At the conclusion of 10 years of teaching, I started to reminisce about what I have learned. This article summarizes 10 lessons I have learned in 10 years of teaching. After having successfully completed my tenth year as a professional educator, I have come to realize that a lot of what I used to think worked didn’t really … Read more
I started this blog more than five years ago. I have now come to the conclusion of my 10th year of teaching. In this article and the upcoming series, I reflect on some of what I have learned in my 10 years of teaching. A reflection It strikes me that much of what I have … Read more
Denise comments: I am in a teaching program, half way through and I just completed my first to “teaching” classes. Â Now I have this hugh feeling I’ve made a BIG mistake and that teaching isn’t what I thought it was or that I’m not cut out for it. Not to mention the outlook for finding … Read more
I participated in the Reform Symposium recently and hosted a session entitled 10 Things I Wish Someone Had Explained Before My First Teaching Job. Go to the link here. A lot of these things are topics I’ve covered before, but here is what looks to be the outline for now. Professional Sanity Get a handle on classroom … Read more
This year I am in the position to be able to work relatively closely with two first-year teachers and a second-year teacher. I also am working full time with a third-year teacher. One of my primary objectives this year is to be able to talk through some of their challenges and hopefully offer some suggestions … Read more
As the school year winds down, band directors invariably begin turning their minds towards the upcoming marching season. This year, I have a 7th grade percussionist who knows a ton of trivia about Drum Corps International. His father used to march and has taught across the country, so he comes to middle school with a … Read more
Recently, Holly left a comment that brought out a few points. I wanted my readers to address her question, and so I posted that question. In the process of doing so, I realized that her comment (and a few others lately) raised a key question for me as to whether or not I should have … Read more
Today is Blog Action Day. The topic of choice for this year is poverty. I want to approach it from a completely different viewpoint than most of the bloggers are. I want to look at the spiritual aspect of poverty. And seeing the multitudes, [Jesus] went up on a mountain, and when He was seated … Read more
My band sounds good. My band behaves very very well. My band is going to be great this year. This comes as the result of 6 years of learning from my mistakes. It wasn’t always that way. When I got them in August, I didn’t know how it was going to work out. They didn’t … Read more
Pat, over at Successful Teaching, recently tagged me in her blog challenge. She suggested that I write an article about the single most important piece of advice I would give a new teacher. It’s odd that she would write that, as it has been something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. So much so, … Read more