The Art of Encouragement Inspiration by Joel Wagner - June 30, 2016July 10, 20160 By far one of the most successful early posts on this blog was 6 Motivation Techniques. I wrote it in March of 2007, as I was approaching the end of my fifth year of teaching. Now more than nine years later, I realize I was onto some good ideas, but I was off base. In this article, we'll look at the missing piece that would have helped me so much in those early years of teaching: The Art of Encouragement Without motivation, your class is just another block of time that the students have to suffer through. With motivation, you hear things like “hi, favorite teacher!â€Â and “I love this class!†As a teacher, those are the kinds of things that we
5 Reasons I Loved Teaching Middle School General by Joel Wagner - February 9, 2014July 3, 20161 This past summer was a whirlwind tour for me and someday I may share a bit about the amazing experiences I had traveling by myself across the country (including three nights stranded in airports, a fourth of July parade in a small town outside of Boston, following my beloved Texas Rangers to Saint Louis, New York, and Baltimore, a ride to the airport from Shelly Terrell, and an amazing time in some of this country's finest cities). But now is not the time for this. Now is the time to address the biggest change in my educational life. After 11 years of fighting in the trenches, I have finally moved on to the major leagues. I moved on from my previous
50 Things Every First Year Teacher Should Know New Teachers by Joel Wagner - September 2, 2012August 6, 20173 The first year teacher is often a very lonely and isolated person. They often feel like everyone else has everything already figured out, and they are the only one struggling. That is not the case. In fact, so many of us are in survival mode and dealing with our own issues that we forget to help the first year teachers out. Below is a list of 50 things I picked up in my first 10 years of teaching that can hopefully help you through some of those lonely times. I am in my 11th year of teaching now. Where did the time go? One of the top search results that sends people to this blog is "First Year Teacher" so I thought that
10 Lessons I Have learned In 10 Years of Teaching Inspiration by Joel Wagner - June 6, 2012July 25, 20165 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 work...at least not long-term. While some things may be effective in the immediate future, they are not sustainable down the road, and sometimes even backfire if used to often and too early. 1. Love your job and your students No matter how hard you try to pretend you love your job, if you don't, the kids will see right through you. Students feed off of the energy that
Should I Keep My EduBlog Anonymous? Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - April 10, 2011April 10, 20111 A reader writes: I'm currently student teaching. I'm very passionate about music and music education. A couple of years ago I felt a sudden terror when I recognized I was nowhere close to ready to be a successful teacher, and I started delving into as much material as I could and doing whatever else I could (camps, etc) to get ready. Your blog was one of the first good, free resources I found, and I've been reading ever since. So first, thank you for your contributions. This past summer I had a friend start a music blog, and I thought, "Wow, that's a great idea." I love to write, especially in reflection and with the goal of learning from my experiences. I
The Evolution of Marching – 1972-1976 [VIDEO] Music Education by Joel Wagner - May 23, 2010June 30, 20100 As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts. This year, I'm going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I'm taking you along for the journey as well. Today, we'll look at the first five DCI finals. Since video footage is rare from these days, I am really surprised to be able to find recordings from each of these years. 1972 - Anaheim Kingsmen YouTube Embedding disabled, watch the excerpt here 1973 - Santa Clara Vanguard 1974 - Santa Clara Vanguard 1975 - Madison Scouts Another video is available here but the embedding is disabled. I link to this one because the first is a standstill performance, and this one
7 Ways To Impress Your College Professor New Teachers by Liz Cutten - February 21, 2010June 30, 20100 This is a guest post by Liz Cutten, who helps run FindCollegeCards, a college student blog that helps students learn about everything college. All college professors are different, but what you’re going to find out is that all of them are human, and many of them are going to be impressed by the same things. I went to college over 6 years, and what I had found out is that most professors will honestly look at the good students in a different way, compared to those that are bad. Now, I know when you read the title, you’re probably thinking, “I don’t want to be suck up!”, and that’s fine. I’m not writing this to show you
How Do We Show Our Students That We Love Them? Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - November 8, 2009May 30, 20160 When I was struggling to find hope early in my career as a teacher, I came across a few pieces of advice given by King Solomon from the Proverbs: He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly. — Proverbs 13:24 This one jumped out at me as I realized I overlooked way too much misbehavior. I came to understand that by continually letting the students misbehave because I wanted them to like me was actually counter-productive and instead it made them respect me less. More than that, it showed me that whereas I thought I was being loving, I was actually being hateful. That helped me a whole lot as it set me on a
Find A Moment (Total Teacher Transformation Day 1) Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - May 3, 2009June 30, 201010 This is an article in the Total Teacher Transformation series. Click here for a complete table of contents. Congratulations First of all, I want to congratulate you on taking the first step of this journey toward becoming a great teacher! I can't even begin to describe for you the exciting possibilities that await you as you move through these lessons and begin to come over to the other side. If your experiences are anything like mine as I went through this process five years ago, you will not believe that you used to have classes the way you currently do. If you follow the advice here, I can virtually guarantee you a completely different classroom environment before this month is out. To
TGIF, That Means It’s Almost Monday! Music Education by Joel Wagner - January 22, 2009June 30, 20108 Please don't tell me this picture represents your views! As a teacher, and specifically as a band director, I am not a big fan of Mondays. As a worker, I really love Monday. Why? Great question. Why I don't like Mondays Kids generally don't practice over the weekend. This means that part of Monday is spent recovering and getting the band to sound the way I want it to sound again. Anecdotally, I find that the students are less focused on Mondays than they are on Wednesdays or Thursdays. Those days seem to be the best teaching days of the week. Often, I will plan my schedule with that assumption. More on that later. This week we didn't have school on
10 Keys To Unlocking The Best Possible Student Teaching Semester Ever New Teachers by Joel Wagner - January 4, 2009February 26, 20115 I am getting emails coming in and have some friends who are about to start student teaching. Many of them seem to be expressing the same fear about going into student teaching. As we quickly approach what will for many be the first week of student teaching, I thought it would be helpful to throw out these 10 keys to unlocking the best possible student teaching semester ever. I was fortunate that I had been teaching private lessons for three years already in the district where I student taught before I began. My school had a two semester process, with the first being mostly observation and the second being full internship. I spent far more than the required 8 hours
Just How Important Is Excellence? Personal by Joel Wagner - December 13, 2008July 1, 201011 I love competition. I thrive on competition. I love being able to get a group of kids to create a powerfully musical performance. These are tremendous things. But I have come to realize that this is not the most important thing we can do. If we lose sight of why we are in education and focus solely on winning (having the most kids pass TAKS, getting more kids in the all region choir, having an undefeated volleyball season, or whatever), we miss out on an opportunity for some of the greatest education we can provide. As a band director, I struggle to ensure that my pursuit of musical excellence does not overtake my desire to provide a high quality education
A Modern Retelling of an Ageless Classic [VIDEO] Personal by Joel Wagner - December 2, 2008July 1, 20101 I love the visual effects employed here. Note the extensive use of whitespace. Greatness! Oh yeah, the message is incredible too.
My Teaching Philosophy: The 50 Word Version General by Joel Wagner - November 16, 2008July 1, 20101 If I accomplish nothing more, students should leave my class with a deeper grasp and appreciation of music. I strive to nurture an environment of love, respect, high expectations, and high achievement, primarily by teaching and implementing basic classroom behavioral skills. Fifty word post inspired by Abraham at 22 Words.
The Single Most Important Advice Anyone Can Give To A First Year Teacher Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - September 21, 2008July 1, 20109 When I first started out teaching, I desperately wanted the kids to like me. To this end, I ended up letting my classes get out of control. A handful of things contributed to this: Concerning myself with every matter that was brought to my attention Allowing kids to mesbehave Trying to get the kids to like me Yelling at kids Arguing with them So I learned how to get control. If this sounds like something you might have trouble with, I encourage you to check out these articles in this order: You Better Smile Before Christmas! How Do I Keep My Students Quiet? Arguing Is Normal, isn't It? 5 Surefire Tips For Handling Misbehavior Make Love