New readers are coming to this blog all the time. As a new reader, the comments below will show you some of the many ways that reading this blog can be beneficial for you! I have received a large number of comments and emails from people who tell me that they have been inspired to … Read more
Think back 5 years. March 2004. It feels like an eternity ago! For me, that was when I really hit the wall. That was when my head director told me that my contract would not be renewed. I resigned in lieu of nonrenewal. I spent the remainder of the semester learning like crazy. In fact, … Read more
A reader wrote in with the following story. I don’t even know how to begin to respond to it, but I’ll add some thoughts at the end. Hopefully this reader’s experience will serve some of you somehow in the future. When I interviewed at my school, it appeared to be everything I wanted in a … Read more
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 … Read more
Mr. Teacher has one of the most entertaining blogs I’ve seen. In fact, I recommend his blog Learn Me Good to most of my friends who are looking for restroom reading material! I have recently written a guest post for him that will be appearing over there sometime in the next week or so. While … Read more
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 … Read more
I told one of my former college professors about my blog shortly after it first started back in 2007. She liked what she saw and decided to use some of my material in one of her classes. In fact, she used So You Want To Teach? as an assignment for one of her classes this … Read more
I’ve noticed something lately. I have gotten a handful of comments and emails from people who seem to be teaching in what appears outwardly as a hopeless situation. I contend that the problem very rarely is in their situation. The problem rests in the lost joy and the long forgotten hope they once had. The … Read more
Today is my 30th birthday. I have summer band this morning, and then not much else planned the rest of the day. I’ll probably end up writing a more substantial blog article about this later on. On that note, I have been out of touch with the blogging world lately. I guess it has a … Read more
Thanks to Joel for allowing me this opportunity to post an article on his excellent site! In my short time as a blogger I have written a few posts which have elicited quite a few e-mails, These include posts about the fish bowl lesson, how teachers may create student failures, and ideas about teaching denotation … Read more