Afternoon Ti

Afternoon Ti Podcast Season 9 Episode 168 Take the Pressure Off I’m so hopeful for this school year.  I’m hopeful that my students will have the opportunity to make more music.  To grow in their skills.  To grow in their confidence.  To grow in their understanding and knowledge of musical concepts.  I feel a responsibility to provide an incredible music education for my students and give them the very best experience I can.  That’s a lot of pressure.  You likely feel it too. It comes from our internal desire to teach well and the external pressures and requirements from our districts and schools. Some of you are already a few weeks into the school year.  Some of you are in teacher inservice and about to begin teaching students again soon.  We’re about to encounter the start of another year that has some uncertainties because life is not back to where it was two years ago yet.  I’m hopeful that it’s going to be a better year and trying to do these four things to take the pressure off -

Afternoon Ti Podcast Season 9 Episode 167 Classroom Rules Rules provide boundaries, create safe spaces, and create community when set up well.  They’re often as much for us as teachers as they are for the students.  They guide how we interact with our students, how we establish transitions, handling of instruments and materials and basically the structure of our entire classroom.  Rules help us decide when to take action when something happens in the room that isn’t okay and when to praise and recognize students for their efforts and successes.  Rules are guides.  In fact I often refer to them as goals with my students.  Because they’re things we work towards and work on together as a team. Too many rules and it’s stifling.  Too few and it’s chaotic.   We’re going to break our discussion about rules into three topics.  The first will be choosing the main rules for your classroom - these are the broader areas that cover a wide range of things.  The second will be thinking about how y

Afternoon Ti Podcast Season Nine Episode 166 Teaching Advice You Need to Hear There are many ways to inherit great teaching advice - through reading books, talking with colleagues, attending workshops, taking Levels courses, and lots more.  As I was cleaning out our office shelves at home this summer I came across teaching notes I had saved over the years, but hadn’t looked at in a while.  Things from my student teaching, TMEA conferences, and observations from principals or others who shared ideas that helped me grow.  I skimmed through pages and thought about how much great advice has been shared with me over the years and how useful it was to see it again.  So much great advice.  And thought about how we could all use great advice full of encouragement and wisdom as we head into this teaching year.  So here are ten pieces of teaching advice for you to think on, ideas for you to incorporate, and positive messages for you to believe about yourself and your teaching. 1 - Mentor Rob

Afternoon Ti Podcast Season 9 Episode 165 Phonetic Beats with Faith Rodgers Faith is a 29 year old mom and elementary music teacher from Dallas, Tx. When her son Steven was 2, he was diagnosed with a severe speech and language delay. Faith tried all the big name phonics companies to help Steven learn, but they all ended in tantrums. Finally one day Faith had the idea to take a hip hop beat and make a letter A rap and Steven loved it! Not only did Steven love it but it went viral. It was on that day that the idea of Phonetic Beats was born. Here we are 3 years later and Faith has completed individual raps for each letter of the alphabet. Phonetic Beats Website Phonetic Beats YouTube Channel Voyage Dallas Article Speech Tutor I met Faith Rodgers at SMU during our time in grad school and it’s been so wonderful watching what she is creating and putting out into the world for parents and educators.  Her company Phonetic Beats encourages phonetic literacy in small children through trap mu

Afternoon Ti Podcast Season Eight Episode 164 Back to School Organization: Music Edition Free Afternoon Ti Scope and Sequence Guide !! Our final summer health series episode is here!  At this point some of you may already be back at school and some of you have a few more weeks of summer remaining.  No matter where you find yourself, this episode is a great pivot point for you for entering back into a teacher mindset.  And hopefully a positive and hopeful one.  In thinking about returning back to the classroom, here are five things that you can use as a starting place to start off the year: Knowing what you can and can’t do this year (Singing?  Masks?  Social distancing?) If you have your schedule for the year, think about how you’d like to structure planning time, seating chart arrangements (do students need to be 3-6 ft apart, can you sing, will they be masked… etc…) Scope and Sequence Where are your students at?  You may need to adjust where you start and that’s okay. Monthly char