The Responsive Classroom

This past week's mentoring meeting focused on The Responsive Classroom.  While the focus is on use in the classroom teaching realm, I find so many elements that can be reinforced or adopted into the music class every time I learn more about Responsive Classroom.  So much of the material is very applicable to music education.

"Responsive Classroom is a widely used, research-backed approach to elementary education that increases academic achievement, decreases problem behaviors, improves social skills, and leads to more high-quality instruction."

Differentiated Instruction in Music Education



Differentiate!!

 "Effective teachers have been differentiating instruction for as long as teaching has been a profession. It has to do with being sensitive to the needs of your students and finding ways to help students make the necessary connections for learning to occur in the best possible way." teach-nology.com

"Differentiated Instruction makes it possible to maximize learning for ALL students. It is a professional and responsive mind-set where the teacher is proactively planning for the needs of diverse learners.
Most teachers naturally differentiate to some degree. The more differentiated a classroom, the more its students feel successful and motivated, resulting in higher student achievement." differentiatedinstruction.com

October Music Education Blog Carnival!!

Dr. Joseph Pisano of MusTech.net is hosting the Music Education Blog Carnival for the month of October... and one of my more "mysterious" posts is included!!!

Dr. Pisano presents a variety of terrific resources for music education, private music teachers, Recreational Music Making (RMM), music technology, music advocacy, professional music networks, and music composition.  Please check out the carnival!

September Education Buzz

Ahhh...the weekend! It's here after our first five-day week of the year, and it's a great time do check out the Meet the Teacher Edition of the Education Buzz–Life's a Carnival, hosted by Richie at Bellringers! I'll be taking some of my busy weekend time (between going to a workshop for cooperating teachers at SRU on Saturday and hosting my youngest child's third birthday party on Sunday, with soccer, dance, and church thrown in the middle!) to read all of these terrific entries!



...and here's the birthday girl!



Teacher Attitudes: What makes an impression on your students?"

Recently, I attended an excellent workshop for cooperating teachers at Slippery Rock University. Part of the presentation included a discussion panel of five university students, ready to embark on their student teaching assignments this fall.  The students answered a series of questions about their needs, skills they want to improve, and concerns that they will bring to the student teaching experience.  Finally, the students were asked about attributes of their own most memorable teachers.

September Music Education Blog Carnival!

Sing Imagination is hosting the Music Education Blog Carnival for the month of September... and one of my posts is included!!! Sweet!

As if our minds aren't swimming in enough to think about at this back-to-school time, Yoon presents a plethora of terrific resources for music education, music technology, music advocacy, music listening and performance review, music hardware/software, and music tips/learning reflection. I can't wait to start reading, I just have to find the time! Please check out the carnival!

The Networked Teacher

Check this out:

When I started teaching in 1999 (last century!) 64% of this would have been very puzzling. At that time, I could have told you how to use exactly five of these networks for educational purposes. (I was fresh out of undergrad; chat was soooo not used for educational purposes on my campus!) Can you believe how lucky we are to have instant access to so much information?  As teachers, we should be more efficient and better educated than anyone who has come before us! Is it any wonder that our brains are feeling a little fried??!  And I know I'm not alone in blaming technology for my lack of sleep; each night after my children are tucked in, I'm online waaay too long at night, and I'll admit, it's not always for professional reasons!

Back to School...Already!?

That's right, I'm heading back to school after less than a week of summer vacation! I'm going to Duquesne Unversity today and tomorrow for an Early Childhood Music Initiative Professional Development Workshop!  I'm looking forward to learning some new strategies, and meeting new people.  And another big plus is that this professional development opportunity is FREE!  That doesn't happen very often, so I'm glad to take advantage!