One of the greatest challenges that I had as a first year teacher was with classroom management. I’ve mentioned that a number of times before and I think most first year teachers go through that. As with most, I noticed that I had some days where the kids were good, and others where they were … Read more
Blogging makes me a better teacher. It’s clearly not the only thing that makes me a better teacher, but it is a tremendous benefit. This is the second installment in my series on 10 Things I Wish I Knew As A First Year Teacher. I have previously written on this subject back in January (8 … Read more
This article is the first in a series of “life lessons” exploring some of the things that I have learned over the years. In this one, we explore the concept that experience is the best teacher. Life has with it certain milestones that we reach and we stop briefly to analyze where we are going and … Read more
This article was recently featured in the Carnival of Education, #180. Check it out if you haven’t already! I was recently asked about how I handle student absences and make-up work. As a band director, generally an absence simply means they missed out on a rehearsal and we don’t have a lot of make-up work … Read more
For an updated list of iPhone apps I actually use in band class after over year of use, check out 20 Ways I Really Use My iPhone To Teach Band Class I haven’t gotten a new cell phone in the last two years, so I am excited about this opportunity to upgrade. My decision to … Read more
As we begin the summer vacation, I am looking back on what went really well this year, what didn’t work so well, and what needs to change for next year. Below are some of the positives about this year: Remaining calm – Despite circumstances this year, with the other band director having a stroke and … Read more
As I have written before, I was terrible at classroom management. My first two years were miserable. I hated teaching. Then it happened. I absolutely believe that I would be the same teacher today that I was then if it had not happened! You see, I wasn’t fired but in a moment I lost my … Read more
DISCLAIMER: Please read all of the comments and this article before taking this things too seriously. The reasons given in here are real concerns that I have, but they are definitely outweighed by a number of much more positive elements of teaching. For a more serious look at the situation, please read 9 Reasons To … Read more
A few weeks ago, I wrote about an experience I had where a student left my classroom crying and went to talk with the counselor. Read about it here. Be sure to read the comments below the article also! Since then, I apologized. I also made the commitment to slow down my teaching style. I … Read more
On February 11th, 2007 I wrote the first blog post that is included in the archives of So You Want To Teach? I didn ‘t actually set up the blog on this domain until June, but I thought that since the blog was now over a year old (at least as far as some of … Read more