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4 Strategies For Exceptional Learners educational tips exceptional learners teacher tips Dec 22, 2020

      Whether you have a self-contained class of exceptional learners or a few are part of the general population of your classes, having strategies on hand to help these students will help them (and you!) in the long run. The great thing about these strategies is that they will...

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Three Things from an IEP that Every Music Teacher Should Know exceptional learners iep teacher tips Dec 08, 2020

      When it comes to IEPs, it can be overwhelming for the non-special education teachers to think about. Heck, it’s even overwhelming at times as the seasoned special education teacher, too! What is an SDI? Why should I look at their goals? What is a PBSP?! All these...

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Fostering Community with Other Teachers music teachers teacher tips Nov 17, 2020

      2020 has been a strange year for all of us! If you’re feeling overwhelmed or scared or frustrated or any number of emotions, I hope you know you’re not alone. What I’m here to tell you is that you should never feel alone! In our profession, there are a...

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Using Music to Teach Other Subject Areas and Collaborate with Other Content Areas educational tips teacher tips Nov 10, 2020

 

      As a specialist and quite possibly the only music and/or content area teacher in your school building, collaboration with other teachers is important. This helps you build relationships with other teachers, which is fantastic, because being a specialist can be...

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Music Classes with Self-Contained Classrooms educational tips exceptional learners teacher tips Nov 06, 2020

 

      Have you ever encountered a situation where you stood back and said, “Woah, no one prepared me for this”? Well, many music teachers I have conversations with tell me this when they are told they have to teach music to self-contained...

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Work-Life Balance as a Music Teacher mental health music teachers teacher tips Nov 03, 2020

 

      School is back in session!  Whether you are going in-person, online, or hybrid, this season is undoubtedly busy, with a never-ending list of lessons to plan, meetings to attend, and emails to send or calls to make.  It is difficult to find a balance between...

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Tips to Calm First Day Jitters for Teachers back to school first year mental health teacher tips Sep 15, 2020

      We all know students get anxious about the first day of school, but so do teachers!  I have struggled with anxiety and jitters leading up to the first day of school every year I have taught. 

      Along the way, I’ve come up with the...

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7 Things to Do Over Summer Break to Prepare for Back to School back to school first year summer break teacher tips Sep 08, 2020

 

“Summertime! And the living is easy!”

      Those words from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess really sum up summer break for me. Summer is a time for teachers to recharge and spend time with family and friends they may not have seen during the...

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You Got Your First Music Teaching Job, Now What? first year music teachers teacher tips Aug 11, 2020

 

      Congratulations! You’ve just received that long-awaited job offer you worked so hard for! Now that the offer has finally come, you can hardly contain your excitement -- and for good reason! You are about to enter one of the most fulfilling career fields out...

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The Worst Advice About Elementary Music music teachers teacher tips Aug 04, 2020

 

      Let’s face it. We’ve all gotten some pretty terrible advice for how to teach elementary music. On top of that, the majority of this advice is entirely unsolicited.

      I asked a group of elementary music teachers on Facebook to share...

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Regrouping After A Particularly Rough Class mental health music teachers teacher tips Jul 14, 2020

      Let’s be honest, one of the amazing things about being a music teacher is that we get to see so many students in one school day. By doing this we are able to make a difference in the lives of hundreds of students in a single day, which if you ask me is absolutely...

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5 Reasons to Have a Music Teaching Portfolio first year music teacher journey student teaching teacher tips Jul 07, 2020

 

      So you finished student teaching, and are putting applications in left and right trying to find your first teaching job. As a new graduate, you need to do everything you can to set yourself apart from the other applicants. One easy way to do this is by creating a...

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