Embracing the Struggle

I started officially back at school today. Meetings and prep all this week, first day with kids next Monday. So as I transition fully into teacher mode, I think this is as good a time as any to reflect on what my goals are for this coming school year. At first glance I don’t have any huge mountains to climb this year: I finished my thesis, my Master’s degree is complete, I don’t have any big conference performances I’m preparing a group for this year, etc. But I want (and need) to have a direction, things to work on to help me be a better teacher and make this year better than the previous year. I want to be able to tweak my instruction and my approach to how I do things so that I can avoid stagnating as a teacher. “Just make sure everything is as good as last year” is not much of a hill to climb, after all.   As the summer progressed and I read, reflected, listened to podcasts, and wrote, I identified three overarching goals that I would like to focus on this year. I wanted the...

It finally happened, and it happened in such a low key way that I almost missed it. After a decade of teaching, I finally heard a principal use the word "soul." I didn't mention it first, either. My principal brought it up, in a conversation we were having, and when I realized what had just happened I was floored. Here, finally, was an opportunity to talk about why I do what I do. Not dance around it, not dress it up in "academic" terms that are more acceptable in our field; no, I was finally able to talk about my belief in the importance of educating the soul. This is a big deal to me. Like a really big deal. I firmly believe, and have believed pretty much my entire career, that there is component to our duty as educators that we rarely talk about. It is a component that is so central to our purpose, especially if we are arts educators, that transcends the education of the mind. It's a component that becomes continually marginalized in an atmosphere of ...

So after my last post about my Mini-Camp, I got some requests for specific descriptions of some of the team-building games I do. I chose four that I think are among the best (and actually lend themselves to written description) and I've written about those below: Hammer in the Circle Name Game: So I do this game with a big inflatable hammer, like this: You don't need the big inflatable hammer for this game, but it helps. I've done it before with a rolled up newspaper (which you have to be really careful because that can potentially hurt more than an inflatable hammer) and just with tagging by hand. Here is how the game works: Students get in a circle and go around quickly with everyone saying their first name. One person is in the middle of the circle with the hammer, and their objective is to get out of the circle. They do this by (GENTLY AND NON-VIOLENTLY, I always tell my kids) bopping someone in the circle. The only way you can be "safe" is to the...