816 Joel Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:04:21 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=626#comment-2816 <a href='#comment-2798' rel="nofollow">@Becky</a> - Read <a href="http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/reminders/" rel="nofollow">my response here</a>. @Becky – Read my response here.

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]]> By: Joelhttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-essence-of-hope/#comment-2815 Joel Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:58:31 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=626#comment-2815 <a href='#comment-2805' rel="nofollow">@Nancy Flanagan</a> - Wow, that's a great idea. I started working on a simple chorale (Essential Elements 2000 Chorale on page 12) yesterday with my band. I explained that I can demonstrate a handful of things with my conducting. (1) Tempo (2) Dynamics (3) Attack (4) Note Length It's great hearing a 7th grade band respond so well to these kinds of things. @Nancy Flanagan – Wow, that’s a great idea. I started working on a simple chorale (Essential Elements 2000 Chorale on page 12) yesterday with my band. I explained that I can demonstrate a handful of things with my conducting.

(1) Tempo
(2) Dynamics
(3) Attack
(4) Note Length

It’s great hearing a 7th grade band respond so well to these kinds of things.

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]]> By: Nancy Flanaganhttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-essence-of-hope/#comment-2805 Nancy Flanagan Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:15:53 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=626#comment-2805 Nice thoughts--and while you're hoping, remember to seek a little joy along the way. Sunday night is "hope night" for me, as a teacher. After dinner, I put on some awesome music (a must) and sit down to sketch out what I hope to accomplish in the next week. This is much more than filling in the lesson plan book (yuck! the planner, with its uniform boxes, seems designed to make all lessons boring). The Sunday night think session is more than deciding what to DO in the next five days--it's about deciding what's important. Is there a story I can tell? Is there a piece of music that will illustrate a skill? If my learning goal is getting them to watch the conductor (and I know that's one of your goals) will I be better off playing a clip of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" with all its little glitchy tempo shifts--or merely calling out "Watch me!" Or both? I do my hoping on a yellow legal pad, long size. I jot stuff on it as the week goes by. Then I pull off the sheets and staple them together. I have filing cabinets full of this stuff. Very occasionally, I go back and look at them, but I find that my hopes, dreams and goals change over time. Nice thoughts–and while you’re hoping, remember to seek a little joy along the way. Sunday night is “hope night” for me, as a teacher. After dinner, I put on some awesome music (a must) and sit down to sketch out what I hope to accomplish in the next week.

This is much more than filling in the lesson plan book (yuck! the planner, with its uniform boxes, seems designed to make all lessons boring). The Sunday night think session is more than deciding what to DO in the next five days–it’s about deciding what’s important. Is there a story I can tell? Is there a piece of music that will illustrate a skill? If my learning goal is getting them to watch the conductor (and I know that’s one of your goals) will I be better off playing a clip of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” with all its little glitchy tempo shifts–or merely calling out “Watch me!” Or both?

I do my hoping on a yellow legal pad, long size. I jot stuff on it as the week goes by. Then I pull off the sheets and staple them together. I have filing cabinets full of this stuff. Very occasionally, I go back and look at them, but I find that my hopes, dreams and goals change over time.

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]]> By: Beckyhttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-essence-of-hope/#comment-2798 Becky Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:10:39 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=626#comment-2798 Joel ~ Thank you so much for your article on hope. I was sitting here staring at a stack of papers that need to be graded, wondering how much longer I can take the stress that is piling up on me. I am in the middle of KTIP (Kentucky Teacher Intern Program--for new teachers), and the extra work that is involved with it is about to push me over the edge. I need to step back and remember why I am doing all this. It is so easy to get distracted by all the meetings and never-ending to-do list. Joel ~ Thank you so much for your article on hope. I was sitting here staring at a stack of papers that need to be graded, wondering how much longer I can take the stress that is piling up on me. I am in the middle of KTIP (Kentucky Teacher Intern Program–for new teachers), and the extra work that is involved with it is about to push me over the edge. I need to step back and remember why I am doing all this. It is so easy to get distracted by all the meetings and never-ending to-do list.

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