SYWTT on Pinterest Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - August 21, 2016August 21, 20161 I have heard about Pinterest for years but never got into it. I don't need new recipes or DIY projects to not do, so why even bother? Well, I was wrong.As I have been getting back into blogging in recent months, I've begun to see some of the value in Pinterest. As I explore it, I see a lot more value. So much so that I have created a few boards that I regularly update and you may find helpful. If you've never used Pinterest, you can check the boards out below without even going to the dreaded site. You'll be glad you did. They are: New Teacher Resources Teaching Resources Music Ed Links Blogging Resources
July 2016 On SYWTT Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - August 1, 20160 July 2016 was a great month as I continue getting back into the blogging groove of things. Below are some highlights. I discovered Pinterest and began to see that many of the articles on my site don't look so great on there. As a result, I began making images to go along with my new articles. Additionally, I have begun going back through the archives to create images for some of the more popular older articles. As time progresses, I will get to more and more of them. Along with that, I continue going back and adjusting formatting of old articles, as web standards have changed quite a bit since 2007. I have also started work on curating some of the articles by creating resource
35 Inspiring Quotes About the Power of Music Music Education by Joel Wagner - July 12, 2016July 12, 20161 As music educators, we often focus our advocacy attention on the curricular benefits of music and gloss over many of the aesthetic benefits. The power of music is tremendous. Music inspires. Music comforts. Just last week, Darryl McDaniels (DMC from the group Run-DMC) spoke about how Sarah McLachlan's music helped bring him back from the brink of suicide. In our fights over what is curricular, extra-curricular, co-curricular we too easily forget that the emotional element is a large part of why so many students stay involved in school music programs around the world. I collected a 35 Inspiring Quotes About the Power of Music and made a series of images. I have a couple of authors, traditional classical, jazz, classic rock, and modern musicians represented and ordered them by
The Many Benefits of Music Education [Infographic] Music Education by Joel Wagner - July 8, 2016July 7, 20162 Research abounds regarding the incredible benefits of music education. The University of Florida has put together an infographic called "Why Music? The Many Benefits of a Musical Education."Among the benefits listed Benefits to the brain and general learning skills The benefits listed include verbal intelligence, reading skills, fine motor skills, abstract thinking, vocabulary acquisition, and memory. Benefits to academic achievement These include better listening ability, higher SAT scores, higher academic grades, better science skills, greater percentage of extracurricular participation, higher GPA, greater likelihood of enrollment in moderately- and highly-selective universities, much lower dropout rates, and these gains are more pronounced in low-income students. Benefits to life skills and personal enrichment These include helping students become more employable, participate in the political process, volunteer and engage their community, have higher self-confidence,
Six Music Classroom Management Strategies Music Education by Joel Wagner - June 8, 2016June 15, 20160 I recently came across an article by Rachel Maxwell and Jessica Corry called Six Music Classroom Management Strategies. As I read through the list, I noticed many similarities to topics that I have covered frequently. If you find yourself teaching in a music classroom of any sort in the near future, I highly recommend checking out the original article. Teach, Model, and Reteach Routines Use Nonverbal Signals Keep Rules Simple Organize Your Space Play More, Talk Less Consistent Expectations
Lesson Planning 101 General by Joel Wagner - November 9, 2010November 20, 20100 On this post, Karen comments: I need help. I've been teaching in NYC alternative high school for 9 years. I can't get my act together. I can't plan lessons, it just seems like such torture. my mentor(thank you UFT) keeps telling me to keep the objective in mind...well, I can't seem to do it, am I in the Dip or am i just a dip? I don't know where I would go if I didnt teach, but how can I get 20 lesson plans written each sunday? I can't keep it straight, any suggestions? Before I respond, I think you are in the Dip and need to press in a little bit further. You've made it through the tough part.
Do What You Can General by Joel Wagner - April 15, 2010June 30, 20103 This year has been one of learning for me. Physical activity has been a struggle for me for years, and so in January when I decided I would set out to run a 5K this spring, it was a shock to pretty much everyone who knows me. The thing that has most intrigued me has been how much I have learned about life just from this one decision. I intend to spend the summer writing about these topics quite a bit. I also plan to dig into some of the other series that I began on the blog and for whatever reason never completed. Needless to say, I have a good bit of reading and writing that I will be
Find A Mentor (Total Teacher Transformation Day 3) Inspiration by Joel Wagner - May 5, 2009June 30, 20102 This is an article in the Total Teacher Transformation series. Click here for a complete table of contents. Let's play a game I want you to think about your classes right now. Think about the four biggest trouble-makers on your roll sheet. Now imagine, what it would be like if they all got sent to another school. You wake up tomorrow and those four kids are gone. What a great day! But you know what? With them gone, four more kids will step up and strart ruining your life. There is no end to the number of children who will misbehave if given the chance! Even if you only have one kid, they will still act up when given the
Welcome to Education: Now Change Your Plans To Fit OUR Schedule Music Education by Joel Wagner - March 31, 2009June 30, 20104 I was supposed to have my Pre-UIL concert tonight, but we were informed yesterday afternoon that the 7th Graders would be having pre-registration that night instead and they need to use the cafetorium, and gym. Of course! By the time I left school at 5:45 this afternoon, parents were already showing up and trying to go into the band hall. Evidently they had meetings scheduled in there tonight also. Lemme tell you, I can't wait to get to the band hall tomorrow morning and figure out what they've done with my chairs and stands that I had set up for our 7am rehearsal! So in my last article, I mentioned that I require pass-offs and also that I cut students.
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.
Three Basic Classroom Skills Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - October 21, 2008July 1, 201013 When I began turning my band around during my second year, I received some of the best advice ever from one of my former band directors. He noted that he had observed three Rehearsal Skills that were lacking in most bad bands. These same three Rehearsal Skills are present in most great bands. The three skills are: Do not turn and talk to your neighbor when you are not playing. This eliminates the "but we were talking about the music" part of the "DO NOT TALK" equation. Sit still and quiet when the band director is working with another section. I don't have any idea how many times kids got up without asking to during my first two years.
Pacing: What Every Great Band Director Knows Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - September 25, 2008May 29, 20167 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 bad. It was just so unpredictible. But why? What made those days so unpredictible? I honestly think it was a combination of things. But the most important factor in the behavior of the kids had to do with how much dead time they had. How much time they were unoccupied and had to find something to do to keep themselves occupied. How do you keep them occupied? The academic term
07-08: What To Change Next Year General by Joel Wagner - June 17, 2008June 25, 20162 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 changes that I intend to implement next year: Change the focus - Winning is not the only thing that matters. In fact, winning is absolutely fun, but so is doing something well. One of my college professors was a big proponent of the concept that you teach music for the sake of teaching music. He said that when you do it right, the results will follow. I never earned a sweepstakes trophy in all my years of band, even though I was in a really
Audio: 03/28/08 Music Education by Joel Wagner - March 30, 2008July 2, 20105 I recently got a little $20 voice recorded device for my iPod because I figured it might make good quality recordings of class. I was right. Here's 25 minutes from this past Friday's woodwind class for those who want to hear what goes on in my classroom. Not sure if this will be interesting to most of you, but it's worth a shot. Let me know if these are interesting or of value to any of you. The music we worked on is Sakura by Michael Story and Voodoo Dance by Eliot del Borgo. Listen here
Whitespace General by Joel Wagner - March 15, 2008July 2, 20106 Have you noticed that People really don't like As I prepare my bands for the UIL Concert & Sight Reading contest that is now less than a month away, I have noticed that they seem to have a big problem with rests. For the uninitiated, rests in music represent silence. If I reduce the amount of noise that I make, my students will be more likely to hear the important things I tell them As I was talking with one of the classes on Friday about the incredible importance of the rests, I made a correlation about how we don't like rests because people really don't like silence. In the visual arts, typography, and graphic