Happy new year! I’m enjoying the last few days of my Christmas break, but also starting to put some details into my plans for the upcoming term. We’re having one week of online learning at my school, to give people
Are choice boards really that great? (Yes!)
Choice boards have exploded in popularity, especially with the expansion of online learning. They allow for differentiation, creativity, and student agency. You can use them to practice skills and concepts, build inquiry projects from them, or just use them for
Focus on the positive: 18 great things about online learning
I miss my students. I also have concerns about being back at school with hundreds of students in a pandemic. It’s easy to get pulled down right now, so today I am focusing on the positive. If you are disappointed
Singing and Online Learning
Singing is central to music classes in primary school. But with many teachers going online, we are facing new challenges that none of us were trained for. In all of my music teacher circles, people are asking for tips on
Streamlining your distance learning
While thinking about a plan for online learning, in case the coronavirus continues to spread, one of the things I’ve thought about is how much time I will spend making videos—not just the recording, but setting up, preparing materials, recording
12 EASY Ideas for Distance Learning in Elementary General Music
With schools in harder-hit countries closing due to the new coronavirus, I know I’ll have more colleagues around the world who are forced into online learning or some other kind of remote learning (for students without dependable internet access). So
12 EASY Ideas for Distance Learning in Early Years General Music
The coronavirus situation is still pretty stable, so schools here are open for the foreseeable future. But with schools in harder-hit countries closing, I know I’ll have more colleagues around the world who are forced into online learning or some
Online Learning for Music Teachers
With the novel coronavirus on our shores, there is talk about what might happen now. We are anticipating the possibility of schools closing in order to stop the spread of the virus, in which case we would need to go
How to Respond to *Those* Emails
You don’t need to be in teaching for very long before you get one: the angry parent email. Resist the reaction to send an anger-fuelled message back. Parents come and go, but your reputation will follow you forever. Here’s how to respond.
Easy Classroom Hack for Recording
With this brilliant hack, the students aren’t self-conscious, and their individual voices are captured on the computer, louder than the other voices in the room.