In many ways, the first few days of school, a time typically wrought with excitement, stress, and extra work for classrooms teachers is different for me. Having spent the last few weeks and much of the summer at home with my 10 year old girl and 7 year old boy, I can honestly say …
Students arrive in one hour.
As I prepare myself for being ready for the ins and outs of the day to day, there's a simultaneous excitement about the many projects I hope to get off the ground this year. Fiddle tunes, fostering a connection with 38 children in northern India, an audio cd, book crafting, crankie shows, new games, songs....it's …
THE SYMONDS MUSIC “OCCASIONAL” Greetings from the music room! In this issue: 1. A Typical Day in Music Class 2. January Themes and activities 3. Request for the contribution of a skill! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Typical Day in Music Class As you may know, “specials” see each class twice a six day cycle. So, for music …
I will be posting again soon but in the meantime, here is a worthwhile bit to read at: http://www.oregonfoto.org/subroutines/eisner.html Here are the "Ten Lessons the Arts Teach" compiled by Elliot Eisner, one of the country's leading art educators. The arts teach children to make good judgements about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum which …
Entry 10/1 Easing in nicely these first few weeks of school. The class configurations (roughly 20 to a class) are pretty workable. Having a para or a tutor in each class make teaching music easy for a couple of reasons. For one, I don’t have to stop an activity if there is a behavioral issue …
Pete Seeger and kids
So the other night I went Pete Seeger's house to conduct a taped interview for a coffeehouse show I'm producing in N.Y. on the songs of Woody Guthrie. After school, I drove the three hours with my friend and cameraman Bucky from Brattleboro, VT to Beacon NY. Having grown up around Pete and the sloop …
Symonds school is a “Responsive Classroom” (RC). RC is a social curriculum used nationally (perhaps internationally, I don’t know). It was born in Western Massachusetts some years back. The Northeast Foundation for Children (NEFC) develops RC and promotes materials and workshops that help teachers and whole school communities develop common language and cultures of caring; …
The First Couple of Weeks(!)
Symonds school is a “Responsive Classroom” (RC). RC is a social curriculum used nationally (perhaps internationally, I don’t know). It was born in Western Massachusetts some years back. The Northeast Foundation for Children (NEFC) develops RC and promotes materials and workshops that help teachers and whole school communities develop common language and cultures of caring; …
Not your traditional take on music in the schools
The common wisdom shared among music educators when discussing the significance of music education usually contains figures on how music promotes skills in math and social sciences and that studies point to that fact that music is a catalyst for brain development. The good news is that there are very few (or perhaps no one) …
Continue reading Not your traditional take on music in the schools
A Fresh Start
This is the first of many posts on the role that the arts WILL play in re-forming our view of education.
Music Saves Education 