F-flat’s Guide to Summer Professional Development Get ready, friends! In this post, we’ll share our recommendations for summer professional development that is relevant, meaningful, and fun! We are so lucky to have such a strong community of educators and authors, and many of them are busy sharing their [...]
The bell rings. I see a group of adolescents walking into my room. Under my mask, I’m smiling. But, inside, I’m anxious. I just received an email from a parent who’s upset about a situation that occurred in class the day before; I’m questioning the way I handled [...]
As a college music major with a demanding schedule, how do we begin to take care of ourselves in ways that are meaningful? In this blog, we will be navigating through what self-care is and how we can embrace it in a way that nurtures us to [...]
A Music Teacher’s Guide to Soundtrap Like all good broke college students, I have a very old laptop - almost 7 years old in fact. It’s very possible that my MacBook Pro has been running on the same software update for as long as I’ve been able [...]
As a Music Education major, I am not a stranger to the extraneous workload, unbalanced and crazy class schedules, and a lack of clarity in when/how to take breaks. It can be argued that music degree programs are some of the most demanding in the University curriculum. [...]
I have roughly 200 playlists in my Apple Music library. Not the algorithmic ones that our benevolent tech overlords provide for us - my very own creations. 200 of them. Perhaps that’s more than any sane human should have. Most of them are for me. Some are [...]
I read an article by social psychologist Amy Cuddy and JillElyn Riley titled, "Why this stage of the pandemic makes us so anxious." I also heard Amy Cuddy talk about this article in an interview with Brene Brown and the term "pandemic flux syndrome." As an educator, everything [...]
Today’s Topic: Summertime Self-care Today’s Tip: Decolonize your self-care routine by taking a thoughtful and holistic approach to mental and physical wellbeing Background Information: Summer is the perfect time to take stock of how you’ve been feeling since the close of the school year. Maybe you are still experiencing [...]
Today’s Topic: Culturally responsive teaching with exit tickets (fostering joy) Today’s Tip: Utilize daily exit tickets for qualitative data that informs your practice. Exit tickets work! Since the pandemic started, I have been using exit tickets to gauge student engagement and understanding. It started as a [...]
I remember playing an original song at my first open mic night. I was 17 years old and a senior in high school. Until that point, I had written some original songs that I would play around with but never felt confident with my voice or playing to [...]