Afternoon Ti

 Season Six Episode 117 Making Music with Bill Henry and Bill Fite Bill Henry:  Bill Henry has been teaching elementary music for over a decade and recent Teacher of the Year nominee for Cecil County Public Schools. Bill also provides instruction privately and is the creator of the Online Piano Program for Kids called Rockin' the Keys. Bruce Fite:  Award-winning singer/songwriter, author, and podcaster Bruce Fite lives in Nottingham, PA with his beautiful wife and four children. He has been writing music and performing concerts for kids and families for the last 15 years. Bruce writes and performs three main genres of music: Christian Family, Educational, and Parody. His songs are heard weekly on The Kids Cookie Break on 90.3 FM, Lancaster, PA. One of Bruce’s Toilet Paper Hoarding parodies has almost 100,000 views on Facebook.  Bruce has been teaching elementary general music for over 20 years. He also ...

 Season Six Episode 115 No Singing. No Instruments. Then What? What we are able to do with students in our classrooms this fall keeps changing.  I feel like the more I learn, the more questions I have.  And the answer we’re likely to get is ‘I don’t know’ because truly no one knows. A major change this year is that singing and playing instruments in many schools will not be able to be done as usual.  And of course in the music classroom this is a lot of what we do!  But it’s not the only thing we do.  And there is still much that we have available to give our students so that they can have the best music learning experience possible even with the limitations. One of the things I did earlier this summer was make a list of the things I can do in the classroom.  This was extremely helpful.  If you’re feeling overwhelmed with knowing where to begin, this was the task that allowed me to start.  It places the emphasis on the positive and gives y...

 Season Six Episode 116 First Day Back Today on Afternoon Ti I am giving you a rundown of how my first day back to school went and a few things you can expect as you return as well as some encouragement for what helped me in my frustrating and overwhelmed moments. Frustrations and overwhelming moments my first day back: I couldn’t figure out my place.  My stuff is one room, but I’m going to be working in another room. I didn’t have my process down like usual and I felt unable to know my next step to prepare Hearing information that contradicted what I had expected or thought I’d understood Figuring out where I belong Encouragement: Being with colleagues Helping each other Getting out of the school for lunch Finding the good Listening to The Lazy Genius Podcast on the way to and from work…love Kendra’s spunk Spending time with my girls at lunch and seeing that they are doing okay Theme for the year:  All in… because as Lori said with us, what else are we going to do?...

Season 6 Episode 114 Nine Tech Tools I Plan to Use This Year Online.  Hybrid.  In-person.  No matter what your teaching situation technology is bound to be a part of it.  I’ve put together a list of nine tech tools that I’ve either used successfully or am beginning to use that I think might be beneficial for you as well.  All of our situations are different and I hope that at least one tool will spark interest for you. 1 - Screencastify/Screencastomatic : https://www.screencastify.com/ Create videos of your screen or of yourself or both!  All you need is a computer or laptop.  Great way to teach content and to allow students to learn from you. 2 - Pear Deck : https://www.peardeck.com/ Formative assessment Real-time interaction and responses Works alongside Google Slides Customize interactive prompts during presentations Free Version includes: ready-to-teach templates, keeping students in-sync with locks and timers, help with controlling pact of clas...

Season Five Episode 113 Re-Entry We are right around the corner of returning back to school for the new year.  And it’s made me think about two things:  how I returned back to my normal life after my summer levels courses and how a space shuttle reenters earth’s atmosphere after being out in space. Comparisons: A) Reentry to normal life after a levels course B) How space shuttles reenter earth’s atmosphere - you’ve left the place you’re comfortable and you experienced online teaching and now you’re returning to the place you’ve always been comfortable, but it’s going to be new and it won’t just go back to how it’s always been. So how can we re-enter the teaching world? 1 - Identify the things that are pulling you down fast   Mindset Frustrations 2 -Identify what is causing friction What is it that’s making it hard for you as you face going back? 3 - Picking the right corridor  Full speed ahead Tentative Unsure where to start 4 - Giving yourself time to acclim...

Season Five Episode 112 Summer Health Series Accepting and Planning for the Unexpected This season in life is a strange one.  Hard.  Uneasy.  Worrying.  Troubled.  I find that it’s not as predictable as the life I had become used to.   Even if things appear certain, they’re not.  One of the things that throws me off more than anything else is uncertainty.  I love control (or the feeling that I have it anyway).  I like predictability.  I like being able to plan out how I want to start the school year - using long term goals, breaking them down to monthly, weekly, and daily assignments in my classes.  It’s a struggle for me to even know where to begin.  And that’s been eating at me.  As music educators, making music and bringing musical experiences to our kids is the best thing ever.  Hearing them sing.  Watching them grow as musicians.  Moving together.  Playing instruments together.  It is truly...

Season Five Episode 111 Summer Health Series Have To/Get To: Thanks Andy Speer Each morning this summer I wake up - put on my running clothes - stretch and head out the door.  It’s too hot in Texas to wait until later in the day so I make it a priority to move first thing in the morning before the day gets away from me.  The past three months I have used the Peloton app for workouts and I absolutely love it.  It’s truly like having a friend there and a trainer and lots of choices for what I want to do including short workouts, run/walk, bootcamp, yoga, stretching, biking, and more.  Peloton is definitely more than a bike - in fact I don’t own their bike.  I have friends who have one and love it, but you don’t have to buy one to get a great workout because there’s so much content in other areas.  I know this sounds like a Peloton ad - it is and it isn’t.  I just love the app and what it has done for me.  When you find something that works, do it...

Season Five Episode 110 Summer Health Series Cooking the Magnolia Table Cookbooks Show Notes:  Magnolia Table Cookbook Volume 1 Magnolia Table Cookbook Volume 2 FIVE STAR DISHES Breads 1 - Braided Loaf from Book 2 Breakfast 1 - Blueberry Sweet Rolls with Lemon Glaze from Book 2 2 - Best Ever Fluffy Pancakes from Book 1 3 - Jojo’s Biscuits from Book 1 Salad 1 - Brussels Sprouts Salad from Book 1 Dinner 1 - Chicken Spaghetti from Book 1 2 - Honey Garlic Chicken with Pineapple from Book 2 Desserts 1 - Chocolate Cola Cake with Chocolate Cola Buttercream from Book 1 2 - Lemon Pie from Book 1 3 - Chocolate Souffles from Book 2 MISHAPS Cheesecake for Riley’s birthday - springform pan covered in tin foil Chicken with Julia - realizing that the animal chicken is also the food chicken Halving the recipe for the brussels sprouts salad, but keeping the dressing the same… tasted delicious HOW COOKING HAS TAUGHT ME TO TRUST THE PROCESS Curious as to if anything would turn out right - if the ing...