Tag: Social Emotional Learning

How Do You Engage Teenagers In “Online Band?”

Story time, of course.

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!

Setting Up Your Students for Success in Such an Unusual School Year Takes Intentional Planning and a Little Extra TLC

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.

With you on this journey –
Lesley

Free Training
FREE Sneak Peek of my latest book at mPoweredEducator.com/contact

Does the Thought of Self-Care Stress You Out and Feel Unattainable Right Now?

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 course where 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

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