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Our Next Chapter

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Bookends – Stage 5: “Living the Dream”

Welcome back to my blog site for music educators… actually hopefully thought-provoking reflections for teachers in any subject area or grade level, school administrators, classified school staff (secretaries, aides, custodians, etc.), and professionals in all fields.

It has taken me more than a year to revisit (and expand on) all of the sections from my workshop (October 2023) presented to Seton Hill University music education students, and now we close with “The Final Chapter” – a focus on self-reinvention and transitioning to retirement in anticipation of successfully Crossing the Rubicon to enjoy our “senior years.” This entire presentation was inspired by the mission statement of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) Council for Teacher Training, Recruitment, and Retention – “The Life Cycle of a Music Educator” – for which I had the privilege of serving eight years as the State Chair (still a council member). To recap, here is an outline of my previous blogs on the evolution of an educator, a journey through career “passages” to follow:

Stage 5: Next Chapter/Living the Dream Years –
Retirement Prep & Mastery

To start with, the term “retirement” is a misnomer. Typically, in most dictionaries (online and printed), it is defined as “the withdrawal from one’s career, occupation, or office usually because of age,” or even the synonyms “seclusion from the world,” “privacy,” “the act of going away,” “retreating,” or “disappearing.” No, perhaps more appropriate definitions would support the advances in medical science, a better standard-of-living, our healthier lifestyles and improvements in self-care, and longer lifespans. Retiring from your first career may only be the halfway point! Sample online quotes:

“The ‘new retirement’ is not an ending, it’s a new beginning, the start of a new life journey of vastly expanded proportion.” Dr. Richard Johnson, Flourishing in Retirement

“Retirement now is mostly about change. And it may not look all that different from what immediately precedes it.” Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/its-time-to-retire-our-definition-of-retirement_b_5774878.html

Retirement is “reinventing yourself for the life you’ve always wanted.” Steven Price, How to Survive Retirement, Skyhorse Publishing, 2015

In my experience hosting the annual PMEA conference session “Retirement 101 – the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How” and sharing retiree stories and strategies, I have come to the conclusion that there are many other misconceptions about taking this big step:

  • You retire FROM something. (Nope! You need to retire TO your next phase of life, new goals, pursuits, etc., and not run away from your past. We have often paraphrased the theme of author Ernie Zelinski writings in past paulfox.blogs: Retirees must search for and define the things that your job had provided in the past: 1) Purpose/new life mission, 2) Structure/schedule, and 3) Community/interaction with people.)
  • It’s an easy transition. (For many, it can feel like the most tumultuous transition ever experienced with “change,” sometimes overwhelming swings in emotions, and personal challenges!)
  • It takes little time to prepare. You just fall into it! (No, the research recommends “intentional and comprehensive” advance preparation, starting at least 3-5 years before you “pull your plug.”)
  • The decision is based almost entirely “on the money.” (True, a soon-to-be-retiree should draft a post-employment household budget, analyze net worth and pension/social security benefits, pay off as many loans as possible, and make appointments with an estate planner, elder attorney, and/or financial advisor. However, we retire for a host of very personal reasons – travel, relocation, encore or new careers, caring for family members, etc., and the likely greater challenge is a renewed exploration of self-reinvention, defining new pathways, renewing relationships, and mapping out your rest-of-life strategies and goals. In other words, what are you going to be when you grow up?)
  • It’s completely different from anything you’re doing right now. (Music educators have a variety of skill sets that they will likely retain in future part/full-time employment or volunteer work. They can advance their personal artistry in the singing or playing an instrument, accept solo “gigs” or perform in community or professional ensembles. They can teach privately, direct church or community bands, orchestras, choirs or jazz groups, coach sectionals, compose music or design halftime shows, judge school groups, present workshops, choreograph/direct musicals, serve in college music education programs, etc. The list goes on and on… and is only limited by the retiree’s imagination and interest.)

In almost every book on retirement, there are discussions about the “stages of retirement” (defined by gerontologists – experts on aging) that graphically show the importance of advance planning. (See below.) The first three stages certainly provide opportunities to rethink, recharge, reinvent, retool, and redefine one’s life purpose and meaning, become productive, and begin that new chapter in their lives.

Retirement can be a little bumpy. It’s not unusual to feel many “up’s and down’s” through the transition. A lot may have to do with whether you had really wanted to leave your job when you did or if you took the necessary steps in retirement preparation. Many have suggested to take a year or two “internship” to explore your options, rest a little and take a break from all of that stress, celebrate the free time (you seem to) instantly have, and then assess and “test” what might be your next (more permanent) steps.

Prepare for the emotional roller-coaster! Initially, you are very EXCITED about your upcoming retirement. You feel pure JOY about the anticipated FREEDOM, and everyone throws you a party or two. You take moments to sum up your career legacy and ACCOMPLISHMENTS. A blessed PEACE-OF-MIND envelopes you, no longer having to worry about that next concert, recruitment campaign, or lesson target. With the future in front of you, you feel OPTIMISM. And then, after the excitement dies down…

At times, you feel a little AMBIVALENT about all of this “change!” SADNESS could come saying good-bye to your colleagues and experiencing a loss in professional identity and sense of purpose. Perhaps you may experience ANXIETY (angst) about what the future will hold, and PESSIMISM on whether you will “get it together” in your new life.

But, finally… ACCEPTANCE and adjustment!

Both emotional cycles may happen at different times or nearly simultaneously. These are normal “speed bumps,” and the perfect reason why you should remain as active as you can with your relationships, especially with people who have already made the retirement journey.

Are you ready to retire over the next 3-5 years? Well, as the PMEA Retired Member Coordinator for ten years (with the help of numerous inspirational music teacher retirees in PMEA), I have spent a lot of time preparing what amounts to be a “mock instructional manual” and other resource materials for fellow PMEA members. These are all posted here on the PMEA website. (This one of the best reasons to maintain your PMEA professional association and pay your dues… We continue to advocate, advise, and assist all PA music educators… from preservice to “living the dream!”)

Free “nuts and bolts” are listed below for you to peruse as you prepare for this life-changing passage.

What’s next? How about attending the PMEA Annual Conference on April 9-13, 2025 at the Kalahari Resort/Poconos (“home of the world’s largest indoor water park!”) and enjoy some time away from it all? The Kalahari offers some family-fun recreation and PMEA will provide concerts, keynotes, exhibits, and sessions of stimulating professional development for the entire “life cycle of the music educator.”

PMEA members, I hope you plan to attend my Friday session at the conference…

Looking forward to seeing you there! At any time, if you need help or more ideas on retirement prep, I’m just a quick email away. (Click here.) Let me hear from you!

PKF

© 2024 Paul K. Fox

Bookends – Part 3

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As summer draws to a close and schools begin to reopen, we look forward to the coming autumn season (and hopefully some relief from the scorching weather). After all, tomorrow will be the first day of classes at my former place of employment (and the dress rehearsal for Friday’s marching band senior show). Soon we’ll enjoy one of my favorite transitions of the year! In Western Pennsylvania, deciduous trees will gradually change color (some bright red, orange and yellow) and then shed their leaves… the perfect metaphor for the final sections of my “Bookends” series.

(Yes, fall is a month away… but, as you can see, the stores are way ahead in anticipation of the changing seasons!)

Autumn is a season of harvest, a time to reap the rewards of our hard work and reflect on the blessings in our lives. The Fall Equinox is a reminder for us to assess our accomplishments instead of our shortcomings.

– www.inspiringactions.com

We return to a discussion first introduced last October in Bookends – Part One – The Life Cycle of a Successful and Happy Music Educator, exploring:

  • Stage 4: Veteran/Sustaining Years (this blog)
  • Stage 5: Next Chapter/Living the Dream (future blog)

When do we become “experts” in our field? When are we “master teachers?” Do we ever reach the apex of our achievements, the crowning glory of our career, or the pinnacle of our profession?

Never! You snooze, you lose. If you stop expanding on your knowledge and skills, forgo exploring new ideas, methods, and media, or become stagnant and settling into a rut at work, you might as well RETIRE (“Stage 5”). Instead, I direct you to revisit “Stage 3” in Bookends II here. As dedicated educators, the focus must be on constant retooling… reviewing/revising “best practices,” setting new goals, and building on the existing networks and engagement in the profession. These have always been the essential elements of a true professional.

Now I should mention that during our middle-years, we sometimes return to education, get advanced degrees, new certifications or teaching specialties, apply for new job assignments, etc. When my PMEA colleague and fellow music teacher retiree John D’Ascenzo left full-time teaching, he went on to pursue a doctorate degree. Also appropriate for our next Bookends section, I have often quoted his analogy for all career stages to “swim like a shark” (since a shark never stops moving, even when it is sleeping). Sage advice for us all!

During my whirlwind of more than five decades in the field of music education, I went through several “first-year-of-teaching” passages, such as accepting my first job in general music at Edgewood School District (1978-1980), then being hired to direct strings (grades 6-12) at Upper St. Clair School District in 1979 followed by a 16-year appointment to the USCHS choral program of over 200 singers in 1980 on… transitions requiring massive job retraining and revitalized professional development. I may have not appreciated the stress of these “hurry up and relearn” periods at the time, but these periodic challenges made me GROW. In the end, I “lived” and embraced Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.” It may have not been the initial pathway I imagined for myself when I started in music education, but “I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”

To this day, this violist and orchestra director has NO REGRETS teaching so many years outside of his so-called “specialty” or emphasis! It comes back to me every time I run into former choral or musical students, those I taught in those early years of being a vocal novice (at times when I felt less prepared). My past instrumentalists/singers/actors reminisce a little and literally rave about their musical experiences and what they meant to them.

My emphasis to foster success in our “veteran years” is also on teacher self-care: health and wellness, burnout prevention or remediation, stress and time management, and personal life and work balance.

Let’s start with examining the probable causes of STRESS in TEACHERS:

  • Overwhelming workload, long hours, and/or challenging classroom situations
  • Lack of administrative or social supports
  • Feeling a lack of respect, loss of job autonomy, or not being valued or appreciated in the organization or assignment
  • Dysfunctional or hostile work environment
  • Inconsistent hydration and consumption of a balanced diet and healthy quantities (length, depth, and frequency) of rest and sleep
  • Irregular amounts of daily aerobic physical exercise
  • Misuse of the voice at work and inadequate hearing conservation and protection from over-exposure to sound
  • Deficient scheduling of opportunities for mindfulness, meditation, and/or reflection
  • Deprivation of personal outlets for creative self-expression (not related to job) and the lack of time to explore hobbies, interests, and socialization with family and friends
  • Infrequent use of sick days or vacations even when they are needed for restorative health

We all have experienced at least a few of these “bumps along the road” (but hopefully NOT most of them). Although I generally had very supportive administrators throughout my years in the public schools (and no one would claim I exhibited any symptoms of “burnout”), I did model a few of the inconsistent habits of personal health (diet, sleep, etc.) and an unbalanced work/personal life schedule. And, perhaps it could be said that I did some of my best work totally exhausted!

As I have written in past blogs (especially here in “Burned Out or Bummed Out”), the best book I know on “teacher exhaustion” is by Paul Murphy (2017), and subtitled Why Teachers Are Do Tired and What They Can Do About It. I strongly recommend it as “a required read” for all new AND veteran teachers.

Besides being aware of your “body chemistry” (especially what the challenges of constant willpower, deferred gratification, and relentless scheduling can do to lower your blood glucose levels later in the day), to quote Murphy, some of his suggestions for remediation are NOT so easy to follow:

  • Work less/fewer hours
  • Time before school is worth more than twice as much as time after school
  • Use class time to check work
  • Leverage technology
  • Don’t grade everything
  • Stop assigning things

Sorry! My wife and I modeled the behavior of “more-than-full-time” music teachers with after-school rehearsals of marching bands, musicals, community orchestras, chamber ensembles, private lessons, music festival preparation, etc. How in the world do you work fewer hours? Also, since most music teachers do not assign “paper” homework requiring teacher correction, “checking for understanding” and in-class formative assessment could improve efficiency. Sometimes we are own worst enemies… We should “keep it simple” and focus on the priorities. That brings us to time management.

My favorite strategies for organizing our time and fostering a better work/life balance involve these resources (click on links below to past blogs at this site). PLEASE STUDY THESE!

I return to the “Four D’s” concepts several times in past writings, and the “system” can be applied digitally as well… as long as you make a concerted effort to take the necessary time (10-20 minutes) every day to manage the up-front decision-making to “do immediately,” file, or weed out most of the “voluminous noise” (distractions) you get in email, texts, voicemail, snail-mail, etc. Get ready to push the “delete” button… over and over again!

Then there are a few more ideas in “Top Ten Organizing Tips…” and any of the books by Stephen Covey (below). I particularly like the philosophy/demonstration attributed to him re: “start with the big rocks!”

Also, if you are a member of NAfME (National Association for Music Education), search their vast library of related blogs here, several articles to which I was fortunate to have contributed.

Final thoughts for the “sustaining years” of your profession and to avoid any touches of BURNOUT is to develop a self-care plan. My first go-to for building meaningful wellness habits comes from “What Self-Care Is and What it Isn’t.” In past health and wellness workshops, I echo these “basics.”

  • Promote a nutritious, healthy diet, and hydrate often.
  • Get enough sleep.
  • Exercise.
  • Follow-up with medical care.
  • Use relaxation exercises and/or practice meditation.
  • Spend enough time with loved ones.
  • Do at least one relaxing activity every day, whether it’s taking a walk or spending 30 minutes unwinding.
  • Do at least one pleasurable activity every day, from going to the cinema, cooking, or meeting with friends.
  • Find opportunities to laugh.

Self-care can take many forms, such as physical, spiritual, and emotional self-care. It’s an important factor in maintaining health and well-being.

Self-care might range from a hot soak and yoga to everyday activities like preparing meals you want to eat or dressing in your choice of style.

Self-care is not an indulgence. The WHO recognizes it as a crucial aspect of health maintenance.

Tailoring self-care for your budget, season in life, and personal needs for whole body wellness, inside and out, can be energizing and exciting in itself.

– https://psychcentral.com/blog/what-self-care-is-and-what-it-isnt

Veteran full-time educators: To sustain and nurture success in the middle to twilight years of your career (Stage 4), seek to understand and practice personal wellness and work/life balance while continuing your pursuits in self-motivation, self-assessment, self-energizing, self-(re)invention, and “growing” personally and professionally, and if it becomes necessary, promote the diagnosis, prevention and self-remediation of debilitating stress and burnout.

PKF

© 2024 Paul K. Fox

Bookends – Part One

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The Life Cycle of a Successful & Happy Music Educator

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

Colin Powell

I feel blessed to have spent five decades in the field of music education. No other career has offered so much personal satisfaction, discoveries and growth of hidden potentials and skills I never knew I had, sharing my love of creative self-expression, and facilitating others to seek their own connections to music. I am trying to follow my own “retirement” advice, remaining active in the profession in ways that matter, helping others find their own success, and embracing author Ernie Zelinski’s mantra to “find purpose, structure, and community” throughout my years as a retiree.

Parallel to the mission of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Council for Teacher Training, Recruitment, and Retention, serving “the life cycle of a music educator,” this blog site is my “gift” to future and current music educators and those contemplating retirement. Recently, I presented a workshop on this topic for student teachers in music education at Seton Hill University (Westmoreland County, Greensburg, PA), summarizing a framework for “professional development for life” in order to foster these goals and nurture meaningful successes of pre-service music educators. No “road map” (or to retain the analogy in my title, “library” of resources) is applicable to everyone nor will the journeys/readings be the same… but since my collections of past blogs over ten years are now vast, I offer this simplified checklist for any “newbie” interested to seek their own pathway. Happy travels!

  1. Preservice/Training Years: Marketing, Interviewing, & Networking
  2. Rookie/Practicing Years: Ethics & Professionalism 101
  3. Inservice/Growing Years: Career Development (next blog post)
  4. Veteran/Sustaining Years: Time Management & Self-Care (next blog post)
  5. Next Chapter/Living the Dream Years: Retirement Prep & Mastery (next blog post)

The slides to the entire presentation are open to anyone to view below.

bookends-slides-for-website-s101823Download

However, here’s a shamelessly offered advertisement. It would make more sense to see this “in-person” or online with my moderation. I would be happy to present this session (giving me at least an hour to allow for more interactive discussion) to collegiate members, a music education methods class, a regional workshop, or festival meeting via Zoom or in-person (in PA). If interested or to inquire, please send me an email here.

Now… the checklists. Depending on your current status and interests, peruse the following resources. It is possible a few of the links contained within these blogs have gone inactive, but I believe enough is there for you to gain the insight, tools and motivation to achieve “professional development for life.”

Stage 1 – Preservice/Training Years

The focus during our early years in any profession is learning the “shtick” and getting ready for the job search and interviewing. Probably before anything, we revisit our inspiration and what Simon Sinek directs us to “the why” of any organization… in this case, “the why” of becoming a music educator – our philosophy, mission, vision, and understanding of the purpose/role of music education n the schools.

[ ] 1. The Meaning of Pro: Are you a professional? Do you have the skills, habits, and attitudes of a professional in the field of education?

[ ] 2. Marketing Yourself and Your Pre-K to 12 Music Certification: What is your professional “brand?” Do you plan to “sell” yourself as a specialist, e.g., “band director” or “elementary general music teacher, etc.? To those potential job candidate screeners, promote the image of being proficient – “a total music educator” – and don’t emphasize your major/emphasis or perceived skill or experience limitations. The only thing that really matters is whether you are the “right fit” for a particular opening, and of course, deciding whether or not to accept the offer. Your license (certification) implies that you do indeed have the necessary training to teach all K-12 music classes. Don’t sell yourself short!

[ ] 3. Criteria for Selection of the “Ideal” Teacher Candidate: The best way to prepare for a job interview is to become aware of how you will be judged in comparison with your peers. What are the standards (or behaviors or criteria) of outstanding teachers? For what are administrators looking to fill the vacancies and build/maintain a quality staff?

[ ] 4. “S” is for Successful Storytelling: The number one method to land a job is “SHOW, don’t TELL!” Stories are up to 22 times more effective than facts alone. Identify the key impressions you want to convey. Pick interview stories that will “sell” the right message. Learn how to share unique personal examples of your interactions with children, colleagues, and music programs. These additional resources can be shared about “strategic storytelling” and how to prepare (a.k. practice) telling your anecdotes:

[ ] 5. The Ultimate Interview Primer for Pre-Service Music Teachers: This super-packet has a collection of more tips on marketing yourself and mastering the “science” of finding a job, interview strategies and sample questions, evaluative rubrics, follow-ups, “bad habits” to avoid, etc. Take the time to download and explore these excellent tools!

Homework for Stage 1 – Developing a Marketing Plan

  • Standards: Define your personal mission, goals, and philosophy for teaching music, modeling the highest ideals of professionalism, and becoming the “total music educator.”
  • Marketing: Design and distribute a “state-of-the-art” résumé, e-portfolio, website, and business card.
  • Skills: Compile a list of anecdotes and true stories of you overcoming challenges, solving problems, and demonstrating  “best practices” of professionalism and self-improvement.
  • Assessment: Practice, record, and evaluate yourself answering job interview questions.

Stage 2 – Rookie/Practicing Years

[ ] 6. Ethics for Music Educators – Part I, Part II, and Part III: You may think that the primary focus for our early years as a novice teacher would be the reinforcement of what we learned about education – curriculum, content, methods, classroom management, and assessment, but something else trumps all! Before we ever step foot in a classroom, rehearsal room, or stage, it is essential we first review those ethical standards in education, terminology, philosophy, and “the codes” that bind us. We should be able to show in depth understanding of these concepts:

  • Fiduciary
  • Moral Standard
  • Ethical Standard
  • Ethical Equilibrium
  • Moral Professionalism
  • Differences Between a Code of Conduct and a Code of Ethics
  • Student-Teacher Boundaries and the Slippery Slope of Ambiguous Relationships
  • Function/Relevance of “The Codes” to Daily Teacher Decision-Making

For nearly every presentation I do on “ethics for pre-service music educators,” I hold up a fifty dollar bill and ask, “Who wants this? Can you name the exact title of your state’s code of conduct for educators and the government agency that enforces it?” So far, no one has made me $50 poorer. Indeed, few active teachers “in the trenches” have read their “codes,” and frankly, that is surprising. Violation of any major provision in our code of conduct will result in a serious reprimand, being fired, losing one’s certificate to teach anywhere, and/or criminal/civil prosecutions. Wouldn’t you think all of us would be intimately familiar with the “rules” of our professional?

For my Pennsylvania colleagues, please download and READ these:

[ ] 7. Ethical Scenarios (and More): The study of morality in professional decision-making is essential to pre- and in-service training of music teachers. Our goal should be to reinforce recommendations for the avoidance of inappropriate behavior (or even the appearance of impropriety), and defining and modeling the “best practices” of a serving as a “fiduciary” by promoting trust, fostering a safe environment for learning, acting in the best interests of our students, and upholding the overall integrity of the profession.

One of the best ways to accomplish this is to discuss ethical scenarios in small peer groups, an interactive exchange of opinions – “what would you do?” – in analyzing hypothetical case studies. Perhaps in a college methods class, student teaching seminar, department meeting, faculty committee, or PLC (Professional Learning Community), the following thought-provoking questions from the Facilitator Guide for Professional Responsibilities – Module 5, written by the Connecticut State Department of Education T.E.A.M. (Teacher Education & Mentoring) manual should be discussed in an open, reflective, nonthreatening setting:

  1. What possible issues/concerns might this scenario raise?
  2. How could this situation become a violation of the law, the “Code” or other school/district policies?
  3. In this situation, what are some potential negative consequences for the teacher, students, parents, and/or school staff?
  4. How would this episode affect a teacher’s efficacy in his/her classroom, demean the employing school entity, or damage her position as a moral exemplar in the community?

Please visit link #7 (above) for sources of ethical scenarios to study, including my “conundrum series.”

Homework for Stage 2 – Are you an Ethical Educator?

  1. Self-assess your own habits of professionalism, and identify goals for at least two “personal improvement projects.”
  2. Read “cover-to-cover” any documents relating to your own state’s code of conduct and the NASDTEC Model Code of Ethics for Educators.
  3. Discuss the ramifications of “choices” and teacher decision-making in context by reading a few of the fictitious scenarios highlighting ethical precautions, disputes, and “conundrums.”

Coming Soon…

Bookends Part Two

PKF

© 2023 Paul K. Fox

In Case You’re Worried… the Status of “The Fox”

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If you are a frequent visitor to this blog site, you may have noticed that, for some reason, I haven’t posted anything for almost two whole months. Cat got my tongue? Nothing to add? Busy with other things?

We have been doing what comes naturally! The most important “stuff!” Although hectic at times and in a frenzied pace, all is well! My wife and I are healthy, happy, actively engaged in the projects that matter to us, and mastering those all-essential ingredients in a healthy lifestyle (retired or not): “finding purpose, structure, and community” (reference to the book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ernie Zelinski).

Well, I can tell you I am still vested in volunteering my expertise, experiences, and services on a number of fronts. Normally extremely verbal, I just have not had a couple hours to spare to write anything down or contribute to the voluminous material to what has become a massive archive of articles (editorials and how-to’s), links, and other resources.

What have I been doing lately?

First off, we are just finishing up our marching band season. As the official admin and announcer for the “Pride of Upper St. Clair” Marching Band (I spend my time inside, not directing practices on the fields), I attend all rehearsals as attendance bookkeeper, forms manager, librarian, quasi-nurse, and when necessary, act as a sounding board or shoulder to lean on for “the band director.” This was our first year going “competitive,” participating in regional festivals of Pennsylvania Interscholastic Marching Band Association (PIMBA), and by all accounts, “we” achieved excellence. The band is unrecognizable from past years – the students are much more committed and focused – but we still have a ways to go!

Of course, all during this, our football team made it to the playoffs. On Friday, we will support our team in the “first round” WPIAL Class 5A match at Gateway HS. The extended season brings with it challenges of its own (keeping the band members on-task and embracing new goals), but the rewards outweigh the extra rehearsals. And, all through this, we are making plans (and building excitement) for the launch of the first-ever USCHS winter guard and drumline programs!

Funny thing! I’m now a part of the band’s “brand.” For 38+ years, I have been “the voice” announcing the pregame and halftime shows for Upper St. Clair High School. I’ve also emceed a couple dozen of the USCHS Marching Band Festivals, plus senior recognitions, USC Halls-of-Fame exhibitions in the stadium, and outside music invitationals. It is truly a joy to “cheerlead” our musicians… and my wife would tell you, I have a very loud broadcaster’s voice! And now, ladies and gentlemen…

In two weeks, I will conduct the fall concert of our community ensemble South Hills Junior Orchestra, now in its 40th year. Although COVID did its best to wipe out our enrollments and recruitment efforts, our online academy kept things going, and we now support a small but dedicated chamber group. (Surprisingly, I have a good balance of instrumentation including sometimes rarely-found musicians on French Horn, bassoon, bass clarinet, electric bass, and piano, but one of my trumpet players is having to read clarinet parts.) Our theme is in support of Ukraine. We just “stumbled upon” several appropriate folk songs from the region, including the tribal tunes of Russian Fantasy (Robert Bennett Brown), the ever-popular Ukrainian Bell Carol, Dance of the Slave Maidens from “Prince Igor” (by Borodin, part of the “Russian Five”), and Slovakian Folk Songs (bordering Ukraine).

After this concert, we will prepare a holiday program for a nearby assisted-living facility with most of the SHJO members each taking a turn to conduct the sing-along of carols and seasonal favorites.

If interested, we warehoused a lot of our old SHJO Online Academy media and lessons here. (Use the password symphony.)

Staying involved in my professional associations, I am happy to report I was accepted to present at two conferences, the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Eastern Division event in Rochester, NY on April 13-16, 2023 and the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) Annual In-Service at the Kalahari Resort/Poconos on April 20-22, 2023. I have been asked to do my interview clinic session at both conferences and a workshop for PMEA on music educator burnout remediation, self-care, health and wellness.

In the meanwhile, not to let any grass grow under my feet (or more leaves to fall on my head), locally I have been giving teacher ethics presentations at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania (a wonderful class of 44 freshman music education majors – the future looks good!) and Washington & Jefferson College undergraduate and graduate education majors.

I open my session offering to give a hundred dollar bill to the first student who can correctly name the exact title of their educator’s code of conduct (PA Code of Professional Practice and Conduct – CPPC) and identify the agency which enforces it (PA Professional Standards and Practices Commission – PSPC). No one ever guesses it. (I could also likely get away with this challenge at any school faculty meeting in the Commonwealth! Educators seldom receive formal ethics training in our state – that’s why I am sharing these recent updates from the PA Department of Education!) Now that I have publicized “the big question,” I guess I’d better put away that C-note for good!

A sampling of my slides and handouts are available for perusal from the top section of the “Training/Jobs” menu bar link here, or you can find past blogs on the subject of educator decision-making presented in reverse chronological order here.

In a similar vein (and with equal passion), I have teamed-up with retired social studies teacher and attorney-at-law Thomas Bailey to sponsor continuing education classes for both educators and administrators. I am inspired by Tom’s knowledge of the PA regulation framework and school law. We just finished an excellent 25-hour approved non-PDE Act 45 course for school system leaders. You should visit his informative website here, and especially check out his court case blog here. If you are a school superintendent or administrator, our next series of online classes will begin on November 29; register for the course here.

Additional future projects include assisting on the PMEA Strategic Planning committee for “member engagement,” planning for the PMEA CRESCENDO virtual student conference scheduled for January 31, 2023 (more info here), and serving on the PMEA Council for Teacher Training, Recruitment, and Retention (I am state chair) – “the life cycle of an educator.” A wealth of free information for music educators (which I try to revise frequently) is available on sections of the PMEA website: the Council TTRR focus area (click here) and Retired Members (click here).

Outside the scope of teaching profession, I have been active as Communications Director, Fine and Performing Arts Chair, and Trustee of the Community Foundation of Upper St. Clair (CFUSC). I publicize a weekly eUPDATE (samples on the website here) to announce our township events for donors and supporters, serve as “the duck maestro” – the mascot for the annual duck races on USC Community Day, and look forward to organizing “a really big party” in celebration of the CFUSC’s 30th anniversary on April 21, 2023 at the St. Clair Country Club… although I will be in the Poconos on the same date doing a PMEA workshop! The Fox calendar is bursting with a few overlapping dates!

Besides all of the above, I am still volunteering at the hospital several days a week, pushing wheelchairs to/from procedure rooms at St. Clair Health. One thing you realize helping out in your hometown (the place you taught all those years)… you will run into many of your former students now grown up with kids of their own. It is a real joy to see them again (albeit due to the need for a colonoscopy or surgical procedure), and catch up with all those memories, their life’s successes, and future dreams.

The only personal goal that remains unfinished is consideration on how I can better distribute (dare I say “promote”) the numerous blogs that remain timely and relevant at this website. It’s just a little too overwhelming (and dense) for some passersby. A few of the links in the earlier postings may have expired and need to be updated. However, a lot of my insight, hard earned perspective (with sweat and tears), and past experiences have been poured into these writings, and I could only hope many of them could become useful tools for college music education majors, the rookie educator, those feeling challenged by today’s post-COVID times, or anyone recently transferring into the profession. Here’s another list of menus… go ahead, sight-see and enjoy the journey!

As you can see, I am not really retired… perhaps a better term would be “refired” or “redirected” or “reinvented.” If you are already “living the dream” in your post-full-time employment years or anticipate this happening in the near future, that’s how it’s done. That’s what I wish for you, too! Do you want to live-it-up to Moses’ age – supposedly 120 years old? Then, you better plan to be physically and mentally active and engaged! After all, a mind is a terrible thing to waste!

PKF

© 2022 Paul K. Fox

Hacks for Music Teachers – Part 2

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More Tips, Tricks, & Techniques to Help You Organize

As you can see, it has been awhile since I shared a blog-post. It looks like I went on vacation and skipped the entire month of July!

Well, truth be told, familiar to many of my band director friends, we are hitting the streets with a plethora of summer clinics, rehearsals, and camps to prepare for and usher in the season of parades, halftime shows, pre-games, festivals, competitions, etc., and although I am officially “retired,” I chose to re-up as “admin” to the “Pride of Upper St. Clair” – the marching band of the school from which I left in 2013. Serving as announcer for now more than 37 years, I decided to “put the pedal to the metal” and join the “band leadership team” to discover the joy of watching our ensemble “hatch” their new shows from scratch, re-awaken and build on their technique, inspire and grow their membership, and focus on “practice-practice-practice” and “making music!” I just finished a grueling week of those 12-14 hour band camp days spent in close partnership with 100+ of my favorite high school musicians.

Fantastic? Yes. Exhausting? Absolutely! It reminds me of 30-years-worth of nonstop days and nights of leading the annual spring musical as director/producer, including missing meals, dragging myself home to re-acquaint myself with my wife (who went through this, too), and dropping into bed. I have always said, quoting Ernie Zeliniski in his book How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free, it is important to find PURPOSE, structure, and community in retirement… but this hectic pace of frenzied activity at times tests my endurance. And, it feels a little like I never left teaching….

Therefore, I thought it would be appropriate to share some “advice from the experts” in terms of organizational tools and quick fixes or “hacks.” (See Part 1 on this topic.) This is only a gourmet “taste” of their ideas to simplify your life, work, and teaching. You should do yourself a favor and take more time to research the websites below for a complete explanation of their recommendations. We appreciate their generosity and willingness to be “free and open” to permit us to repeat their ideas in this forum.

Easy Time Savers for Instrumental Teachers

— Photo and article excerpt by Wendy Higdon

To get started with a “bang,” let’s visit Wendy Higdon’s “On and Off the Podium” website here, or the NAfME “Music in a Minuet” blog site which reprinted her Clever Music Teacher Hacks That Will Make Your Year Amazing – Getting Ahead of the Time Crunch.

  • “Use rubber pencil grips as inexpensive thumb rest cushions on clarinets by cutting them in thirds. (see photo)
  • Pink erasers work well as emergency rock stops for your cello and bass players
  • Purchase golf pencils on the cheap to keep in the classroom so that forgetting a pencil never becomes an excuse. Kids won’t love using these short, little pencils, so they are less likely to walk away at the end of class.
  • Three ring binders with sheet protectors help students keep organized and also cut down on lost music. If you want to be super-organized, add a pencil pouch and tab dividers in the binder.
  • Strips of velcro on the carpeting work well as guides to where chairs should go and allow your students to quickly and easily straighten up the rows. (see photo)
  • Print a sign with important information that your students frequently need (music store phone number, website addresses, etc.) and have them take a picture with their phone so they won’t have to ask you in the future. Do the same for important dates, locker combinations or anything else that is easily forgotten.
  • Locker mirrors can be purchased cheaply during school supply sales. Buy a class set and use them to check embouchure and more!
  • Did a clarinet or sax player forget their ligature? Or worse. . . it got stepped on and now it is as flat as a pancake! Use a rubber band to hold the reed on the mouthpiece until the student can get a new one.
  • Does your baton get buried under all your conductor scores? Use a binder clip on the side of your music stand, and it will always be handy! (see photo)
  • Do your beginning flute players have trouble remembering which keys the fingers of their left hand go on? Use “Avery Dot” stickers to mark the keys. You can do the same with clarinet pinky keys. Color code the keys on the right and left hand to assist students in learning their alternate fingerings. (see photo)”

There are a lot more “why didn’t I think of that” time management hints throughout the article. Also, be sure to check out her interesting Microsoft Word and Excel templates to use for your seating and locker assignments.

Band Directors Collaborate!

— Photo and article excerpt by Mike Doll

The middle school band directors in South Carolina got together and created a brainstorming session to share teaching tips and strategies with each other in order to improve their music programs. According to Mike Doll, editor of one of the blog posts Band Directors Talk Shop, “After the success of the first meeting, we decided to continue this on a regular basis, and we now do this 2-3 times a year for the past 10 years. These ‘best practices’ gatherings have been very informative, and we always walk away with several new ideas to try in our classrooms.”

Here are several ingenious ideas from their “toolkit” of Tricks of the Trade – Five Organizational Tips.

1. Music sorter stick
“One of our directors shared a neat way to sort music back into score order without multiple piles of different parts scattered around them on the floor. If you go online and search for Plastic Sort All, you will find the tool they use for this trick.”

“The director then used a label maker and created labels for each instrument in score order and attached them to the sorter in place of the letters and numbers on the end. “

2. Lines/tape on the floor for easy chair placement
“One director, with a tile floor, mentioned they would check with their maintenance folks and find out when the wax would be stripped from the floor. At that point, they would tie a string to their director stand and measure the distance to the first row. They would then attach a sharpie to the other end of the string and use it like a compass to draw arcs on the floor. Once the floor was waxed, the lines never came up. Gaffers tape also works on carpeted floors. At the end of each class, the director would have everyone look down to make sure the front chair legs were on the arc. Clean neat rows in seconds at the end of each period.”

5. SMART Band Student.

“Quick and clean set of expectations for your band students. A SMART band student is one who is:

  • Silent
  • Marks Mistakes
  • Attentive
  • Respectful
  • Team Player”

The article’s “Tip #4” on Band Binders is reminiscent of what I had applied to my grades 5-8 string program. My wife utilizes something similar for her online music lessons. Rookie or new teachers, especially, check it out!

In addition, you should peruse their website for an inspiring collection of articles on a host of other topics:

Band Room Hacks

— Photo from Google’s Search of “Band Room Hacks on Pinterest” by Julia Arenas

How timely and appropriate! I stumbled on this Pinterest site, Band Room Hacks, a collection by Julia Arenas, and since I did not get advance permission to reprint her library of images, I will invite you to go explore them for yourself. At a quick glance, I see she has assembled from music colleagues a lot of excellent storage solutions as well as music teaching tools that may inspire you to modify/add your own new time-saving shortcuts.

Time and Task Management on Steroids

We round off our organizational hacks for music teachers with the brilliance of Ashley Danyew, and excerpts from her blog post 9 Time-Saving Tools and Tactics for Busy Music Teachers and Directors.

Although productivity experts like Stephen Covey in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and the originators of the aforementioned (in Part 1) Priority Management System (a favorite of mine) may be most helpful, we can all learn from Ashley as she sums things up with these tips on supercharging ourselves in planning for a good start to the school year. (You’ll have to visit her post to get the full gist of what to do!)

  1. Put all your to-do’s in one place.
  2. Track your time.
  3. Batch related tasks.
  4. Limit social media.
  5. Divide your work-day into time blocks.
  6. Set aside time to send and respond to emails.
  7. Close documents and browser tabs you are not currently using.
  8. Go into meetings with an agenda or outline.
  9. Make templates.

I particularly love this introduction to her article:

“One thing I hear over and over from church musicians and music educators (well, everyone, really) is that there never seems to be enough time to get it all done.”

Time to teach
Time to rehearse
Time to write
Time to practice
Time to be with family
Time to be a good friend
Time to read
Time to exercise
Time to learn

“We’re always looking for new ways to be more productive, get more done in the little time we seem to have, and save time in places where, like money, we might be overspending. Am I right?”

“That’s one of my favorite ways to think about time – as money. It’s a commodity. We all have the same number of hours in the day – it’s how we spend them that makes the difference.”

“Where (and how) do you want to spend your time? What’s important to you?“

“Once you can answer this question, you’ll be motivated to make it happen – to take control of how you’re spending your time and look for ways to save it, where you can.”

— 9 Time-Saving Tools & Tactics for Busy Music Teachers and Directors
by Ashley Danyew

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

Have a great school year!

PKF

Storytelling, etc. – Part 2

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More on Developing Employment Marketing Skills

If you have not read it, as a warm-up, check out our first blog-post: “When It Comes to Getting a Job, ‘S’ is for Successful Storytelling.”

Since posting a plethora of resources on the job search, interview preparation and questions, branding, and networking, we came upon a few more perspectives, tips, and hands-on exercises you can use to “practice – practice – practice” landing gainful employment as a school music teacher – especially on building your capacity to “tell your own story,” who you have become, what unique qualities you bring to the mix, and how/why you have chosen music education as your “calling!”

Probably the most extensive set of links ever compiled on the subject can be downloaded from here:

The Ultimate Interview PrimerDownload

But, be warned! It may take you days to read and absorb all of these past blog-posts and articles! They represent the ideal prerequisite – knowledge is power! Before going any further, take the afternoon off, find an easy chair, and focus your attention on creating a successful “action plan” for handling your upcoming employment screenings.

The Exercises

In a recent session for the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Annual Conference in Kalahari/Poconos, we explored the following reflective/interactive activities. These work best in pairs or small groups, but you can adapt/individualize them for self-study:

  1. Close your eyes. Who had the greatest influence on you becoming a music educator? (Do you see his/her face?) What did your “model” musician or music educator have or exhibit… name at least three attractive personality or professional traits he/she had and that you would desire to develop in yourself? WRITE THEM DOWN – LIST #1. In a group setting, share at least one of these with your neighbor. (Swap!)
  2. Now it’s time to turn the attention on YOU. On a separate piece of paper, WRITE DOWN (LIST #2) YOUR three most redeeming qualities, unique professional/personal traits that any employer would be proud to know about you. Again, in a group setting, share at least one of these with your neighbor.
  3. For now, put these lists aside. There are no RIGHT or WRONG answers, but in past interview workshops, these terms often get repeated (for both Lists #1 and #2): Charisma, Creativity, Dedication, Dynamo, Excitement, Expertise, Humor, Intuition, Kindness, Leadership, Musicianship, Problem-Solver, Sensitivity, Tirelessness, Versatility, Virtuosity, and Visionary. On another piece of paper, add 1-3 more of these you may not have originally thought were among your positive attributes – WRITE THEM DOWN ON LIST #3.
  4. According to “The California BTES – Overview of the Ethnographic Study” by David Berliner and William Tikunoff, effective teachers (the ones for whom HR/employers are searching) score high on these skill sets/characteristics: Accepting, Adult Involvement, Attending, Consistency of Message, Conviviality, Cooperation, Student Engagement, Knowledge of Subject, Monitoring Learning, Optimism, Pacing, Promoting Self-Sufficiency, Spontaneity, Structuring. Do a self-assessment and apply these to yourself. WRITE DOWN 3-4 OF THESE ON LIST #4. Pick new ones you have not mentioned in #1 through #3.
  5. Now comes the FUN part. It’s time to generate stories about past experiences you have had that would model these terms. For this exercise, we recommend writing down at least one unique anecdote from each list which would “show not say” your ability, new learning, or achievement. The “plot” of your story should be concise, focused on the one trait, and when told out loud, not take longer than a minute. Instead of “bragging” you are a problem-solver or adaptable, tell that story of how you had to instantly initiate a “plan b” lesson when it was obvious that the students needed more work on a concept you thought they had already mastered. Remember how you handled your first discipline problem or a child in crisis? If you feel you have the qualities of a leader or a team player, share specific examples of your interactions with children in high school, college, field observations/student teaching, church or community groups, volunteer jobs, etc. If you have trouble coming up with these, try to remember the funny or surprising moments, or even the challenging miscues or big boo-boo’s – all okay to share as long as you resolved the situation positively, created a solution that resolved the problem, or learned a new insight or skill to handle future episodes. No one expects perfection from a new teacher, just enthusiasm, professionalism, willingness to self-assess, and commitment to the cause.
  6. Now you should have a library of stories ready to practice on your roommate, friends and fellow collegiates. You cannot bring the scripts with you, so these have to be at your fingertips: memorized, well-rehearsed, short and sweet (and if you can make them humorous, go for it!).
  7. Every week from now through the job search process, add new stories to your collection. Scan your (e-)portfolio for more ideas. These are the criteria used by my former school district (from where I retired) to evaluative prospective candidates. Ideally, you should have anecdotes that cover each area:

My Favorite Rubric

At some point, you are going to have to “face the music” and practice swapping these stories with family members, friends, and/or fellow job seeking students. We’re all in this together! At your next college chapter of NAfME, music education methods class, or student teachers’ wrap-up meeting, try to schedule some “down time” to appoint each other to serve as interviewers/ees. At first, it may not be easy. Using randomly selected questions from the Ultimate Interview Primer above (pull numbers out of a hat), tell a story or two to exemplify your past history, competencies, and professional traits. Your “buddy” (who will be on the hot seat next) could evaluate your performance using the following rubric. Apply the Oreo cookie format (something good first/top cookie, something needing improvement/cream in the center, and end with something positive/bottom cookie) to avoid crushing anyone’s ego. Consider recording your mock interviews for future assessment. Here is a copy of the form with sample questions.

More Odds and Ends on Storytelling

These outside sources focus on the essential skill of storytelling, the whole point of the above exercises. After reading these, you may be able to assemble more meaningful anecdotes that truly model your positive qualities and experiences by telling “short stories” – and “actions do speak louder than words!”

We found this excellent website “How to Effectively Use Storytelling in Interviews” by Bill Baker on “strategic storytelling” that is worth your perusal. It sums up everything above nicely.

On the Media from NYC Public Radio offered an interesting radio show, coincidentally aired during my 5.5 hour drive back from the 2022 PMEA Annual Conference in Kalahari/Poconos. They dove into the geometric shapes of stories… and what they have to do with reporting on the pandemic AND perhaps (my perspective) considerations for telling better narratives (including ups and downs) at job interviews: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/kurt-vonnegut-and-shape-pandemic2

Even the popular website indeed advises us on interview stories: “10 Storytelling Interview Questions With Sample Answers.” This STAR approach is discussed with specific examples of questions and anecdotes:

  • Situation: Describe a situation you experienced in the workplace relevant to the question.
  • Task: Mention a task you had to complete in this situation.
  • Action: Summarize the actions you took to complete the task.
  • Result: Discuss the outcome of your actions.

Finally, here are a handful of YouTube videos… just the tip of the iceberg. Remember that iceberg metaphor? The part that you see above the ocean is the performance, the show, the interview, the product… while the mandatory practice, rehearsals, preparations, and planning take up much more space and are almost never seen. ARE YOU READY TO TELL YOUR STORIES?

Enjoy! Now the ball is in YOUR court!

PKF

© 2022 Paul K. Fox

RECAP – Retirement Resources

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A Treasure Chest of Tips for Living the Dream!

Are you retiring soon? Thinking about “taking the plunge” and “Crossing the Rubicon” into your “second beginnings” or “next chapter” of senior life?

No matter how busy you are now, you need to “take five” from your work or personal to-do’s and review the following recommendations from past blog posts at this site. Consider this a personal toolbox for the retired and soon-to-retire professional… and assigned HOMEWORK!

A good starting point would be to pick-up “The Myths of Retirement” and “Three Exit Lanes to Self-Help Retirement Guides,” or if you prefer to tackle everything at once, check out the omnibus “monster” resource guide posted here.

Now the top-ten list – a well-balanced collection of online essays. The more you read, the better you will be able to embrace a healthy transition through this major life passage!

1. Plan ahead for retirement: “It’s Not Only About the Money”

Read the entire article here.

It is agreed that a period of adjustment will occur during the first years of “interning” as a retiree, especially critical during the “pre-retirement” stage (believe-it-or-not, as many as six to ten years prior to “taking the big leap” to FREEDOM!). The solution to a smooth transition is to be prepared: communicate your intentions with your family members, and reflect on the vast considerations of the “who, what, when, where, how, and why” of retirement. This prep to your “golden years” is the perfect time for a little self-assessment and self-reinvention in finding new purpose, meaning, and fulfillment in your life.

2. Identify and take steps to alleviate the stress of leaving your job:
“The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”

Read the entire article here.

The phases of retirement are discussed in greater depth here, as well as different departure scenarios and the usual post-employment “cycles of emotions.” This piece is particularly good if you have ever felt pushed into early retirement or experienced being unappreciated, disrespected, uninspired, unsupported, or “burned out” in your career.

3. Are you really ready? “Signs it is time to retire… OR “Signs is NOT okay.”

Read the entire article here.

This “countdown to retirement” article poses the essential question “Are you psychologically (or emotionally) prepared to retire?” and offers a “road map” of seven easy steps towards closure for prospective music teacher retirees.

For more insight, you should also peruse “When Should You Retire.”

4. Determine your retirement destination:
“Do you know where you’re going to…?”

Read the entire article here.

This early blog post proposed several factors to consider for the choice of where you want to live in retirement… both geography and floor plans. Another good source to read on this topic is the book that was published two years later by the retirement guru and former PMEA session presenter Dave Hughes: The Quest for Retirement Utopia – How to Find the Retirement Spot That’s Right for You.

5. Maintain your professional associations:
“Ask not what PMEA can do for you, but what you can do for PMEA!”

Read several articles:

A retired educator is a valuable resource. If you care about the profession, there are many ways you can continue to contribute your experience and wisdom, albeit less stressful and time-consuming moments, but still assist your colleagues who continue to “fight the good fight” in the field.

6. Acquire a more carefree attitude: “It’s Not Your Sandbox”

Read the entire article here.

It may be at times a challenge to surrender your urge to continue as “an agent of change” or, as E.A. Wynne has written in “The Moral Dimension of Teaching” (Teaching: Theory into Practice, 1995), habits of “moral professionalism.” Learn how chill out and NOT to stress out over someone else’s supposedly poorly run “sandbox” and limit the need to provide unsolicited advice or major problem-solving for other organizations. 

7. Make music: “Dust off your chops” and 8. “Sing your heart out…”

Read the both articles here and here.

What led you to select a career in (and the “calling” of) music education? Retirement is the perfect place and time to expand on your love and skills in creative self-expression. When a music educator retires, among the many joys and fruits of his/her career in the arts is a sudden life-style change – the glorious transformation of being set free from those things you no longer want nor need to do (routine day-to-day drudgery, paperwork, meetings, etc.), embarking on new journeys to explore and embrace revised personal goals – hopefully including a renewed refocus on making your own music!

9. Explore mind-stimulating engagements: “Have you fed your brain today?”

Read the entire article here.

The mind is a terrible thing to waste, even during retirement. Discover something new every day! Maximize your “brain health” with a host of these ideas to consider for your bucket list.

10. Take time to “give back” and volunteer:
“What does it mean to be eleemosynary?”

Read both of these articles here and here.

In the scheduling our free time in retirement, it is important to feel “needed” and find activities that foster “mattering” to promote a positive self-esteem, good mental health, and stable life balance. Are you making choices to contribute to the musical and personal success and welfare of others? For the realization of the mission of this blogger’s retirement pastime: “I refuse to sit idle, binge-watch movies on Netflix, or view hours of boring TV.” To quote the song’s lyrics, this “senior citizen” will never lament…

Life is so unnerving
For a servant who’s not serving
He’s not whole without a soul to wait upon
Ah, those good old days when we were useful
Suddenly those good old days are gone
Ten days we’ve been rusting
Needing so much more than dusting
Needing exercise, a chance to use our skills
Most days we just lay around the castle
Flabby, fat, and lazy
You walked in and oops-a-daisy!

– “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast

Stay Connected with PA Music Education

PMEA Annual Conference April 6-9, 2022 at the Kalahari Resort (Poconos)

PMEA retired members, please take note of these special events especially geared to YOU:

  • Free Retired Member Breakfast Meeting (including take-away gifts) on April 8 at 8 a.m.
  • Retirement 101 session on April 8 at 11:30 a.m. – Retired music teachers are encouraged to participate on the guest panel to “tell your own story” to help any interested soon-to-retire colleagues.
  • Three keynote speakers will join this year’s event: Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser, Lesley Moffat, and David Wish.
  • The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” will be featured on Thursday evening (April 7).
  • See last month’s blog for more details on the conference, tentative session schedule and exhibitors, AND the PMEA website.

PKF

© 2022 Paul K. Fox

Graphics from Pixabay.com:

New Year’s Resolutions for Retirees

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Do you believe in formulating annual goals or drafting a couple “New Year’s Resolutions?”

THE STATS DON’T LIE

Every year around this time, the web highlights many so-called experts touting the benefits of making personal improvement plans… and is just as quick to admonish us for breaking them. The statistics are not encouraging:

Success/Failure rates over the first 6 months

  • Of those who make a New Year’s resolution, after 1 week, 75% are still successful in keeping it.
  • After two weeks, the number drops to 71%.
  • After 1 month, the number drops again to 64%.
  • And after 6 months, 46% of people who make a resolution are still successful in keeping it.
  • In comparison, of those people who have similar goals but do not set a resolution, only 4% are still successful after 6 months.

Overall success/failure rates

  • According to a 2016 study, of the 41% of Americans who make New Years resolutions, by the end of the year only 9% feel they are successful in keeping them.
  • An earlier study in 2007 showed that 12% of people who set resolutions are successful even though 52% of the participants were confident of success at the beginning.

Reasons for failure

  • In one 2014 study, 35% of participants who failed their New Year’s Resolutions said they had unrealistic goals.
  • 33% of participants who failed didn’t keep track of their progress.
  • 23% forgot about their resolutions.
  • About one in 10 people who failed said they made too many resolutions.

— https://discoverhappyhabits.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/

Of course, it does not have to be this way! Last year, yours truly made a promise to “practice what music teachers preach” and “make meaningful music” at least a little every day on his instrument. How did it go? Success! I made it to the middle of July without missing a day (until I sprained my left hand). But the goal led me to playing better than I have for decades, more self-confidence, a lot of fun polishing off movements from my favorite sonatas and concertos, and even the purchase of a new viola. Now? It is time for me to find a tuba, dive into my past “brass flame,” and join a community band! 

As we succeed in everything else for our lives, the process of setting aside time to analyze our personal pathways, assessing our needs, and making new goals is healthy. For the eternal pursuit of happiness and self-fulfillment in retirement, I found these secrets to a ”winning” set of New Year’s Resolutions in the “Top-10 List” by the UAB School of Medicine:

  1. Start with specific micro-goals. (Keep them small, simple, and easy to accomplish.)
  2. Set resolutions for the right reasons. (Choose what is important to you, not someone else’s expectations.)
  3. Document your progress. (Write it down.)
  4. Practice patience and forgiveness. (No one is perfect. Just keep at it despite the curve balls thrown at you.)
  5. Schedule time to achieve goals. (Dedicate the necessary resolve and resources to accomplish them.)
  6. Embrace the buddy system. (Share in collaborating on group goals. You don’t have to achieve them alone!)
  7. Consider your budget. (Finances may play a role. Stay within your means.)
  8. Slow down and meditate. (Breathe, refocus, and be mindful.)
  9. Reward yourself for achievements. (No matter how big or small, treat yourself for reaching your targets.)
  10. Ask others to keep you accountable. (Publicize your intentions. They might help you achieve your goals.)

— https://www.uabmedicine.org/-/10-secrets-of-people-who-keep-their-new-year-s-resolutions

SAMPLE RESOLUTIONS

You probably do not need someone to suggest things-to-do in 2022 or ways to self-improve. Effective goals and action plans must come from within yourself. However, there are countless advisors “out there” offering ideas to motivate you:

  • Keep a Positive Mindset
  • Commit to at least 10 Minutes of Exercise Daily
  • Make Better Dietary Choices
  • Stay Young-at-Heart – Surround Yourself with Young People
  • Stimulate Your Mind
  • Get Enough Sleep
  • Reach Out to Old Friends and Make New Ones
  • Kick Your Bad Habits
  • Maintain Your Purpose in Life as You Age
  • Give Back – Explore New Volunteer Opportunities

— Example sites: https://www.luthermanor.org/new-years-resolutions-for-seniors/ and https://www.healthinaging.org/tools-and-tips/tip-sheet-top-10-healthy-new-years-resolutions-older-adults 

Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA)

ENGAGEMENT, ADVOCACY, & ASSOCIATION IN MUSIC EDUCATION

Modeling PROFESSIONALISM, these terms promote the power of “collaboration” and connections among music education colleagues and stakeholders (music students, parents, and the general public). To foster a broader picture and devise “bigger than self” New Year’s Resolutions, we should embrace forming partnerships throughout our pre-service, in-service, and retirement years with enhanced goals of active engagement, advocacy, and support of our professional associations.

In many past blog posts here and articles in PMEA News, Retired Member Network eNEWS, and NAfME Music in a Minuet, we have addressed ways that retirees can share their awesome “musical gifts,” know-how, and perspective to promote creative self-expression. If you are looking to adopt a 2022 New Year’s Resolution to “make a difference” in the music education profession, revisit this free archive here: https://www.pmea.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/PMEA-Retired-Member-Network-eNEWS-s090721.pdf and also peruse this link: https://paulfox.blog/2021/11/10/giving-back-to-the-association/.

On a personal note, besides getting back to my viola practice and resuming my love of playing the tuba, I resolve to continue a focus on “giving back” whenever possible to my local community, PMEA, and the music education profession. How will I do this in 2022? By bestowing the gifts of SERVICE:

  • Chair of the PMEA Council for Teacher Training, Recruitment, and Retention
  • Coordinator of PMEA Retired Members
  • Artistic Director of the South Hills Junior Orchestra
  • Trustee and Communications Director of the Community Foundation of Upper St. Clair
  • Volunteer Escort for the St. Clair Health
  • Author, clinician, and workshop presenter on the topics of educator ethics, interviewing and job search, professional standards, retirement, and self-care

Additional blog posts on the topic of New Year’s Resolutions and helping others in retirement:

PKF

© 2021 Paul K. Fox

iStockphoto.com graphic: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year by Tasha Art

Pixabay.com graphics:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Fox Household!

Giving Back to the Association

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A Pep Talk for Teachers to Become “Team Members!”

I found myself this past Monday morning with a few extra minutes checking my almost empty “to-do” list and, with the exception of planning to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers football game and the endless chore of raking leaves in my yard (I immediately rejected the latter), I discovered I had very few professional or personal priorities to focus on this week! Wow! Some additional “free time!” Shh… don’t tell anyone!

Down time? As I mentioned in a previous blog-post, since the summer, things had been a little hectic for “this retiree.” When I accepted the position of “admin” to the marching band of the school from where I retired, I discovered how fast we can fill up our schedules with meetings, rehearsals, and performances… to the point that it is hard to imagine how I could possibly have done all of this unless I retired from the regular job! My wife jokingly said, “Those were the days!” (perhaps a little unsympathetically?) as she watched me takeoff for band camp, parent salute nights, late night away football games, etc., while she remained cozy at home. “Been there. Done that! Not anymore!”

Only one professional association got me through more than five decades in music education and 35+ years of full-time directing, equipping me to handle the twists and turns of an ever-changing career (e.g., becoming a choral director even though I had never sang in a high school or college choir), and even attending music festivals as a viola and tuba student for four years in the Penn Hills school district. Who do I credit for giving me this “life force,” “teacher chops,” and music mastery? PMEA. We are so fortunate to have this priceless “collaboration of our colleagues,” numerous resources for the benefit of our own professional development, and services we provide to our music students. Cut me and I bleed PMEA blue!

How Are YOU Feeling?

This blog’s “call to action” is necessary because of the turmoil the pandemic has left the arts education community, new school health and safety mandates, re-prioritization of district resources (in some places away from the arts in spite of the need for more not less social emotional learning), reports of the drop in music participant enrollments, decrease in membership renewals, and teacher shortages.

The crush of COVID-19 and all of the program delays, suspensions, (and hopefully not) permanent losses have made this one of the most challenging times I can ever recall. The only way we can get through this is “together…” and frankly, “if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem!” This is NO TIME to let your membership and involvement lapse! PMEA and other professional music education organizations (like NAfME, ACDA, ASTA) need your “dedication to the cause,” willingness to help “the team” and one other,  and active participation.

Collegiate members, full active members, and retired members – all of us joining forces – can truly “make a difference!” No matter how busy or stressed you are and how much you feel you are “slugging it out in the trenches” alone, we all need to become partners and devote time for and dedication to the associations we are blessed to have right now that support music educators in the Commonwealth, the nation, and the profession.

The Essential Role of Associations

It does not matter which profession you have chosen! You NEED an ASSOCIATION!

Google English Dictionary provided by Oxford Languages

The architects may have defined “this essential bond” best:

Membership in the relevant professional organization is one of the things that separates a profession from a conventional job. It is a key element that defines a professional. Membership in one’s professional organization is expected of all professionals. It is important to support the advancement of one’s profession, and becoming a member of the professional organization is a part of that advancement.

Involvement with a professional society will afford the participant an opportunity to network with other colleagues in industry and practice. Making connections with others who have similar interests reinforces why one has chosen this career. It enables new professionals to associate with senior members of the profession and learn from them. Joining a professional organization is critical in keeping abreast of the latest knowledge and practices locally, regionally, and globally. It helps the professional to stay abreast of current issues and opportunities and will also assist in personal advancement for the member who becomes involved.

Many professional organizations offer continuing education, seminars, and lectures along with other opportunities for learning. An active participant will have the opportunity to serve in professional development. Working with people outside of one’s own firm and volunteering will build leadership skills. Opportunities for working with the community for the betterment of society and the local economy will be available. There will be possibilities for making real contributions to the human condition through projects the professional organization may take on as a part of giving back to the community. There are events that will call for public speaking skills and professional visibility which will assist in moving one’s career to another level by connecting with other professions and local leaders in the area. The profession will benefit from members’ service and the members will be rewarded in return by such things as personal fulfillment, professional enrichment, and building a stronger resume as a result.

Further definition of the professional responsibilities and ethical practices will come in part from the professional organization. It is a central core for regulation, education, revitalization, networking and service. Joining a professional organization provides occasions and experiences to renew one’s enthusiasm for the practice of interior design. The interaction can be both inspirational and enlightening. Being a member of a professional organization is a symbiotic relationship between the organization and the member that will benefit them both.

Alabama Board for Registered Interior Designers

My “top-ten” benefits for membership in a professional association like PMEA are:

  1. Development and sharing of the standards and best practices of the profession
  2. Student festivals and music performance assessments
  3. Professional development and career advancement opportunities: workshops, conferences, and publications
  4. Leadership training
  5. Collaborative projects such as health and wellness seminars, ethics training, library of online resources, etc.
  6. Networking opportunities
  7. Models and resources for curriculum writing
  8. Coaching and mentoring resources
  9. Resources in job hunting and interviewing techniques
  10. Advocacy of music education and “a voice” (more political “clout”) in defining future government public policy

So, What’s in it for Me?

Review a few of the synonyms of “association” mentioned above: “alliance,” “consortium,” “coalition,” “connection,” etc. I am sure you’ve heard the saying: “TEAM stands for Together Everyone Achieves More.” Or, to quote the philosopher Aristotle: “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

The easiest way for me to show the value of joining PMEA and becoming more active, engaged, and successful in your teaching assignment (no matter what the primary specialty – general music, vocal, band, strings, jazz, music theory, technology, etc) is to take a snapshot of the benefits displayed on the www.pmea.net website. Why try to reinvent the wheel? You might be surprised the extent of the HELP that is available just around the corner! Go ahead… click away! Take a peek at what you may be missing!

On a personal note, PMEA has provided me the insight, inspiration, and opportunities for substantial career growth, “places to go and people to meet” to fill-in-the-gaps of the skill training I may have felt were missing, for example methods and media for teaching a high school choral program for more than 16 years and directing/producing 37+ musicals. In addition, PMEA and NAfME have been the sole institutions that I have turned to for more than 50 years for their sponsorship of choral and orchestral music festivals and other enrichment that have provided my students new and highly motivating musical challenges and countless state-of-the-art once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

So now, reflect on the title of this blog! It is essential to give back to our association – to help it achieve its mission: “to advance comprehensive and innovative music education for all students through quality teaching, rigorous learning, and meaningful music engagement.” We’re all in this together, and together we can make it better! Slide #6 at the bottom of the retired members’ webpage proposes what PMEA needs from all members (not just retirees):

The number one thing you can do for ANY association is to pay your annual dues, attend its meetings, be active and HELP OUT! In return, PMEA can assist you in finding and sustaining your passions! What are you waiting for? If you have not renewed for the 2021-2022 year, please visit this PMEA membership webpage.

PKF

© 2021 Paul K. Fox

Pictures from Pixabay.com by artist Augusto Ordóñez

COVID-19 vs. New Year’s Resolutions?

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How to “Make a Difference” in 2021

Of those who make a New Year’s resolution, after 1 week 75% are still successful in keeping it. After two weeks, the number drops to 71%. After 1 month, the number drops again to 64%. And after 6 months, 46% of people who make a resolution are still successful in keeping it. In comparison, of those people who have similar goals but do not set a resolution, only 4% are still successful after 6 months.

New Year’s Resolutions Statistics (Updated 2020) from Discover Happy Habits

Although we may be seeing the first signs of “the light at the end of the tunnel” with the distribution of the vaccines, coronavirus still has its grip on us… off-the-chart infection rates, record-breaking hospital admissions, schedule disruptions, restrictions on restaurants and small businesses, mandatory mask wearing, social distancing, precautionary self-isolation, etc. By all accounts, mindfulness, self-care, patience, and a positive outlook for the future are keys to making personal and professional goals as the pandemic rages on…

This article spotlights an age-old but usually neglected perspective – “think first” before you formulate any New Year’s Resolutions! For this to really work, you need a little research and reflection… and then COMMIT TO YOUR GOALS! Read on!

Start Out by Being S.M.A.R.T.

Admittedly, 44+ years in teaching has affected how I view goal-setting – “make it intention!” Adopt the often published S.M.A.R.T. approach to any plan. Make goals that are…

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Relevant
  • Time-Bound

What goals do you want to satisfy in 2021? “Keep it simple” and S.M.A.R.T. Like lesson plans, write your resolution(s) in behavioral terms… “by the end of this class, the students will…” For example, the easiest way to limit the intake of fried food in your diet is to write on a post-it note, “I will not eat anything fried this week” and place it on your bathroom mirror.

A lot of these resolutions fail because they’re not the right resolutions. And a resolution may be wrong for one of three main reasons: 1) It’s a resolution created based on what someone else (or society) is telling you to change. 2) It’s too vague. 3) You don’t have a realistic plan for achieving your resolution.

How to Make and Keep a New Year’s Resolution by Jen A. Miller (New York Times)

Review the Usual Ones…

According to Brad Zomick in his GoSkills blog, these are the most common New Year’s Resolutions:

  • Exercise more
  • Lose weight
  • Get organized
  • Learn a new skill or hobby 
  • Live life to the fullest
  • Save more money / spend less money
  • Quit smoking
  • Spend more time with family and friends
  • Travel more
  • Read more

Just as important to WHAT you choose is HOW you approach it. In his article, Zomick provides a “how-to” roadmap to success, if you follow his steps:

  1. Mentally prepare for change.
  2. Set a goal that motivates you.
  3. Limit resolutions to a manageable amount.
  4. Be specific.
  5. Break up big goals into smaller goals.
  6. Write down your goals.
  7. Share your resolutions with others.
  8. Automate when possible.
  9. Review your resolution regularly.
  10. If you fall off track, get back on quick.

Do these recommendations sound familiar? They should if you are a disciple of the aforementioned S.M.A.R.T plan. Also, the concept of “writing down your goals” should ring a bell if you recall the supposed 1979 Harvard Business School MBA Study on Goal Setting (urban legend?) reviewed by Wanderlust Worker here:

Have you set written goals and created a plan for their attainment? Prior to graduation, it was determined that 84% of the entire class had set no goals at all. 13% of the class had set written goals but had no concrete plans. 3% of the class had both written goals and concrete plans. The results? Well, you’ve likely somewhat guessed it. 10 years later, the 13% of the class that had set written goals but had not created plans, were making twice as much money as the 84% of the class that had set no goals at all. However, the apparent kicker is that the 3% of the class that had both written goals and a plan, were making ten times as much as the rest of the 97% of the class. 

The Harvard MBA Study on Goal Setting from Wanderlust Worker

Whether the Harvard (or Yale) study is fact or faction is probably irrelevant. The point here is that to improve the odds for accomplishing our goals, we need to take the time to write them down, announce our intentions (your spouse or significant-other), and define the details with “action plans.”

The Glass Is Half Full

Have you heard the joke about the identical twins, one an optimist and the other a pessimist?

A psychiatrist has one son who is a total pessimist, and another who is a complete optimist.  He decides on an experiment.  For Christmas he fills the pessimist’s room with hundreds of beautifully wrapped gifts, and dumps a heap of horse manure in the optimist’s room. On Christmas morning he sees the pessimist boy sitting motionless at the center of his room, eyeing his gifts suspiciously. But over in the optimist’s room he sees his boy filled with joy, digging happily in the odorous pile. He asks the kid what he’s doing and he answers:  “Daddy, with all this horse dung, there’s gotta be a pony in here someplace.”

The Center for Optimism

It’s time to cheer-up, look to the future, and embrace HOPE for tomorrow!

Are you kidding? You want me to “put on a happy face” after all the pandemic has done? YES!

One remedy for “losing the blue funk” is to reject all “blame and complain” speech or behavior! It is so easy to get caught up in negativity… family adversity or “challenges” of a medical or employment nature, or simply being forced to remain distant from each other, daily news media reports about COVID-19, political dissension and the polarization of viewpoints, angry rants on social media, etc. literally fanning the flames of an unprecedented perpetual global “bad mood!” I even found myself in the throes of periodic bouts of public distemper, griping on Facebook about a Dial for Men product that made my hair dry (my FB friends responded, “Thanks for the heads-up” – ha, ha!), or grumbling about the roll-out of new revisions of WordPress and Constant Contact program editors that are not backwards-compatible nor fail to support the “look and feel” of previous versions. The effect of exposure to or expression of all of these “B” words (badmouth, beef, bellyache, bemoan, bicker, b*tch) is to make you even more bitter… not fostering the “can-do’s” for taking steps towards helping others, self-renewal, or an optimistic attitude.

Do you find your emotions swinging rapidly from sadness to elation to anger or fear during the lockdown? If your mood is all over the place at the moment, that’s completely understandable. This is not a normal situation. It’s a hugely disruptive, sudden change to our daily lives that nobody was prepared for. It isn’t surprising that many people are experiencing unpredictable moods. “It is going to affect everyone’s mood in many, and sometimes unexpected, ways,” reveals psychotherapist Mark Bailey. “Whether it’s worry, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, discombobulated, angry and even perhaps unexpected emotions like relief as we accept some of our current situation, it’s useful to know that as we experience one emotion it doesn’t nullify or negate another.”

COVID-19: How to Manage Mood Swings... by Natalie Healey

Get Inspired by Good Role Models and “Positive Gurus”

Many music educators attend the keynote addresses at state MEA/NAfME conferences to “recharge their batteries.” A few of my favorite “master motivators” are Tim Lautzenheiser, Peter Boonshaft, and Fran Kick. As a sample, check out this video (sponsored by MusicFirst) that featured “Dr. Tim” – One Person Can Make a Difference!

Who can have a positive influence on us or serve as a “catalyst for change” to help us realize our resolutions? Practically anyone! I bumped into this provocative article by Professor Dr Ger Graus: Good Role Models – How Has COVID-19 Changed Pupils’ Career Aspirations? He relates these criteria “to elevate a person or profession to role model status” (at least in the eyes of a child) – possibly an excellent framework for creating your plan.

  1. Demonstrate passion for what you do and have the capacity to infect others with it.
  2. Show a clear set of values and live them in their world. Lead by example. Children admire people who act in ways that support their beliefs. It helps them understand how their own values are part of who they are and how they might seek fulfilling roles as adults.
  3. Demonstrate commitment to community. Be others-focused as opposed to self-focused. Freely give your time and talents to benefit people.
  4. Show selflessness and acceptance of others who are different to you. Be fair.
  5. Demonstrate the ability to overcome obstacles. Young people admire those who show them that success is possible.

Someone who has recently become inspirational to me is the wonderfully uplifting Lesley Moffat, probably an expert on the search for “mindfulness” in personal life and even during her band warmups. In my opinion, her transformative stories provide the blueprint for happiness and wellbeing! She now has two published books (you need to read both) – I Love My Job But It’s Killing Me, and Love the Job, Lose the Stress, and if you are still teaching music full-time, you need to peruse her website: https://mpowerededucator.com/. For a good laugh, view her recent “rap” – Moffat’s HamJam for Band – for which she performed for her music students.

Apply the concepts of social and emotional learning (SEL), EMPATHY, and “corona kindness” to yourself and loved-ones! Seek out advice from a few of these experts: Manju Durairaj, Scott N. Edgar, Bob Morrison, and Edward Varner.

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. The key components of SEL are self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision-making, self-management, and relationship skills.

Finding Sanctuary – Social and Emotional Learning and Visual and Performing Arts by Edward Varner

Sum it Up – Fox’s “Top-Ten Tips”

  1. Renew your efforts to intentionally reach-out, connect, and engage with people, albeit virtually for now.
  2. Focus on the things you can control.
  3. Remind yourself about the good things in your life and your personal resilience.
  4. Start small and change one behavior at a time.
  5. Don’t beat yourself up when things get a little rocky
  6. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
  7. Seek creative new ways to reduce your stress.
  8. Exercise, meditate, go outside, and plan better meals.
  9. Share your experiences with family and friends.
  10. Implement one or two S.M.A.R.T. goals and embrace the “spirit” of self-improvement.

It’s easy to become an idealist when the new year rolls around, but it’s important to remember that New Year’s resolutions are ultimately a tool to help you grow into the person you want to be. Take some time this New Year’s Eve to really consider who you want to be in the future, and then employ S.M.A.R.T. goals to help you fulfill your vision. Making a resolution to live your life with purpose and passion is a beautiful and exciting thing, not something to dread.

How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions by Using S.M.A.R.T. Goals by Mary McCoy

PKF

© 2020 Paul K. Fox

Resources

Credits:

iStock.com photos (in order): “2021” #1280953227 by phototechno, “SMART Goals” #1134658098 by BrianAJackson, “New Years Goals List 2021” #1266648329 by Olena Sakhnenko, “Half Empty to Half Full” #1128990168 by Fokusiert, “Lead by Example” #849367144 by Michail_Petrov-96, and “2021 Happy New Year” #1273431483 by Weedezign

“Happy Face” VectorStock.com/467693