In many cases, decisions are being made to cut programs and give up because it’s difficult to see how we can continue to teach performing arts in our current situations.
My former student and Music Director of the Colorado Symphony, Brett Mitchell, and I discuss the future of Music Education and how music educators can support students during these challenging times (without it being a physical, mental, and emotional drain on us as educators!)
There is nothing normal about our current situation, even for those teachers who are teaching in person. There’s no way to recreate the kinds of ensemble situations we’ve had in the past during a pandemic, and the frustrations and disappointments that come with the loss of these important opportunities feel insurmountable.
How do we keep our students engaged when everything is SO hard so they’ll still be around to take our classes when we can return to “normal” rehearsal situations?
Who better to take a situation that seems impossible and create a new and more innovative way to make music than the very people who have been trained to improvise within a given structure when soloing with a jazz band or scatting over the blues?
The future of music education is up to the music educators of today!
It won’t be easy, but WE CAN DO THIS. We MUST do this.
Join Brett and me as we talk about the challenges and opportunities we face and how as a community we can help kids become the best version of themselves through the magic of music education. <3
Nothing about the past six months has been fair, and it all hit me in one hot emotional mess when I gathered all my seniors together so I could give them a pep talk.
I wanted to help them deal with their social and emotional needs as their senior year starts off with all of us in our own spaces instead of being gathered together in our cozy family-oriented band room. I thought I could help them feel better.
Boy, was I surprised at their response. It wasn’t what I’d imagined.
Hang in there, teacher friends.
This is hard. It will continue to be hard. But if you watch this 4 minute video, you’ll get some stellar advice you might not expect – and it isn’t coming from me, but it just might help you put this all in perspective.
I feel your struggle. Be patient with yourself. You are enough just as you are.
There was SO much information they needed to know on that very first day, but the most important lesson of all was that it will all be okay. The kids needed to hear that they are not alone and that I’m here to walk this walk with them.
This will be a hard road, and if they don’t get the chance to build relationships with one another while we are in a 100% virtual environment, it’ll be pretty hard to keep them engaged when they no longer get to play in ensembles with their friends in their band classes.
By the time they go to register for classes next year, they’ll be burned out and disconnected from the band kids unless we intentionally spend time building the kind of culture online that so organically occurs in our classrooms.
When kids listen to stories as children, most of their memories involve feeling peaceful and being interested in what’s happening. Story time is usually something children love … no matter how old they are.
So we connected on our first day of virtual high school band for the 2020 school year with good old story time.
As soon as my voice fell into the familiar beat of the rhyming patterns they’ve heard so many times before and they saw pictures of the very people they made memories and music with in past years, I could see their faces visibly relax as the stress dissipated and smiles began to appear.
The kids are as overwhelmed as we are and they said over and over again how grateful they were that we are taking the time to do this before jumping into content.
As you move through your school year, remember why you are pouring so much love and energy into an impossible job. It’s hard. It’s never enough. And people still complain.
Know that you are making difference in kids’ lives every single day. I am hearing stories about the conditions under which you are teaching and I am in awe.
Music teachers are incredibly resilient – but that can also be our downfall because we (and others) expect ourselves to just figure out how to do the impossible because we always seemed to solve unsolvable situations in the past.
I, too, am feeling the strain of trying to teach huge classes online without being able to see most of them while monitoring the chat room and breakout sessions and internet issues and screenshares and the list goes on and on. I have to plan out my classes with the same level of detail I did my first year…and this is my 33rd year!
I decided that there’s just too much stuff out there right now. Lots of great apps. Tons of great platforms. A million pre-designed lessons.
We’ll get to that later.
None of that matters until my kids and I connect and we create an online classroom truly worthy of being called a “band room”, that magical place where students thrive through music, relationships, and love.
“Connecting Through Music” is the theme my students selected for this year. We will use music to connect us as humans, but it’ll be in new and innovative ways. The delivery and some of the content changes. The fact that we are teaching little humans remains the same.
I wish you a year of growth and grace. Lesley
That is the actual Kaypro computer I got when I started college in 1983! They sure didn’t tell us we’d eventually be teaching high school bands using computers back when I was at Indiana University!
All summer, in spite of your best efforts, you’ve been thinking about all the obstacles you and your students face this year. Many of them may even seem insurmountable. And yet I bet you’ve come up with a lot of creative solutions for meeting many of your students’ academic needs this year, because that’s what educators do.
There are a ton of the platforms and apps that are out there help us facilitate a lot of the challenges that could otherwise seem insurmountable.
But there’s really no effective app that addresses your students’ social and emotional needs. YOU are the one who does that. You are the one who has to know her students well enough to figure out what their needs are before you can begin to help them with the struggles they face.
Do you have a plan for quickly and effectively identifying the challenges that will make it difficult for your students to be successful, especially in a virtual, hybrid, or way-different-than-normal-in-person teaching situation? How are you going to get them to truly think about and articulate their obstacles so you can use that information to drive your instruction and help them be successful?
And what are you going to do once you understand their obstacles? Do you have proven ideas for navigating this kind of situation with so many students and families who are experiencing so many hardships while trying to manage school and jobs and life during a pandemic?
This is all I’ve thought about and it’s my mission to help students become the best version of themselves through the magic of music education. When the rest of their world seems to be falling apart, we music teachers can help them make sense of it. We can give them the tools they need to manage their emotions, express themselves, and learn so much more than just how to play a few songs. But first we must meet them where they are.
If you know this is true but just don’t know where to start, I invite you to watch this short training I did that gives an idea of what you could do in the beginning of the year to get to know your students so you can better serve them. Starting with this step will save you a LOT of time and effort down the line.
The training is free. I hope you find it helpful. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.
Music education has been my whole life. I love my career. And now EVERYTHING about what I’ve done for over three decades is completely different.
How on earth do we serve our students and sustain our programs in the middle of a pandemic?
I’ve seen so much change during my years as a teacher. Technology and society have caused our kids to grow up faster than they were physiologically programmed to do, and the impact from all the stimuli on their ability to function in this world is huge.
For the first thirty-one-and-three-quarters years of my career, there was a lot that changed, but nothing like what happened when the 2020 pandemic hit the planet and, at the speed of light, uprooting everything we ever learned about teaching. Suddenly, in what was going to be my final quarter of teaching, I found myself, along with every other teacher in the U.S. and beyond, completely reinventing how I taught as the world came to a standstill and schools were shut down across the globe. I had to learn to teach high school band online!
The first few weeks of the abrupt transition from face-to-face teaching to the isolation of being quarantined and figuring out how to meet the emotional and educational needs of my students was daunting.
As we started working through what it would look like for us to continue our band classes without being together, I came to realize that the daily practices and protocols I established with my students (who often come to class with challenges like anxiety, depression, and difficulty focusing) as a way to help them focus and be present for class were even more important now.
The daily practice we did in one another’s presence every day – taking four minutes to do breathing and relaxation together – up-leveled our in-class experiences because of the way it synchronized all the students each day, which caused our rehearsal time to be at least three to four times more productive than in the past. I knew that since our routine had such a positive impact on our ability to bring sixty-plus teenagers together and get them focused when we were in person, it was critical that we continued to practice that same routine when we were isolated and experiencing heightened anxiety and trauma. The ritual of getting our bodies and brains to relax each day before we started class was more important now than ever.
Kids are constantly told to “sit still and be quiet,” yet they’re never really taught how to harness their energy and social reflexes so they can actually sit quietly and focus their attention. Guess what happens when you actually teach students how to physiologically reset their bodies and brains so all of the restless energy (side conversations, excessive physical movements, difficulty focusing, inability to pay attention or remember) gets out of their way and they are able to start with a clean slate? It’s truly remarkable. It’s how we are biologically programmed to function at our best, so why not work with nature and teach our students how to tap into this? Once you do, you will be blown away at the changes: the ease of teaching, the attentiveness of the students, the retention of content, and a million other positive changes that take place as a result of taking the time to teach students this critical skill.
Teaching kids to get into this learning state is no different than teaching them technique on an instrument. It’s muscle memory – that is all. By practicing scales slowly, you train their muscles to respond in specific ways. The more you repeat patterns, the easier it is for them to execute those patterns and the quicker their responses become.
The same goes for teaching kids to settle down. Once your students practice a relaxation routine on a consistent basis, their bodies learn to be still because the muscles learn how to relax. Their brains are no longer in hyper mode; instead, they respond to this practice by learning to let go of the drama and other stuff floating around in their heads and become cleared out for whatever content or concept you want to introduce.
You have an incredible opportunity to help your students not just be successful musicians but to be exceptional human beings. Music teachers change the world. We are arguably the most influential adults on the planet. We have kids in our classes year after year after year. We watch them grow up. We are the only adults they see that frequently, sometimes even more than their parents, see them. So, we have important work to do – and we need the stamina to do it.
That’s where this book comes in. If I learned about the power of teaching this skill before diving into content with my students, I could have been a healthier and more effective teacher from the start. Instead, I spent the first three decades of my career teaching the way I was taught, actively handling classroom management and correcting behaviors instead of giving my students the skills to self-regulate so I could focus on teaching. It took a lot more energy (both physically and mentally) to teach when I didn’t have a daily routine to get everyone relaxed and focused.
For most of my life, I didn’t know how to relax, and teaching was a hyperactivity for me. I did it well, but managing all the components of a huge music program required active work, both mentally and physically. Even teaching classes took a lot of energy. Corralling the energy of sixty kids an hour, day after day, and motivating them to meet my goals was exhausting. Once I learned the power of teaching students to relax and settle that energy down before starting to teach class, everything became so much easier for all of us.
I’m a much more effective teacher now. Instead of force-feeding kids everything I believe they should know and feel, I facilitate their abilities to tap into the music and hear the message it has for them. I learned how to help them go from states of stress – where learning is difficult, if not impossible – to a place where their brains and bodies are receptive and ready to learn, remember, and recall what they’re discovering. It sounds like a whole new way of teaching, but really, it’s not. It’s the way we were programmed to learn.
When we teach students how to get into a learning state, teaching and learning become so much easier, leading to less stress for you and your students.
This process can be used by children of all ages and across all socio-economic statuses, cultures, orientations, and marginalization, including over-achievers and AP/Honors kids. In fact, it’s often most effective for the kids you’d least expect.
Just like a carpenter needs the proper tools and high-quality wood and a plan if he is going to create a craftsman-style piece of furniture, teachers need tools to do their jobs well, too. One of the most powerful tools a teacher has is being able to guide their students into a readiness-to-learn state before delivering content. This one simple step has more impact on every aspect of student growth than any other pedagogical tool I encountered in the more than 30,000 classes I taught over the course of my career.
This book is my way of sharing what I learned so other band directors can do the important work of teaching in a way that is easier and more effective for them and their students. I want to support them in their efforts to be positive role models and mentors for their students. I want to work with teachers who realize that our roles include shaping kids into responsible and respectful human beings through the magic of music education. It takes a lot of stamina to do this year after year, and I am here to share strategies that support dedicated music teachers who are called to change kids’ lives for the better.
Under the best of circumstances, teaching is stressful and exhausting.
After our 2020 health crisis, it’s going to be even more so, and unless you have a plan in place for how you’ll help students cope with the strange new world in which we live, it’ll be overwhelming and daunting for you and your students.
If you have a routine that already works, then now is the time to reevaluate it and see what you might need to tweak in order to meet the new needs of your students. Most of them will be affected by everything that happened as a result of the pandemic, so teaching-as-usual will be anything but usual. You know your students and community best, so you can use this book as a guide to help you assess and possibly redesign what you do in light of our new normal.
If you don’t have a routine you use to help your students overcome the distractions of life so they can focus in your class, then I’m especially glad you picked up this book! Now’s your chance to practice some new skills that will help you and your students get the most out of your classes in spite of the added stress, anxiety, depression, and more they’ll be dealing with.
This book outlines the process I designed and implemented in my classroom and is set up to help you create a plan to successfully teach music to students who will be forever changed after this worldwide shift in education and life as we once knew it.
My work with my students always comes from a place of love. As I came to what was going to be the end of a long and fulfilling career in music education in June of 2020, I found myself being called to stay in my classroom and community a little while longer. I see the writing on the wall and know there will be massive shifts in everything we do as educators now, so I made the commitment to remain with my students and walk beside them on this journey. Providing them with the stability of our routines together during a time of upheaval and uncertainty is essential not just for them but for me, too. Now more than ever, they need to continue to practice what we were doing every day in class – relaxing amidst the chaos.
Because my students and I learned to make our classroom a place where we decompress together every day, I know I will have the stamina to be present with them as we adapt to our new ways of doing things. Even though we will all have more reasons to be distracted with each passing day and the rapid changes taking place to education and we will undoubtedly experience plenty of stressful situations, we will forge ahead with our daily routine that allows us to settle into an hour of magical music-making together, where we can put our worries and distractions on the back burner and use music as a tool to help us cope, heal, and express ourselves.
This book is the culmination of my life’s work and shares the most powerful wisdom I gained from my decades of experience as a busy band-directing mom who managed to build a successful band program in spite of a million obstacles. My wish for you is that you will find it to be instrumental in helping you be that badass band director you were born to be so you can be there for your students for a long time to come.
Check out a FREE SNEAK PEEK of Love the Job, Lose the Stress: Successful Social and Emotional Learning in the Modern Music Classroom now!
As I’ve talked to hundreds of music educators over the past few months, it’s been exciting to see how many of you recognize the positive impact that intentionally teaching students how to focus and pay attention has on their individual success and for the entire class.
When I knew it was time for me to write a book, I struggled with how to do it. Should I start with a title, or do I write the chapters first? Do I write them in order? How do I decide what’s important to include and what not to include? I had SO many questions that I became paralyzed and almost didn’t move forward.
I knew that if I was going to be successful in writing a book, I needed help from someone who had successfully done that before AND who had taught other people to do it before, so I found a mentor. That was the best investment I could have made.
I signed up to work with Angela Lauria on August 17, 2018. With the guidance of someone who had plenty of experience doing what I wanted to do, I not only wrote a book, but I’ve published TWO #1 International Bestsellers – and in just two short years, I have gone from dreaming of writing a book to publishing two of them and teaching the contents of the books at conferences, webinars, podcasts, and through the groups I coach.
My ability to achieve this dream in such a short amount of time came because I had the support of a mentor and a tribe of other authors who supported one another through the process. We were all writing different books, but we faced many of the same challenges, and by hearing one another share our victories and difficulties, we all learned how to become successful authors.
If you know that incorporating SEL activities will help your students be more prepared to be engaged and focused but you aren’t sure how to set it up, introduce it, and successfully implement it when it gets hard, then I’d love to talk to you.
If you watched my webinar and are ready to take your students to new heights and would like to find out more about the support I offer, I invite you to set up a call with me to see if we’d be a good fit to work together. Just click the button at the bottom of this email to set up an appointment.
Here’s a little info – Let me know if I can be of service. Lesley
Now that bookstores are opening, I’m thrilled to have my book available in print nationwide!
THANK YOU to all of you who have already read the book, sent me notes about the changes you’ve made in your own life as the result of what you’ve learned, and helped make this a #1 International Bestseller in multiple categories!! 😍💪
Teachers have always dealt with stress, that is nothing new.
Over the past several months, I have spoken to hundreds of educators.
The anxiety they are experiencing with not knowing what to expect in the coming months and year are showing up as insomnia, worry, fear, and depression as we see all of the obstacles we are facing magnified as the level of stressors we are experiencing seems to be skyrocketing.
There are a lot of things we cannot control.
But what if you could take a little more control of a few things and therefore at least reduce your stress and all the negative impacts it has on your health? Wouldn’t NOW be the time to start so you have the stamina you need for whatever the upcoming year brings?
Good news, just in time for a new school year (whether that’s in-person, virtually, or in a hybrid situation), my book and is available in print!
My signature mPower Method helps you identify and then make changes in the areas of your life that are no longer serving you so you can be the best possible version of yourself. Thousands of people have used this book to jumpstart their personal wellness journey. Are you next?
Join me in celebrating the bookstore launch THIS FRIDAY. There will be lots of great giveaways from the publisher, so register today to get the scoop on all the good stuff.
We talk about professional development all the time. But what about the PERSONAL development of teachers? When do we give educators the tools they need to have the stamina to do the hard work that they do?
There is no doubt that this coming school year will be like no other.
From how we deliver instruction to handling all the new stressors that have been added to our plates (like raising your own kids while teaching a Zoom lesson to your students, having to plan for at least six different ways to deliver instruction, and not even knowing if your subject will be offered, for example), teachers will be under even more stress than ever.
The administrators who are keeping their staff members’ well-being in mind as they talk through the possible scenarios are demonstrating that they understand the connection between healthy teachers (physically, mentally, and emotionally) and student success.
What if YOU could be the hero who provides your staff with the gift of personal development? Do you think they might be able to serve students better if they weren’t so overwhelmed, overworked, and overstressed?
Teachers and administrators are notorious for planning ahead and having backup plans for our backup plans, but nothing truly prepared any of us for the uncertainty, anxiety, and stressors we are dealing with now that there’s a pandemic sweeping the globe and there is so much unrest.
Somehow, staff members across the country are going to meet our students either virtually or in person and support them in a learning environment that will be new, difficult to manage, and full of challenges that go way beyond what we’ve been trained to do.
There are so many unknowns and it has teachers from coast to coast reeling.
In my interviews with dozens of educators over the past few months, they keep asking questions like:
Why am I so sad, anxious, and unable to sleep?
Now that I’m working from home, my work and personal lives are so intertwined. How can I get a reasonable balance between my professional and personal lives?
I’m so overwhelmed, I don’t even know what to do first to wrap my head around all this. What can I do to feel a sense of control again?
How are teachers who are struggling with our own emotions supposed to also support students, parents, and their own families when getting through each day is so difficult?
From book clubs and wellness groups to individuals and private clients, thousands of educators have used my signature mPower Method to help them identify the biggest challenges that keep them from being the most effective teacher they can be and what they can do to overcome them. Through the self-assessments and homework, readers are able to pinpoint the areas where they’re struggling, what the possible root causes for their problems are, and concrete steps they can take to finding sustainable solutions that help them function at their best.
Education is the key to success.
And that’s why administrators who recognize the important role teacher wellness plays in the success of students, schools, and communities, invest in the very people who are responsible for the welfare of others. The realize that if the teachers are not healthy and happy, it is very diffiult for them to be fully present for their students.
Supporting teachers in their personal development has never been easier or more effective – or more important!
For a short time only, administrators are eligible for a fantastic offer from my publisher and me because you have enough on your plates to worry about you know this is important to address, so let us help you.
If you are an administrator, I can help you provide staff members with the tool they need to:
Identify their biggest stressors and what they can do to reduce the impact of the stress on their health
Learn how to effectively balance work and personal lives, whether that’s in-person or virtual teaching
Use simple and practical techniques to help them create habits that support them based on their personal and professional situation so they can serve their students and stay healthier
Find ways to stay mentally and physically fit for a school year that will require more stamina than ever before
If you purchase print copies of I Love My Job but It’s Killing Me in bulk before July 31, you’ll receive a discount off the list price of $14.95 AND get some pretty cool bonuses. Check it out:
July 2020 Bundle Bonuses
You can reserve your books now (no payment required at this time). As soon as you submit your request, I will be notified and will contact you about delivery and payment. We DO accept POs and credit cards.
Act NOW because my publisher has big changes coming in August, so these offers can’t last.
You will get a link for an immediate download of ebook to share with your staff so they can start any time!
All bonuses can be scheduled upon receipt of payment.
Print books will be delivered from publisher as soon as they are available.
My books are #1 International Best Sellers in a variety of categories because the techniques I teach are practical, effective, and sustainable:
Work-Related Health
Education
Classroom Management
Injury Prevention
Holistic Medicine
Administrators have important roles to play in the well-being of their staff. The benefits of having teachers who have the stamina to make it through all the challenges that come with the new school year make this an investment that will impact your staff, students, and community…and make your job a little easier, too!
THANK YOU for the important work you do through your countless hours and dedication. I look forward to working with you and your staff!
With all the things you have to do to prepare to teach next year, you may not have the time, energy, or desire to read a book to help yourself get healthy while you’re also figuring out how to do things in education without a playbook or the training you need. It might seem like too much work.
But what if you don’t invest in your own personal well-being? How in the heck are you supposed to be there to support struggling students, colleagues, your own family, and yourself when you’re dealing with all kinds of stressors and so many things you can’t control?
GREAT NEWS: All the strategies I wrote about in my books are now available in an online coursewhere I guide you through the nuggets you need to manage the never-ending stressors that come with teaching and parenting. This course cuts to the chase with real and practical solutions you implement to get you the results you need so you can weather this storm.
I’ve had thousands of people use the methods I teach in my books to help them conquer the chronic stress and exhaustion that comes with teaching, and now that information is more needed than ever.
Now that summer is here and there’s a limited amount of time for you to spend on getting your own stamina built up so you can be successful next year in spite of all the challenges we’re facing, I’ve reimagined my curriculum (my books) and put them in a format that can better serve busy stressed-out teachers during these unusual times. You can work at your own pace, easily completing the activities in a matter of a few weeks and then you’ll benefit from the changes you make from now on!
In this self-directed course, you will develop the skills you need to:
Find a better balance between your work and personal lives
Get your mental and physical health to a place where you are able to handle all of your responsibilities without crashing
Identify your biggest stressors and take the necessary steps to reduce their impact on your health
Spend less time spinning your wheels and more time getting results
Get yourself ready to handle the 2020-2021 school year…no matter what happens next
I know first-hand what happens to our minds and bodies when we are exposed to constant stress and impossible expectations. It sucks. It doesn’t have to be that way. I’d like to show you how you can build your resilience and not just make it through some unprecedented times, but how to do it without burning out.
Click the button below to find out how you can get this course at 90% off the regular tuition. As a special offer, I am introducing this online program at this rate as a way for a very limited time in order to make it accessible to every educator who recognizes the need to keep ourselves mentally and physically fit for the jobs we were born to do.
The course, which you’ll have access to for life, is available for $250 this week. As a FREE BONUS, I will include a 30-minute one-on-one strategy session to help you get the most out of this course for you if you download the class in the next seven days.
After you sign up, I will send you everything you need to get started on your road to better health now.
Why would I offer this program at a fraction of the regular tuition? I’ve been an educator for over 30 years. My parents and grandparents were teachers. My three children have all taught. I have a vested interest in the health and well-being of educators. Our future depends on us being able to do our jobs. This is my contribution to helping make it a sustainable profession.
We’ve got some serious work to do to be ready for whatever comes next. With you on this bumpy ride – Lesley
You’ve spent the last three months learning all kinds of new ways to deliver instruction and teach in a distance learning environment, despite never having experienced this as a learner or having been trained how to deliver all your content in new ways – and you made these changes overnight.
While you somehow got through the most surreal educational (and life) experience, you may be looking back at what you’ve learned and now have more questions than answers as we move forward.
Now that school has ended for this year and you’ve had a moment to take a breath, you may be wondering, “What in the hell am I going to do next year?”
How am I going to teach? Will I even have a job? How do I deliver content and realistically meet all the guidelines and expectations without spending 10 hours a day this summer rewriting my curriculum and planning for multiple types of teaching platforms and situations? How can I balance my family and professional lives when I don’t even know how classes will be structured? I’ve never been trained for distance teaching, and I’m not sure how to adapt my performance-based classes… there’s so much to worry about!
As educators, we tend to be organized with plans for every contingency that could come up. But in a pandemic and during a time when there’s so much anxiety about what school will look like in the fall, the time we normally take during the summer to relax and recharge can easily be hijacked by stress and fear of how to teach and support your own family in a sustainable way.
Are you going to spend all summer worrying about next year or would you rather spend it making sure you’re ready to face whatever comes at you without the stress, anxiety, and exhaustion taking over?
It’s possible to use the next few weeks as a time to rebuild your own toolbox with skills you can use to keep yourself in the best mental and physical space possible so you have the stamina to do this important work.
Don’t waste all summer trying to figure out where to start. Jump to the front of the line by figuring out how to recharge by identifying your own current mental and physical health status so you can determine what you can do to take care of your own needs so you can support your students, family, and yourself in the upcoming year.
Where do you even start when it comes to figuring out what is creating the most stress for you so you can begin to figure out how to address it?
I’ve designed an assessment to help you do just that!
Check out Moffat’s Mojo Meter for Educators. This quiz will help you identify the very things that are keeping you from being able to truly relax and recharge this summer.
I hope you find the few minutes you invest in taking this assessment to be helpful in identifying what you need to do for yourself in order to support everyone else through this journey.
