Month: August 2021

What in the world do you do to get mentally prepared for a school year like this?

Are you feeling the “Sunday Scaries” as you think about all of the unknowns that face us this year and wonder how you can stay grounded and not let it impact your mental, emotional, and physical health?

You know the symptoms that show up when you are struggling as a teacher …

  • Sleepless nights
  • Constant worry
  • Feeling overwhelmed
  • Not knowing what to do to plan for the unknown
  • Overeating
  • High blood pressure
  • Unwinding with excess alcohol
  • Relying on medication to relieve or mask symptoms
  • Collapsing at the end of the day with no energy left for your own family
  • Aches and pains that are exacerbated by stressors
  • Fear that your program is falling apart under these conditions

How are you supposed to show up for your students when this is so hard on you?

I don’t have all the answers, but I do have a few strategies I can share that will help you move into this school year a little more grounded and with a couple of tools to give you the stamina you’ll need to do this important work without burning out.

If you’d like to …

  • Learn a strategy that you and your students can master that diffuses excess energy and helps everyone settle in and focus before you dive into content every day
  • Feel healthy and grounded even when external forces seem to be doing everything in their power to cause stress
  • Have a reliable way to lower your heart rate / blood pressure when you feel anxiety and overwhelm
  • Develop the SuperPower of helping students feel peaceful in your presence so they can focus on the content and community you are teaching them

… then join me on Tuesday, August 31 from 4:00 to 5:00 Pacific time for an Intention Setting Session where I will help you get some clarity on how to approach and set up this year for less stress and more success.

This will be a live session with the opportunity for you to interact and ask questions. My intention is to give you a couple of useful tips so you can rest easier when you think about the upcoming school year.

THANK YOU for your dedication to music education. You are changing kids’ lives through your work. It matters.

With you on this journey-

Lesley

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85880658705

How Are You Feeling As We Return to School This Year?

As we step into the new school year, are you filled with joy and enthusiasm or is the stress of teaching for a third year during a pandemic putting a damper on everything you usually love about being a music educator?

This has been hard. And conditions aren’t likely to improve any time soon.

But the show must go on. We must somehow continue to deliver high-quality music experiences for our students, in spite of all the challenges we are facing.

Over the past several years, I have been helping music teachers find a healthier balance between their personal and professional lives so they can do this important work for a long time. During the pandemic, my clients and I intentionally worked in ways that supported ourselves and our students so we wouldn’t burn out.

Did having a group of supportive music educators by their sides help these music teachers navigate the unusual circumstances? Ms. G, a middle school band director says:

“I love Lesley’s classes!!! Every week Lesley always wows me with her new ideas and lesson plans, Seeing the whole picture and zooming out on the goals she’s set up for her kids has been so helpful and sparks new ideas for me. I feel so supported and inspired, and she makes me feel confident that I can tackle this “new normal” with a good plan and some stillness. I look forward to class every week and am excited when rolling out these new lessons and seeing my students progress every week. She’s able to respectfully coach and talk more specifically about what my students need in my teaching situation and she does this for each student in her class. What I’ve learned has been invaluable and has made me a calmer teacher who has been more present with my students and has actually enjoyed teaching during a pandemic.”

I was going to retire in the spring of 2020. The next step in my professional journey was going to be exclusively coaching music teachers. I realized that in order for me to best serve the music teachers with whom I work, I needed to stay in the classroom and actually practice what I teach, so I am returning to the classroom again this year so I can continue to support my students and be an effective coach for music teachers.

I am opening up a couple of spots for music teachers who are interested in being part of Music Ed Masterclass. In this group, we deep dive into your specific challenges and I teach strategies that support your social and emotional health so you’ll have the stamina to support your students in their musical and personal growth.

This is what I am passionate about. I’ve done a lot of things differently than many music teachers during the course of my career, and each year I survey my students to find out how they feel about their experience in my classes to make sure their needs are being met. Here’s their feedback from this past year … after spending 14 months completely virtual and 9 weeks in hybrid learning since March of 2020.
Are you ready to have less stress and more job satisfaction? Do you need some ideas about how to find balance and how to adapt among all the changes and stress?

Fill out a brief application to see if we’d be a good fit to work together. I will personally review it and reach out if I can be of service.

This year is sure to be full of all kinds of situations that will be stressful. Let’s make sure you are prepared to handle it.

With you on this journey -Lesley
Apply Now

Stepping Into A New Year with Sustainable Strategies

In spite of what the stupid title of my book claims, stress is inevitable.

Your response to stress, however, is what determines how you (and your students) ultimately get through the year.

As we head into a third school year being impacted by the pandemic, we have so much more to do than just teach kids how to play music.

For many of us, we lost the opportunity to have our students play music together in ensembles because we were teaching remotely or had other obstacles that prevented us from doing the very thing our classes are intended to do. It’s tempting to want to jump right back to doing things just like we used to now that we’re going back to full-time face-to-face teaching. But after 18 months of non-traditional learning, our students (and we) need more than that.

👉 How we step into “Music Ed 2.0” is important. It’s all about building a safe and strong community for our artists.

Things are different now. That doesn’t mean they are worse, but they are different.

Where to you even begin when it comes to reestablishing routines, traditions, and all of the other things that are the foundation of our music programs after losing those opportunities and experiences for the past year and a half?

It’s going to take a lot of intentional planning to do this work. Are YOU ready to step into next year with your own mental and physical health in tact?

Are you prepared to identify and support your students’ social and emotional needs so they can express themselves as artists in your classroom?

Not sure where to start? No problem. I’ve got your back.

📕 Check out my latest book, where I share the strategies I teach my students and clients to support a holistic and healthy approach to music education.

As Dr. Tim said about this book,

“This latest-greatest contribution offers a tried-and-true blueprint for vocational success while embracing the critical importance of fueling one’s mental, emotional, and physical health.”

Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser, Foreword, “Love the Job, Lose the Stress”

Buy Book NOW!