Falling Behind Personal by Joel Wagner - January 25, 2009June 30, 20105 I have an admission. If you've emailed me in the last year or so, you may have caught on. The thing is...I am behind. On like everything. With work, church, and mariachi, I tend to remain pretty busy. But when I'm home, often I will sit here looking at blogs, playing catchup in Google Reader or my email, checking my blog stats, checking out Facebook, chatting with friends, and doing all sorts of time-wasting things. These things are all right in and of themselves, but when combined, they lead to me neglecting things such as basic housekeeping, laundry, filing my bills, cooking, and even sleeping. Then I find a burst of energy, sit down, start sorting through my emails, and
Reader Appreciation 2008: Pat Hensley Reader Appreciation by Joel Wagner - November 5, 2008July 1, 20102 November is Reader Appreciation Month at So You Want To Teach? This year’s focus is First Year Teaching Tips. There’s still room if you want to participate! Contact me and let me know your answer to this question: What are some things you wish you had known before you started your first year of teaching? Today’s response is from Pat Hensley, the author of Successful Teaching. Knowing how to set up a grade book and weighing different assignments Have a support system Meeting with other new teachers and sharing day to day problems Technology (computers in the classroom didn’t exist back then) Constructive criticism from someone who actually taught in my subject area Real textbooks (I had to dig mine out of the textbook
The Honeymoon Is Over: What Killed My First Teaching Job And 7 Tips For Getting Your Next Job New Teachers by Joel Wagner - April 3, 2008June 26, 201611 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 first teaching job. What happened? We had a friend of mine come in to work with the high school band and the two junior high bands. He is a retired band director and is an outstanding clinician. He came and worked with all three bands. My band (the second junior high band) was bad. I knew that. I had kids who would talk back to me and just
Loving My Job; Hating My Work Personal by Joel Wagner - January 18, 2008July 2, 20108 Even if you ignore the majority of this article, check out the last sentence. I am absolutely loving school since coming back from Christmas Break. Even so, I am beginning to get burned out. If you want to know why, go read this. He's still not back yet and it's all but certain that he will not be coming back next week either. Still no clue when I can expect him.I wrote an email to my principal today, some edited excerpts follow: I love teaching and I love rehearsing the bands, but I am very tired. The students suffer as a result. More than anything else, that is what breaks my heart about the whole situation. It’s not that I
The Vitality of Collaboration Music Education by Joel Wagner - May 30, 2007July 5, 20100 Most of the band staff went to lunch today. We spent about an hour and a half at a pizza buffet, mostly talking and not eating pizza. Collaboration is a good thing, if done correctly. Here are some key elements that I observe when I work with colleagues: Have fun Relax Focus on positives Don't spend all the time talking about work Don't spend much time talking about negative things Do spend time discussing teaching strategies that work for you Don't take yourself too seriously Learn something from everyone you can, even if you learn what not to do Planning is good. Planning as a group is one of the most effective ways to plan. No matter how