Afternoon Ti

Season 2 Episode 72 Sunday Sip:  Here's to More Hello friends!  This is the final Sunday Sip episode for 2019.  These short podcast episodes on Sundays were meant to bring you encouragement, hope, and joy prior to entering the school week.  I hope that they did just that!   I went back and forth on different topics for this episode because I felt internal pressure to share something big and grand and exciting to end the year, but I was lacking in words to make a big bang ending so instead I’m going to end with something simple.  And sometimes simple is best. Many of us reflect on our year and what has happened - things we are proud of, things that didn’t go so well, relationships that have improved or become distanced, goals met or unmet.  I’ve spent time reflecting on the experience of putting myself out there to produce and create content for this podcast.  Last year I knew I wanted to create content for music educators in particular and it was one of my 2019 goal

Season 2 Episode 71 The Christmas Story Christmas Eve 2019.  I love it every year.  I love watching the anticipation in our girls' eyes as they wonder what will happen in the morning and the excitement of expectation.  I love going to our church service and lighting candles while singing and worshipping God.  I love time for reflection and rest.  It seems only fitting to read about Jesus' birth with you on this day from the books of Matthew and Luke.  These are the two accounts of what happened surrounding Jesus' birth and each portion is incomplete without the other.  You only get a portion of what occurred the night Jesus was born if you focus only on Luke or only on Matthew so reading both gives you a larger perspective of what happened.  My youngest daughter Julia is joining me to read portions of each perspective.  We'll start with Luke chapter one. LUKE 1:26-56 In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth,

Season Two Episode 70 Hurry Up and Wait Hello friends and welcome to Sunday Sip on Afternoon Ti.  Each Sunday for the remainder of the year I plan to share a single idea, thought, or meaningful take-away in hopes that you'll be encouraged and inspired as you prepare to enter the next new week of teaching, or in this case a week off of teaching and hopefully a week of rest and time with family and friends. Our middle school theater students recently put on a play called Hurry Up and Wait.  It was a set of short skits where in every scenario someone is rushing to get to a certain outcome only to find that they have to wait and it never goes the way they hope.  This phrase "Hurry Up and Wait" is one that refers to a situation where you are forced to hurry in order to complete a certain task, or arrive at a certain destination, by a specified time only to find that nothing is happening - sometimes because other required tasks are still needed to be completed.  This

Season Two Episode 69 Holiday Baking with Glenys Klem and Pam Salada This Christmas season I'm hoping to do some baking and one of the recipes I've been wanting to try is a chocolate cake that my Aunt Glenys has made for years.  It's my favorite one - fudge frosting, deliciously made, and always a winner.  My Aunt Pam bakes cookies and breads that I also want to try.  So rather than just getting the recipes from them and keeping them to myself, I asked if they'd share with us on the podcast about some of their favorite desserts to make.  Glenys Klem and Pam Salada are my dad's sisters and two of the most fun people to be around.  They're always joyful, best friends who make lots of memories together with their kids and grandkids - you'll hear about daughters Karlie and Megan, sons Trevor and Drew, and husbands Frank and Dave, as well as grandkids Leia, Landon, Kingston, and Cameron.  They're incredibly special to me.  Not only are the desserts a

Season 2 Episode 68 Sunday Sip: Christmas Music I Love Hello friends and welcome to Sunday Sip on Afternoon Ti.  Each Sunday for the remainder of the year I plan to share a single idea, thought, or meaningful take-away in hopes that you’ll be encouraged and inspired as you prepare to enter the next new week of teaching.  I’m always on the lookout for new Christmas music.  The classics are great and I love all - or most- of the variations of these songs for sure.  Finding some new pieces that capture the season is always nice. I’m sharing ten Christmas albums that you should listen in to this season: 1- Nichole Nordeman’s album Fragile - love the opening track called Fragile/What Child is This… I love the way she integrates Sting with a classic carol and a little interlude of Mozart’s Requiem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aCpzNM6gaY 2- Phil Wickham’s album Christmas - favorite song “This Year for Christmas”: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-XSYe_TuXZX1iIBVbU

Season Two Episode 67 The Nutcracker When I was an elementary music educator I used Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker in every grade every year to some degree in December because it’s honestly my favorite.  I love the music, the dancing, the story, and the magic. It’s a great way to incorporate movement, singing, listening, creating, playing, reading, watching, comparing.  We always started with a short description of how to say Tchaikovsky’s name and reading the story to students. During my student teaching with Rob Koch, he presented Tchaikovsky’s name in a way that made it easy for even the youngest of students to speak.   Tchai (like hi) - wave Kov (like cough) Sky (like skiing down a hill) There are many versions of the story, but a few that I love in particular. Books: The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers … I love that there aren’t a lot of words on each page. Nutcracker Ballet by Vladimir Vagin The Nutcracker - based on the NYC Ballet production of G