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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
“Doing My Thing…” — Professional Development Conferences for Music Educators
It’s been awhile since I posted here… arguably the longest editorial break I have taken since retirement and starting this blog-site. What’s that line retirees often say? “It’s a good thing I am retired from my job; otherwise I would not have enough time to do everything!”
This has been an extremely busy couple months of renovating three bathrooms, promoting the 30th Anniversary Gala Celebration of the Community Foundation of Upper St. Clair featuring a CASINO NIGHT & the local band NO BAD JUJU (to which I can’t even go because it is on the same day as PMEA), staffing a transition of new editors and an office manager for the UPPER ST. CLAIR TODAY community magazine, “keeping my hand in” by conducting a small nonprofit community ensemble (now in our 40th season of the South Hills Junior Orchestra), volunteering at the hospital (see my Tales from a Wheelchair Jockey article), developing new PDE Act 45 and 48 programs on ethics (school system leaders and educators respectively), and… (deep breath): preparing four PowerPoint presentations for two music conferences in April. Yes, and loving every minute of this frenzied activity!
Pennsylvania and Eastern Division music education colleagues: Hopefully by now, you have registered for the coming conferences on the horizon:
NAfME Eastern Division Conference, April 13-16, 2023, Rochester, NY
PMEA Annual Conference, April 19-22, 2023, in the Poconos
Now to quote the inspiration of Simon Sinek — his theory of value proposition to ‘start with why’ — how leaders can inspire cooperation, trust, and change based on research into how the most successful organizations think, act, and communicate if they start with why. Check out his rationale with The Golden Circle:
The “why” of attending your professional development conferences, “sharpening your saw” (self-renewal by Stephen Covey) aka “recharging your batteries,” learning what’s new and innovative on the forefront of “the state of the art,” and networking with colleagues, and has been addressed often in past blogs:
Simply put — to maintain your mastery of music and methods and build on your “best practices” and professionalism, you MUST attend as many educational conferences and workshops as possible!
Now to my “bags of tricks” for April 2023
Mark your calendars:
April 15, 2023 at 10:45 a.m. in Hyatt Susan B. Anthony (NAfME) – OR – April 21, 2023 at 11:30 p.m. in Kalahari Suite 40/50 (PMEA)
I was blessed to have been asked to present THE INTERVIEW CLINIC — Practicing & Playacting to Improve Your Performance at Employment Screenings at both the NAfME and PMEA conferences. This will be FUN! Perfect for college music education majors, soon-to-be or recent graduates, new transfers to the profession, teachers seeking to change positions while openings seem to be “heating up,” or first-timers looking for employment, the session targets will provide interactive exercises to build self-confidence and develop better insights, practices, and strategies to successfully land a job. “The key is in the preparation” of:
Standards—Defining/modeling professionalism, versatility, and ethics
Marketing—Branding, networking, and selling yourself
Skills—Interviewing, storytelling, and organizing
Assessment—Observing, reviewing, diagnosing, and improving
Interactive exercises, you say? Yes! Get ready to meet new people and perhaps dive into a few activities slightly outside your “comfort zone!” (We promise NOT to embarrass anyone!) We will break up into small groups or “duet partners,” and explore defining our professional “essence,” telling anecdotes about our strengths and past problems we have “crushed,” and focusing on learning “the golden gift of gab” — storytelling.
As always, articles, resources, and slide summaries will be posted under the “Training/Jobs” menu tab (above).
Mark your calendars:
April 20, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. in Kalahari Suite 30 (PMEA)
How many of you feel at times a little overwhelmed, exhausted,stressed out,disorganized, demoralized, or disenfranchised?
Are you at the end of your rope and wondering how you’re going to “keep it all together” over the next week, month, year?
Is your health is interfering with your ability to do your job and find success, balance, and meaning in your personal life and relationships? Then… it is time for a change.
We are still dealing with the effects of the pandemic which has brought on a “gap year” to most of our music programs, the stress of “working harder not smarter,” more teacher burnouts, and the resulting bail outs, staff shortages, and/or job cuts. We need to embrace NEW strategies for personal self-care and SEL (social and emotional learning). Do you still enjoy teaching? How have you coped with all of the changes? How will you achieve a better work/life balance and skills in time/priority management and personal health and wellness?
The prescriptions and RECIPES towards stress reduction and developing a self-care plan are here! Doug Sands, a consulting hypnotist and founder of AnywhereHypnosis.com, joins me to “throw in everything and the kitchen sink” to alleviate these problems, with NO cookie-cutter, “one-size-fits-all” solutions from the chefs:
What has COVID done to all of us?
Instant personal online stress assessment
Taking an inventory of the ingredients towards a healthier lifestyle
Definitions, symptoms, and remediations for teacher stress and burnout
Why teachers are so exhausted and what to do about it
Time management tips
Breathe like a Navy SEAL
Coping and learning “acceptance”
How to “coach overwhelm!”
The role of meals, movement, music, and mindfulness (thank you, Lesley Moffat!)
From MEJ: A suggested self-care plan and “cognitive distortions” to avoid
Focusing on ONE self-care strategy from a “sea of solutions”
We’re in this together… so we need to join forces and SHARE the secret recipes for a happier life! Add your own “baking tips,” and I promise, you’ll leave with a better understanding of how we all can celebrate the coming year or decades in music education!
By the way, my “mindfulness partner” for this workshop, Doug Sands, promises us he will not hypnotize any of us during this session (although he could!).
For more about his work, including “15 Rapid Tools (and Counting) to Wipe Out Anxiety, Stress, and Panic,” please go to his website here.
You are invited to stop in to see him at his PMEA booth in the Kalahari exhibit hall.
POST-CONFERENCE NOTE: Doug sent us his Anti-Panic Toolkit entitled, 15 Rapid Tools (and Counting) to Wipe out Anxiety, Stress, and Panic – Wherever They Strike! Click here.
If you would like a sneak preview of the revised handout for the Self-Care workshop, go to the Care menu section at the top menu bar.
Taking a peek at our recent past…
Workshop for Orchestra & String Teachers
In case you missed the PMEA District 5 Professional Development Day, my wife Donna and I presented “Plucking Our Minds” at Grove City College on February 20, 2023.
We were privileged to “share some of our secret sauces” gleaned from over 80 combined years of experience on a variety of topics:
CommUNITY Music-Making
Online Academy
Summer String Camp
Assessment Projects
Collaborative/Creativity Projects
Library of “Fox Firesides”
If would be a shame to waste these resources… and reading them could inspire new adaptations to your instrumental program.
Click here for a copy of the slide handouts. Feel free to comment (above) or send an email to me (paulkfox.usc@gmail.com) if you have any questions.
Our Crystal Ball
Future Accredited Workshops on Ethics in Education
Are you aware that the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has recently revised the PA educators’ Code of Professional Practice and Conduct AND adopted the Model Code of Ethics for Educators developed by the National Association of State Directors for Teacher Education and Certification? Have you seen the new Professional Ethics Program Framework Guidelines? PA Chapter 49 requires instruction in professional ethics to be integrated in educator preparation, induction, and continuing professional development programs as follows:
Continuing professional development programs must integrate the professional ethics competencies no later than the 2023-24 academic year.
Educator preparation and induction programs must integrate the professional ethics competencies no later than the 2024-25 academic year.
Not one to let grass grow (or mud sink) under his feet, retired social studies teacher, current attorney-at-law, and past PMEA conference presenter Thomas Bailey has partnered with me to design new ethics training classes for school system leaders (25-hour Act 45 PIL course) and educators (four-hour Act 48 continuing education course). In addition, we are introducing a new “hybrid” program for school administrators involving four-hour pre-recorded asynchronous webcasts (site license), along with a three-hour synchronous webinar using the webcast videos and adding facilitated interactive discussions of three ethical case studies either via Zoom OR in-person follow-up workshops led by both clinicians.
“Wherever you turn, you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember, you don’t live in the world all of your own.”
— Albert Schweitzer
“You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.”
— Winston Churchill
“Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation’s compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain loving one another.”
— Erma Bombeck
Besides spending more time with family and friends, the most precious benefit of the freedom afforded to you “living the dream” in retirement is… (drum roll, please)… becoming eleemosynary! (Look it up!) It’s crucial to make it a priority to give back to your community!
I wrote an article in our local community magazine UPPER ST. CLAIR TODAY. (Yes, I guess I’m bragging a bit – find it hereon page 20 and you’ll see pictures of my Pirate costume for escorting at the hospital and holding my doggies!) I cite many reasons for becoming a volunteer. (Disclaimer: Some of the statistics below are a few years old, but you get the idea… The trend is ever-growing!)
The Surge of Volunteerism
Did you know?
There are 77.4 million volunteers in America alone.
6.9 billion volunteer hours were recorded in 2018 (last Volunteer Demographic Statistics/National & Community Service Report)
33.8% of the female population and 26.5% of the male population volunteer
30.7% of Baby Boomers (1944-1964) who are U.S. residents volunteer
36.4% of Gen X (1965-1979) U.S. residents volunteer – the winning group!
28.2% of Millenial (1980-1996) U.S. residents volunteer
If you have any doubts about WHY you should volunteer, revisit my August 2021 blog “Those Were the Good ‘Ol Days – The E in RETIREMENT is for Energy, Engagement, Excitement, and Endurance” here. For retirees everywhere, this is worth repeating.
“It has been suggested that one problem of retirement is that one no longer matters; others no longer depend on us… The reward of retirement, involving a surcease from labor, can be the punishment of not mattering. Existence loses its point and savor when one no longer makes a difference.”
– Rosenberg and McCullough
We learn from Revitalizing Retirement: Reshaping Your Identity, Relationships, and Purpose by Nancy Schlossberg that for retirees, it is important to feel “needed” and that pursuits that foster “mattering” are crucial to a positive self-esteem, good mental health, and stable life balance.
What to Do with Your Free Time?
This, too, has been covered in past blog-posts, conference sessions, webinars, and articles in PMEA News. A quick recap:
Walk dogs at animal shelter
Assist food banks and meals-on-wheels agencies
Enlist as special advocate for abused or neglected children
Work as a hospice volunteer
Maintain parks, trails, nature habitats, or recreation centers
Host an international student
Assist at local hospital, senior center, or nursing home
Serve in charity fund-raising projects
Become a youth director, mentor, or scout leader
Share your hobby or experiences in a specialty and teach night classes or summer school
Give guided tours or lectures as a docent at a local museum
Apply office management and clerical skills to benefit libraries and other nonprofit associations
Run a school club or coach a sport
A quick scan of the website https://www.volunteermatch.org/ would fetch many specific volunteer job openings (these for the Pittsburgh, PA area where I live):
Provide hospitality at Pittsburgh sporting events
Serve coffee and snacks at winter warming stations
Write articles or submit photographs to local publications and e-media
Visit hospice patients and provide other free-care services
Crochet, knit, or sew blankets for needy families
Connect with local veterans
Manage nonprofit events and organizations
Ring the Salvation Army kettle bells all year long
Mentor an underserved child (everything from athletics to computer skills)
Make weekly reassurance calls or personal welfare checks of senior citizens
Become a delivery driver of “care packages” of food, baby items, pet necessities, household items, and more
Retired music educators have an advantage, a valued skill which also represents their “calling” and “life’s work” – fostering creative self-expression. There’s so much “we” can do to “bring on more music” in our community, and if you wish, several of these may provide supplemental income:
Performing gigs locally
Directing community or church ensembles
Accompanying community or church ensembles
Coaching/assisting local music programs
Teaching college music education methods or supervising student teachers
Composing/arranging music
Adjudicating or guest conducting music festivals
Serving in the music industry
The best part of retirement is you can say “NO” anytime you want. You can cut out any perceived drudgery, routine “chores,” and excessive paperwork that “the institution” may demand, but still assist in collaborating and sharing your experience, expertise, vision in working with “the kids.” You can continue to develop your own personal artistry (now with more time to practice) and leave your “musical stamp” on other programs and projects whenever and wherever you please.
Adventures in Volunteer Escorting
Every hospital, outpatient facility, and senior nursing/assisted living center I know needs volunteers… a lot of able-body helpers. Have you considered lending a hand in pushing patients to/from their procedures, discharges, etc. in your community? I have, and it is truly a joyful experience.
For two days a week, I spend the better part of my day at St. Clair Health in Mt. Lebanon/Scott Township in the South Hills area of Western PA. (If you live in the area, visit their website here.) Although on occasion, I get to visit the Family Birth Center (my favorite) and hospital rooms to help check out patients, most of my shift is assigned to the Dunlap Family Outpatient Center, a new state-of-the-art facility (opened in May 2021 – still has that “new car” smell) for “in and out” procedures. It would not be an exaggeration that I escort as many as 50 individuals per day undergoing outpatient surgeries, endoscopies, colonoscopies, or other diagnostic testing, along with an equal number of family members to/from the treatment rooms. On a given Thursday or Friday, I can check my Apple Watch and iPhone digital health monitors and find I take as many 17,000 steps!
The best part? Do I have to tell you that since I retired to the same basic geographic area in which I spent my entire career, how many of my school colleagues, former students, and their parents I have discharged? One thing you realize helping out in your hometown (the place you taught all those years)… you will run into many of your former “charges” 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 shared memories, their life’s happenings and successes, and future dreams.
So many stories…
Several weeks ago, I brought down to the main floor a delightful lady from our pre-post anesthesia unit to connect with her ride home, and I saw her driver was in a Uber-lit-up car. I remarked to the patient, “Wow, the only Uber driver I ever knew was one of my former choral students named Lisa…” and sure enough, that’s who came to pick up her mother-in-law. Even though we always wear masks in the hospital, I guess my Upper St. Clair HS marching band “broadcaster’s voice” is recognizable, and countless people in the lobby (usually accompanying family members) stop me, “Hey, is that you Mr. Fox?” Of course, HIPPA dictates we never repeat their identities or any confidential information…
Being a music teacher, I cannot help myself. My mission is to be “the distracter” – divert their attention from the inevitable? – and to help calm, reassure, and perhaps even entertain the patients for a few moments transitioning through those awkward (and sometimes fearful) medical procedures. They need a bright, cheerful, and funny if not somewhat crazy escort. I provide the jokes and the songs!
One day, I was literally singing Maria from West Side Story while pushing Maria-the-patient to her endoscopy, and another person walking with us for her own test said, “Well, it’s nice you are singing to us. But, my name is Sharon, and they don’t have a song for my name. No, Sharona is NOT my name,” she added with emphasis! After I took both ladies to their respective rooms, I had to do some research, but came back after Sharon was prepped and received her IV waiting for the doctor. “You forgot about The Song for Sharon composed and sung by Joni Mitchell,” I said (perhaps not my favorite example from the artist’s albums).
The hallway from the waiting room to the procedure suites is long and offers time for my style of “interaction and distraction.” Another funny episode, I was escorting two men to their appointments in the outpatient surgery unit. To the first, I said, “Did you know they wrote an entire musical featuring your name? Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He replied he had never heard of it. I sang a few bars of several theme songs, and told him to look up Donny Osmond’s Close Evr’y Door and other tunes from the show. We were almost at the nurse’s station when the second gentleman turned to me and said, “Don’t you dare!” I looked down at my call slip and saw his name was George, and searched my mind. What song could was he concerned about? “Oh, oh, not that cartoon theme George of the Jungle? ending with the lyrics “…watch out for that tree?” He told me he was tormented mercilessly by his brothers, sisters, son, daughter, and now the grandchildren re-enacting painful renditions of “his song!” In this quiet, pristine, antiseptically-clean environment, we all took a moment and enjoyed a good horse laugh together (even the head nurse)!
The male volunteers usually dress up in an all-red jacket (one giant candy stripe), but on occasion, I have been known to bring a costume… for Halloween or Christmas, to try to bring a little joy and good humor to the patients.
I feel blessed to have the good health and mobility to serve as a volunteer escort, and the opportunity to meet with on a daily basis so many wonderful people. Many of my retired colleagues (even those from where I last taught) have joined the force. To say the least, we appreciate the comradeship, gratitude, and feelings of being eleemosynary for what we can share with others!
Anyone from my neck of the woods? Visit this website and sign-up! WE NEED YOU!
As if you need any additional urging, for the young and young-at-heart alike, Joi Henry of the 2013-2014 Youth Leadership Council (21st Century Leaders) probably said it best commenting on why community service is essential:
“Community service involvement is important because volunteering teaches people of all ages and backgrounds compassion and understanding. One thing I like about community service is that there are opportunities to improve and leave your mark on your global and local community. Volunteering and putting on service events can be used as a way to advocate for causes that you are personally passionate about. Community service… can also be the avenue to explore areas that you express interest. Volunteering is something that has no time limit; you can volunteer as much or as little as you’d like or have time for and still feel some type of fulfillment from it.“
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!
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!
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”
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”
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.”
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.
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!”
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”
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…”
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?”
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?”
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!
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).
The return of in-person gatherings of PA music educators and students!
Here’s a “sneak preview” of the upcoming annual professional development convention for members of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) and Pennsylvania Collegiate Music Educators Association (PCMEA).
After being “hunkered down” for two years of online workshops, virtual conferences, digital music industry exhibits, and Zoom rehearsals of PMEA All-State ensembles, we can now “crush COVID-19” with “face-to-face” meetings of the PMEA TOGETHER CONFERENCE on April 6-9, 2022 at the Kalahari Resort in the Poconos.
Not just a “play on words,” this LIVE event brings TOGETHER the awesome and inspiring vision and efforts of the PMEA Professional Development Council, state officers, and staff, along with a twist from tradition – offering a place to getaway from it all!
Ask your spouse or “significant other,” children or grandchildren, nieces or nephews, other fun-loving family members, or close friends if they are available to join you for a three-day escape to the Poconos – “the world’s largest indoor waterpark” at Kalahari Resort! Experience great music, career development sessions, catching-up with colleagues, reconnection with your loved-ones, and entertainment for all ages – all wrapped up in one location.
Bring the family? Each spacious hotel room comes equipped with two double beds, a pullout sofa, microwave, and refrigerator, and the discounted $149/night conference rate allows you to register up to four people with access to all the resort’s amenities for no extra charge!
What resort amenities? Enjoy rides and slides (lots to “splash in” or just relax on the lazy river), a “big game” room, mini golf, mini bowling, 7-D motion theater, gourmet restaurants, spa, salon, fitness center, and amazing shopping and sightseeing excursions in PA’s northeastern region. While YOU are attending PMEA keynote sessions, clinics, concerts, and exhibits, the rest of your party could be “living it up” on as many as 29 waterpark thrills (from “mild” to “wild,” check out all of them on their website):
A joyful car trip to local scenes and attractions? The word “Pocono” means “the stream between two mountains.” This region encompasses 2,400 square miles of lakes, rivers, and woodlands just waiting to be discovered. Just how adventurous are you?
Explore numerous opportunities to hike, bike, bird watch, ski, fish, and photograph the wildlife, waterfalls, and other breathtaking landscapes.
Peruse the various exhibits of local artists at the White Mills Art Factory, 736 Texas Palmyra Highway (Route 6) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Wednesdays).
Try your luck at the Mount Airy Casino Resort Spa.
Or be a “wandering tourist” and visit nearby Stroudsburg, Milford, Jim Thorpe Honesdale, Lake Wallenpaupack, Hawley, Skytop, Bushkill, Lake Harmony, or Tannersville.
Now down to the business of professional development! In your free time from the above refreshing and re-invigorating moments of “down time,” you won’t want to miss the PMEA general sessions featuring keynoters David Wish of Little Kids Rock and Lesley Moffat, author of Love the Job, Lose the Stress. After opening the music industry and collegiate exhibits, numerous workshops, interactive demonstrations, and panel discussions will be hosted on a variety of “state-of-the-art” and timely topics:
Sandwiched in between these clinics and meetings of PCMEA, PA Society for Music Teacher Education, PMEA Council for Teacher Training, Recruitment, and Retention, PMEA Retired Members, Pennsylvania-Delaware String Teachers Association, and others will be opportunities to observe rehearsals and performances of the PMEA All-State Band, Chorus, Jazz, Orchestra, and Vocal Jazz, and attend concerts of guest performing ensembles – among “Pennsylvania’s finest.” Congratulations to:
Looking for that new classroom accessory, concert selection, educational travel group, fundraiser, instrument, technology tool, or uniform, or seeking to talk to representatives from music schools? Take time to visit the exhibits. PMEA thanks the continuing support of its PMEA Corporate Sponsors.
Yours truly (blogger) is proud to announce he is presenting three sessions at the conference:
CODES, CASE STUDIES, and CONUNDRUMS – The Challenges of Ethical Decision-Making in Education
THE INTERVIEW CLINIC – Practicing and Playacting to Improve Your Performance at Employment Screenings
RETIREMENT 101 – The Who, What, When, Where, Why, & How of Preparing for Post-Employment
PMEA will need volunteers to assist as presiding chairs or to serve at the INFO BOOTH near registration. In addition, the PMEA Retired Member Coordinator is seeking retirees to help serve on a guest panel of “semi-experts” for the retirement session.
It’s still a little early for much additional detail. However, check out this MOVIE TRAILER preview of the 2022 Conference, featuring The Pennsylvania March composed by PMEA retired member Ron DeGrandis.
As of January 17, 2022 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), Kalahari Resort room reservations are open! The link to conference registration will be coming soon. For more information, please visit the PMEA website. Keep your eye out for revisions in future PMEA News, UPDATES, and other e-publications.
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.
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:
Start with specific micro-goals. (Keep them small, simple, and easy to accomplish.)
Set resolutions for the right reasons. (Choose what is important to you, not someone else’s expectations.)
Document your progress. (Write it down.)
Practice patience and forgiveness. (No one is perfect. Just keep at it despite the curve balls thrown at you.)
Schedule time to achieve goals. (Dedicate the necessary resolve and resources to accomplish them.)
Embrace the buddy system. (Share in collaborating on group goals. You don’t have to achieve them alone!)
Consider your budget. (Finances may play a role. Stay within your means.)
Slow down and meditate. (Breathe, refocus, and be mindful.)
Reward yourself for achievements. (No matter how big or small, treat yourself for reaching your targets.)
Ask others to keep you accountable. (Publicize your intentions. They might help you achieve your goals.)
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
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.
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:
The “E” in RETIREMENT is for Energy, Engagement, Excitement, and Endurance
This blog is all about how to stay young and vibrant – BECOMING A VOLUNTEER! Geared to those of us who have retired, this is very personal and unique to every individual, no matter what the age!
Do you remember the song, “Those Were the Days” performed by Mary Hopkins (1968), the Fifth Dimension (1969), and even Dolly Parton (2000)?
Those were the days my friend We thought they’d never end We’d sing and dance forever and a day We’d live the life we choose We’d fight and never lose For we were young and sure to have our way. La la la la Those were the days, oh yes those were the days
In June 2021, I went back to work. Well, not exactly full-time… but it felt that way!
Remember the times as music educators we spent 15-18 hours a day or more thinking, planning, creating, teaching, problem-solving, schlepping stuff, sweating, and working out beyond the regular school day and during summer months with major music projects like the marching band, spring musical, music adjudication trip, etc.?
Asked by my friend and current Upper St. Clair School District performing arts curriculum leader/HS band director Dr. John Seybert, I signed on to the newly-expanded extracurricular activity (ECA) position as administrative assistant and announcer of the marching band for the school from which I had retired. Filling in the gaps, taking attendance, handling mounds of paperwork, interacting with a whole new generation of music students, and learning a few new software applications along the way like FamilyID, Canvas, Remind, and the district’s Blackboard website, I threw my hat in the ring, not just to continue to serve as the voice of the “Pride of Upper St. Clair” at football games halftime shows (now in my 36th year), but to manage the full schedule of rehearsals, meetings, performances, and blessedly (?) exhausting 24/7 week-long band camp. I forgot how it felt to get up at 6 a.m. and return home around 9:30 p.m.
It has been exhilarating. It has been exhausting!
On another stage, when the local COVID stats fell two months ago, I was invited back to our local community hospital to serve as a volunteer – discharging patients from their rooms or escorting them from the outpatient surgery or endoscopy units. Yes, I was called upon to somehow restore the physical demands I (used-to) place on my personal stamina. Fully fatigued and expended after a shift of 4-7 hours of driving my wheelchair taxis (sometimes carrying over-sized people even though we’re only supposed to move those weighing 250 pounds or less), I find myself yearning for a retiree “power-nap,” only to regroup for the next day’s challenging schedule and another early-morning wake-up.
The best part of these 8-15 hours per week? Choosing one of the finest medical facilities in our metropolitan area – St. Clair Hospital (now “Health”) – I have the chance to meet former music students (grown up), their kids, parents and grandparents, friends, and other acquaintances at their greatest need. And, there’s almost no finer escort “call” than going to the family birth center and bringing to the car a new mommy and two-day-old baby… sharing that special moment with an alum or school staff member!
It has been exhilarating. It has been exhausting!
WHAT
In past articles on a satisfying retirement, I often quote the book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free, the search for self-reinvention and new avenues for fulfilling those essential needs of “purpose, structure, and community” that employment had previously provided us. Author Ernie Zelinski’s definition of “purpose” are these goals:
To make a difference in people’s lives
To make a contribution
To find creative expression
To take part in discovery
To help preserve the environment
To accomplish or achieve a challenging task
To improve health and well-being
We learn from Revitalizing Retirement: Reshaping Your Identity, Relationships, and Purpose by Nancy Schlossberg that for retirees it is important to feel “needed” and that pursuits that foster “mattering” are crucial to a positive self-esteem, good mental health, and stable life balance.
It has been suggested that one problem of retirement is that one no longer matters; others no longer depend on us…
The reward of retirement, involving a surcease from labor, can be the punishment of not mattering. Existence loses its point and savor when one no longer makes a difference.”
– Rosenberg and McCullough
The opposite of “mattering” is feeling “marginalized.” I would rather feel worn-out than useless/ignored/discarded!
In his book Design Your Dream Retirement, Dave Hughes recaps with his four essential ingredients of life balance:
Physical activity
Mental stimulation
Social interaction
Personal fulfillment
If you read my bio in the “about” tab above, I think all would agree: mission accomplished! I’ve made myself extremely busy. (Perhaps I “matter” a little too much?) “It’s a good thing I am retired… I would not have enough time to do all of these things if I still had a job!”
Yes, it FEELS good!
WHY
Now some rationale from the online pundits. First, review the article “Why Elderly People Should Volunteer.” According to the “experts,” volunteering is:
Socially beneficial
Good for mental cognition
Giving back to the community
Physically engaging
An opportunity to learn something new
Flexible
A strategy to fill up your day
The reason you get out of bed in the morning
Of course, one has to be careful and follow your doctor’s advice on what tasks will not overwhelm you! The CDC and other medical professionals urge adopting a “safe” routine of regular physical activity as a part of an older adult’s life. Check out websites like https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/activities-olderadults.htm and https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001482.htm. Besides keeping your mind active, increasing your physical activity as a volunteer while “living the dream” in retirement will:
Reduce the risk of serious illnesses (heart disease, type II diabetes, and depression
Help you manage a “healthy weight”
Improve your balance and coordination
Decrease the risk of falls or other injuries
Talk with your doctor to find out if your health condition limits, in any way, your ability to be active. Then, work with your doctor to come up with a physical activity plan that matches your abilities. If your condition stops you from meeting the minimum recommended activity levels, try to do as much as you can. What’s important is that you avoid being inactive.
Volunteering is all about being more eleemosynary (adjective defined as “generous, charitable, gratuitous, or philanthropic”). In my workshops on retirement transitioning, I frequently quote two gurus on the benefits of “giving back.”
With a frequently untapped wealth of competencies and experiences, older people have much to give. This fact, coupled with fewer requirements for their time, gives them unique opportunity to assume special kinds of helping roles.
Our increased longevity and generally better health has opened our eyes to new and increased opportunities to contribute to the betterment of society through civic, social, and economic engagement in activities we believe in.
But you already knew all of this, right? There are so many ways to “bring it on” and “make a difference” in your “golden years.” (Wow – three cliches in a row!)
There are so many directions you can go to offer your free time to volunteer:
Escort at local hospital or nursing home
Walk dogs at animal shelter
Serve in charitable fund-raising projects
Assist food banks and meals-on-wheels agencies
Enlist as special advocate for abused or neglected children
Work as hospice volunteer
Maintain parks, trails, nature habitats, or recreation centers
Host an international student
Become a youth director, mentor, or scout leader
Teach summer school, night classes or Performing Arts workshops
Give guided tours or lectures as a docent at a local museum
Apply office management and clerical skills to benefit libraries and other nonprofit associations
Run a school club (share your hobby)
As trained music educators, we can share our precious skills in creative self-expression :
Accompany, coach, or guest conduct school/community groups, college ensembles, or music festivals.
Run for office or chair a committee or council of your state or local MEA association
Serve as presiding chair or member of the your state’s MEA planning committee or listening committees for the music in-service conferences
Participate as guest lecturer or panel discussion member at a conference, workshop, or college methods program
Judge adjudication festivals
Help plan or manage a local festival or workshop
Assist the local music teacher in private teaching, piano playing, marching band charting, sectional coaching, set-up of music technology, instrument repair, etc.
Write for your professional organizations’ publications (like PMEA or NAfME)
If you are a retired music teacher and member of PMEA, you could sign-up for the Retiree Resource Registry and serve as an informal consultant to others still “slugging it out” in the trenches. Go to the PMEA retired member focus area for more information.
Anyway, back to a little “bragging!” At least “yours truly” is holding his own and hopefully contributing what he can to the success and welfare of others! Are you? In my retirement pastime, I refuse to sit idle, binge-watch movies on Netflix, or view hours of boring TV. To quote another 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!
Teachers, you’re in the home stretch now! You are within weeks of a long vacation break and the chance to rest, refresh, recharge, rewind, and rejuvenate. After what COVID-19 dished out to us, you deserve some time off! Here comes much-anticipated trips, family visits, sleeping in, and going dormant for at least 2-3 weeks!
However, most music educators never totally shut down. We seek out new enrichment opportunities by attending conferences or music reading workshops, researching new methods, and “retooling” for our lessons ahead.
Modeling the annual Peanuts comic strip’s January theme of Lucy Van Pelt assigning Charlie Brown a long and unwanted list of New Year’s Resolutions, yours truly (a retired teacher with a lot less stress) is about to do the same and recommend YOU kick off your shoes, climb into a comfortable lounge chair, tune out all extraneous noise and media distractions, and crack open some “serious summer reading…”
Here are my three favorite books for the season to take with you when you go to the beach or sit by the pool!
In keeping with an alliteration of all those “r’s” to promote healing and health during this “recess,” take time to prepare for 2021-2022 and reflect on and restock your reservoir of resilience, robustness, and resourcefulness!
Yes, the values and life skills of emotional/mental/social “balance” begin at home. But the expectation is that schools and teachers are always relied upon to be the “safety net” – pick up the pieces or fulfill the needs not provided at home. And it should not have taken a pandemic for us to discover how important social emotional learning (SEL) is to the health, wellness, and success of every child (and their family members) we serve in our classrooms, ensembles, lessons, and after-school programs.
“Music educators are in a prime position to help students become socially and emotionally competent while at the same time develop excellent musicianship. For every child to be successful in the music classroom, teachers need to be aware of the whole student. How do music educators create success when students every day struggle with social awareness, bullying, communication, problem solving, and other challenges? This pioneering book by Scott Edgar addresses how music educators can utilize Social Emotional Learning (SEL) to maximize learning in the choral, instrumental, and general music classroom at all levels, and at the same time support a student’s social and emotional growth.”
— back cover of Music Education and Social Emotional Learning – The Heart of Teaching Music
“Finally! Thank you, Scott Edgar, for your willingness to walk boldly into this often trodden, but rarely addressed aspect of music education you have rightfully labeled social emotional learning. For every music educator, from preschool through a PhD program, we know the opportunity to “develop the whole person” is right in front of us each and every day. Where else in the academic community is there such a perfect forum that cultivates both the cognitive and effective growth of those involved? Ultimately, the rehearsal room/music classroom becomes a society within society, and the skills needed to grow and succeed at the highest levels are simultaneously offered in content and context. And yet, there are very few resources to guide the mentor in a positive, productive fashion. Now there is and this book is a powerful blueprint leading us to a worthy outcome and more.”
— Foreword by Tim Lautzenheiser for Music Education and Social Emotional Learning – The Heart of Teaching Music
You have a wide variety of choices to explore this topic, and all of these are from Scott Edgar!
The NAfME Professional Learning Community: Music Education and SEL – An Advocacy Tool for Music Educators accessible as a video: https://vimeo.com/426070325
Music for All webinar series:
Episode 1 – Teaching Music Through Social Emotional Learning – Composing with Heart hosted by Scott N. Edgar with guest presenters Brian Balmages, Brandon Boyd, Richard Saucedo, Alex Shapiro (composers) and Bob Morrison https://youtu.be/6HIbK23TmaE
Episode 10 – Teaching Music Through Social Emotional Learning – Narwhals and Waterfalls hosted by Scott N. Edgar with guest presenters Paige Bell and Adrien Palmer: https://youtu.be/BlbxX1DP-5c
Chapter 2: Socialization in the Music Classroom by Jacqueline Kelly-McHale
Chapter 3: Bullying in the Music Classroom by Jared Rawlings
Chapter 4: Music Educators Are Not Counselors
Section Two – Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Music Education
Chapter 5: Self-Awareness and Self-Management in Music Education – Self-Discipline and the Music WIthin
Chapter 6: Social-Awareness and Relationship Skills in Music Education – Sharing and Communicating Through Music
Chapter 7: Responsible Decision-Making in Music Education – Problem Solving Through Music
Conclusion: The Heart of Music Education – Our Common Bond
SEL – the new “buzz word?” What is Social and Emotional Learning?
“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.” — Collaborative for Academic, Social, & Emotional Learning
Social emotional learning describes the development of skills in three domains: self, others, and responsible decision making.
“Self” includes:
Self-awareness skills such as ability to identify and recognize emotions
Self management skills such as perseverance in the ability to manage impulse control
“Others” includes:
Relationship skills such as cooperation, empathy, and respectful communication
Social awareness skills such as the ability to recognize diverse thoughts and opinions.
“Responsible decision-making” includes:
Behavioral skills such as situation analysis, anticipating consequences and generating alternative solutions.
Cooperative skills such as balancing personal in group expectations.
The three key pillars of SEL:
identity
belonging
agency
Probably the best conclusion I have ever read about the value of SEL in the arts comes from Scott Edgar in the last section of his book:
“The music classroom is a melting pot of students from different backgrounds, musics of different cultures, varied personalities, and diverse values. All of this diversity is united under the common bond of music… Music classrooms, possibly more profoundly than any other academic setting, can help students and teachers cooperate to recognize diversity, engage in respectful dialogue to resolve conflict, and empathetically respect human dignity, because this is how music has functioned for centuries. Music classrooms are social because making music is, has, and always will be a social activity. In a time when there are so many divisive forces, music and music education can be a powerful uniting weapon. The tenets of SEL interwoven into a musical education strengthens both entities. Emphasizing self- and social-awareness makes music education richer and more personal. Music education brings humanity and culture into a world of personal and interpersonal interactions.”
Seven Teachable Skills to Cultivate & Nurture THRIVERS
The latest book by Michele Borba, Ed.D., Thrivers – The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine, is a definite must-read from cover-to-cover.
“Michele Borba has been a teacher, educational consultant, and parent for 40 years – and she’s never been more worried about kids than she is right now. The high-achieving students she talks with every day are more accomplished, better educated, and more privileged than ever before. But the old markers of success (grades, test scores) aren’t what these kids need to thrive in these uncertain times – and they know it. They’re more stressed, unhappier, and struggling with anxiety, depression, and burnout at younger and younger ages – “We’re like pretty packages with nothing inside,” said one teen. Thrivers are different: they flourish in our fast-paced, digital-driven, ever-changing world. Why? Dr. Borba combed scientific studies on resilience, spoke to dozens of researchers/experts in the field, and interviewed more than 100 young people from all walks of life, and she found something surprising: the difference between those who struggle and those who succeed comes down not to grades or test scores, but the seven character traits that set Thrivers apart (and set them up for happiness and greater accomplishment later in life).”
— from the front flap of Thrivers
The first thing you need to do (after you order and read both her original best-seller UnSelfie – Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World and this sequel) is to download her give-away “Core Assets Survey” from https://www.micheleborba.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Thrivers_CoreAssets.pdf. Here is a sample page of her assessment checklist for her seven character strengths.
How to use Borba’s book
Although it is generally marketed as a guide for parents (and grandparents), this is a perfect “program and process” for everyone who serves as youth caregivers and educational professionals. Borba prescribes these steps to use the book with the above evaluation tool:
Assess your child’s character strengths: self-confidence, empathy, integrity, self-control, curiosity, perseverance, and optimism.
Tally up the points, prioritize his needs, and address initially the one or two traits receiving the lowest score.
Read each chapter of “evidence-backed strategies and skills” which can be easily transferred and taught to your child from preschool through high school.
Motivate and help your child to adopt each character strength “as a lifelong habit to optimize his potential in thrive.”
Choose one ability a month, focus on it, and “practice it with your child a few minutes a day until he can use it without reminders.”
For teachers, this is a wonderful “soft curriculum” for nurturing these seven essential personal traits, each broken down into “character strength description,” “abilities to teach,” and “outcomes.” It will become apparent to you that these are directly related to SEL.
Besides the character strengths (#1 above), the reader is introduced to several revised definitions and new acronyms that may help to reshape our perspectives for teaching kids (these are a few samples): C.A.L.M. (chill-assert-look strong-mean it – p. 239), C.A.R.E. (console, assist, reassure, empathize – p. 90), comebacks (p. 240), creativity (p. 178), C.U.R.I.O.U.S (child-driven-unmanaged-risky-intrinsic-open-ended-unusual-solitude, p. 175), digital limits (p. 78), emotions (p. 76), goals (p. 209), gratitude (p. 86), growth mindset (p. 205), micromanaging (p. 171), mindfulness (p. 133), moral identity (p. 148), multitask (p. 110), “the four P’s of peers, passion, projects, and play” (p. 163), parenting styles (dysfunctional) – “enabler,” “impatient,” “coddler,” “competitor,” “rescuer” (p. 127), triggers (p. 121), self-esteem (p. 33), T.A.L.E.N.T. (tenacity-attention-learning-eagerness-need-tone – p. 39), and well-rounded (p. 36).
Activities throughout the book are categorized for age-suitability: Y = young children, toddlers, and preschoolers; s = school-age; t = tweens and older; a = all ages.
In the final pages of the book, Borba poses some excellent group discussion questions to facilitate a thorough review of her work. A few of these especially resonated with me:
Do you think raising children who can thrive today is easier, no different, or more difficult than when your parents raised you? Why?
What influences children’s character and thriving development most: peers, media, education, parents, pop culture, or something else?
Which of the seven character strengths are more difficult to teach to children today? Why?
What kind of person do you want your child (or your student) to become? How will you help your child become that person?
What are some of the sayings, proverbs, or experiences you recall from your childhood that helped you define your values?
[As a teacher] what would you like your greatest legacy to be for your [students]? What will you do to ensure that your [children] attain that legacy?
Her specific anecdotes, object lessons, and research for each character strength are priceless!
Lesley Moffat at Carnegie Hall
LOVE the Job, LOSE the Stress
In my “New Year’s blog” posted on December 29, 2020, I shared my advice on “how to make a difference in 2021” and told readers to find their own good role models and “positive gurus” to sustain their vision, motivation, and drive throughout the year.
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 warm ups. In my opinion, her transformative stories provide the roadmap for happiness and wellbeing! She now has published two 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/.
Now her latest book ties in all of the above enrichment and enlightenment – “successful social and emotional learning in the modern music classroom” – and adds an essential focus on teacher self-care and wellness. What was that saying attributed to Molesey Crawford in Unlocking the Queen Code?
Know thyself.
Love thyself.
Heal thyself.
Be thyself.
Lesley Moffat has taught high school band for over 32 years in the Pacific Northwest, with her ensembles earning superior ratings and performing all over the US, Canada, and even in Carnegie Hall. She was planning to retire at the end of 2019-2020 when the pandemic hit. (As far as I know at this time, she has not retired yet – “for the sake of her kids” she stayed throughout this challenging time of COVID-19 and the slow reopening of schools!) She clarifies this in the introduction to her Love the Job, Lose the Stress book:
“I completed the first draft of this manuscript on March 3, 2020. Ten days later, schools across the world began shutting down as the coronavirus began sweeping the globe… The ultimate purpose of this book is to share the protocol I created that has become the basis of the social and emotional learning needs for my students (and truth be told, for me). Everything I talk about in this book was true before the pandemic, and it has proven to be as powerful in a virtual environment as it is in person… The great news is that you can give your students the gift of learning to self-regulate, calm down, and focus without distraction through intentional design and practice.”
She offers an intriguing set of easy-to-read chapters in her “hard to put down” 191-page work.
My Life’s Work Is So Much More Than Just A Job
I Love My Job But It’s Killing Me
The Badass Band Director’s Bible
Step One: The Moffat Music Teacher Mojo Meter
Step Two: Identifying the Three C’s – Care, Clarity, and Consistency
Step Three: Identifying Your Priorities
Step Four: SNaP Strategies for Music Teachers
Step Five: Tuning Our Bodies
Step Six: Creating Your Own First Four Minute Protocols
Coda
Fine
Highlights of suggestions from Love the Job, Lose the Stress
Like her last book, the Moffat Music Teacher Mojo Meter returns. If you are ever privileged to have her as a clinician for a local workshop, it is likely she may send out this survey to the participants in advance. These fifteen questions will provide her an individualized needs assessment of the stressors attendees are experiencing so she can differentiate the planning of her “help session” (page 48).
You’ll have a lot more questions to answer in Chapter 5 (page 50). Read and identify (and define for yourself) her three C’s for success: care, clarity, consistency.
In Chapter 6 (page 67), she wants you to identify your priorities. This is your chance to dream big! You’ll have to read her story (with wide swings of emotion) about her Jackson HS Honors Wind Ensemble performing at Carnegie Hall.
Also returning from her previous book, Chapter 7 (page 81) shares her Start Now and Progress – or SNaP to it – strategies for music teachers. Revisit her amazing tale about doing (of all things) push-ups: “By taking small incremental steps that build upon what I did each day before, I was able to take a skill that was very difficult for me on April 1 and do it 60 times just 30 days later.” She sums up three SNaP Strategies “for busy band directors” (page 90).
Gratitude for the attitude
Time stealers
Reset yourself
Don’t miss her Chapter 10 (page 156) and “Lesley’s Top Ten Badass Band Director Tips!”
Finally, probably worth 1000-times the price of the book and all the time you will put into it is her Chapter 8 “Tuning Our Bodies” (page 103) and Chapter 9 “Creating Your Own First Four Minute Protocol” (page 129). This is where you will take what you read, reflect on her philosophies and system of classroom management and warm-ups, and adapt it to your situation. Adding to your teacher’s toolbox the techniques of mindfulness, breathing exercises, and listening skills – and practicing them with your students daily – will make all the difference in the SEL of your own lessons and overall program.
BRAVO and thank you Lesley for being so intuitive, upfront, and personal… and being so generous in sharing your secrets!
We applaud your efforts, and agree with Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser who said in the Foreword to Love the Job, Lose the Stress:
“This latest-greatest contribution offers a tried-and-true blueprint for vocational success while embracing the critical importance of fueling one’s mental, emotional and physical health. Spot on! Bull’s eye!”
“This is not a book you read and then put on the shelf; rather it is a file cabinet of priceless data certain to boister the health, happiness, and good fortune of every (music) teacher.”
“As music teachers, we teach students how to develop all kinds of skills, from mental to physical, in order for them to be well-rounded musicians. We show them how to properly form and embouchure, the correct fingerings to use, how to read music, what proper posture looks like, how to be artistic and expressive, and so much more. And we always tell them to “pay attention and “focus.” But do we ever teach them how to pay attention and focus? The secret to getting students engaged, focused, and curious so you can teach them all the cool stuff about music is teaching them how to actually build those skills until they become habits. Once you’ve taught them how to learn, then everything else becomes a million times easier for you and for them.”
— from the back cover of the Love the Job, Lose the Stress
Now you have it… a collection of at least three potential life-changing inspirations for summer study.
In addition to these “finds,” I need to mention a couple other educational publications for your consideration (see picture below). But, first-things-first as Stephen Covey would say! Check out Music Education and Social Emotional Learning – The Heart of Teaching Music by Scott Edgar, Thrivers – The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine by Michele Borba, and Love the Job, Lose the Stress by Lesley Moffat. PKF
Admittedly, if we keep piling on more mandates for earning a teaching degree and professional certificate, our music education majors would have to continue several more years at the university. What has been added to the forefront of education? You name it: “backwards-designed curriculum,” ethics, the “four C’s” (creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication), Common Core, social-emotional learning, special education, new technology, etc. We are already wrestling with the limits of time to cover a mastery of personal musicianship and artistry to find space to “squeeze in” at least a cursory study of the other more abstract but important “soft skills” of character development, cultural diversity and sensitivity training, nurture of emotional health and wellness, stress management, “charismatic” leadership, time management, and… humanity!
“Back in the dark ages” when I attended Carnegie-Mellon University, the pathway for becoming a teacher was to complete (and pay full-tuition!) five years to graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and license to teach in the public schools. The fifth year was when we did our student teaching along with additional graduate credits applied towards a Master of Fine Arts in Music Education. This was conferred after a full year’s employment “in the field” (Year #6) and completion of additional summer courses of Philosophy in Music Education, Administration of Music Education, several more credits, and a master’s thesis addressing a self-targeted educational problem at our job. For my entire time at CMU, 80% of the coursework on my transcript was singularly focused on performance classes (lessons on piano and the “major” – mine was on viola – as well as chamber and large group ensemble rehearsals), conducting, instrumental and vocal methods, music history, sight-reading/ear training, harmony, orchestration, etc.
What’s Missing in Music Teacher Training?
It is amazing what we must learn “on our own” after we receive our diploma. Yes, I was competent to read a score, assess a solo, band, chamber group, choral, orchestra, or theatrical performance, compose/arrange and accompany a piece for a string class, coach a vocalist on warming up her voice, apply my knowledge of a composer’s life and music to interpret a masterwork, and start a new student on the cello or flute or tuba or drum! However, a quick reminiscence of “the ABCs for the 2009 opening day” agenda I presented to my music staff as their Performing Arts Curriculum Leader had little bearing on the pre-service training all of us received in higher education:
Assessment “of” (“Summative”) and “for” (“Formative”) Learning
Blackboard and Blended Schools
Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge
Curriculum Mapping and the Rubicon Atlas web program
Customization and Differentiation of Instruction
Essential Questions and Enduring Understandings
Multiple Intelligences Theory
The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Standards-Aligned System
Teaching the “Whole Child”
So, if I became a “superintendent for a day” (or much longer), what would I now prioritize for induction and/or in-service training of educators?
We’ll start out with a taste of the inspiration led by my mentor and former superintendent of schools of Upper St. Clair School District where I taught for 33 years, the man who probably had the greatest influence for my getting hired and seeing something in me to channel my energy towards succeeding in several challenging assignments: Dr. William A. Pope. Way back in the 90’s, Bill was a proponent for studying “the stuff of human relationships,” including the introduction of elementary and middle level units on caring/compassion, courage, empathy, honesty, kindness, sensitivity, trust, among many others. Yes, you CAN teach values and acquiring a “moral compass” in the public schools!
I recently recalled many of these terms as they resonated within me during a motivating “The Presence of a Teacher” session presented by Penn State University Associate Professor of Theater Dr. Susan Russell. She opened the Pennsylvania Collegiate Music Educators Association Region III Virtual Workshop on November 1, 2020 with a “Zoom discussion” brainstorming the essential tools for building every teacher’s “presence” and “connectivity” with his/her students:
empathy
engagement
enthusiasm
listening
personal story-telling
self-care
sharing
vulnerability (acceptance to show)
A Different Kind of “Bucket List!’
Next, let’s add to this mix the easy-to-read book How Full Is Your Bucket by Tom Rath and Donald Clifton, organized around the simple metaphor of a dipper and a bucket. Their work is grounded in 50 years of research and will show you how to greatly increase the positive moments in your work and your life – while reducing the negative – which, of course, can be applied to benefit your interactions with students (of paramount importance!), their parents, and school staff.
Admittedly, at times, this may be difficult. As I sit here putting on the finishing touches to a lesson plan for a virtual rehearsal of my online music academy – a “best I can do” replacement to in-person practices of our community youth orchestra’s 39th season, while absorbing the awful media broadcasts of recent spikes in the coronavirus across my region and the country, and trying to ignore the very angry rhetoric of a divided nation in the yet unresolved presidential election: How does one find “positivity” or project an image of hope? What’s that saying? “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”
A “Thoughtful Drop” from a “Full Bucket” would emphasize the
Focus on the positive
Sharing of frequent small positive acts daily
Positive reinforcement to motivate learning
Promotion of positive emotions for your own good health
“How did you feel after your last interaction with another person?”
“Did that person – your spouse, best friend, coworker, or even a stranger – “fill your bucket” by making you feel more positive? Or did that person “dip from your bucket,” leaving you more negative than before?”
Raising Caring, Successful Kids in a “Plugged-In, Trophy-Driven World”
In any discussion on what children need most, are you surprised that the word “empathy” keeps coming up? We turn to, in my opinion, “the single most revolutionary book of our time,” UnSelfie – Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World by Dr. Michele Borba, Ed.D., with her framework of nine essential habits of empathy:
Emotional Literacy (recognition of the feelings and needs of self and others)
Moral Identity (adoption of caring values that guide integrity and activate empathy)
Perspective Taking (appreciation of another person’s feelings, thoughts, and views)
Moral Imagination (use of literature, films, and emotionally charged images as a source of inspiration to feel with others)
Self-Regulation (management of strong emotions and reduction of personal distress)
Practicing Kindness (increased concern about the welfare and feelings of others)
Collaboration (working together in the achievement of shared goals)
Moral Courage (resolution to speak out, step in, and help others)
Altruistic Leadership (motivation to make a difference for others)
Michele Borba emphasizes that the “selfie syndrome” is leading to excessive “self-promotion, personal branding, and self-interest at the exclusion of others’ feelings, needs, and concerns. It’s permeating our culture and slowly eroding our children’s character.” In short, she charges educators and parents alike to focus on enhancing the children’s “social-emotional competencies, resilience, academic success, leadership, healthy relationships, moral courage, happiness and mental health.”
I wrote this article for PMEA News about this phenomenon, examples of my impressions of the “dumbing down” or numbing of emotional quotient, less focus on “team” orientation, omission of studying “character” in our schools, and the seemingly increased emphasis on “the me – not the we!”
“Social-emotional learning” (SEL) was not a part of a college music education course catalog, even a few years ago. And yet, today more than ever, it is probably the single most valued “teaching skill” necessary for the care and engagement of students during the pandemic. Educators are “leaders” and often have a lasting influence (maybe only second to their parents) on the social-emotional health of their “charges!” Let’s review the principles of emotional intelligence (EI):
“Most effective leaders have a high degree of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.”
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.
SEL can provide students with the SKILLS to confront their challenges by being self-aware, socially-aware, and to make responsible decisions. According to Associate Professor of Music, Music Education Chair, and Director of Bands at Lake Forest College Dr. Scott Edgar, this may take the form of reflection, discussion, and lecture, but to be most effective, it needs to be embedded in curriculum.
“For me, the music teacher can do this in a much more authentic way—through music… SEL should not feel like one more thing; it is THE thing. We teach music; we teach self-discipline; we teach collaboration. SEL is in our classrooms already; our job is to make it explicit, consistent, and structured.”
According to Edgar, music teachers can help teach SEL by:
encouraging students to set their own musical goals
devising solutions for individual or group errors (instead of us always giving the answers)
navigating performance anxiety
understanding the power of music for social change
One more purchase recommendation: Music Education and Social and Emotional Learning – The Heart of Teaching Music by Scott N. Edgar
“Music education helps our students learn how to be dedicated, to persevere, and to work together. It is our job to help students see that these skills are not isolated to the music classroom. These are the skills they need to be successful outside of music and to confront their challenges with strength and skill. Music can be the preventative mental health our students need so they have the skills to confront the life challenges ahead of them.”
For a full understanding of SEL, it might be best to review the well-known “CASEL Wheel” (shown above) online at https://casel.org/sel-framework/. I also suggest you download this PDF file.
We have many additional resources to peruse for developing SEL:
When COVID-19 crashed into our lives wrecking havoc to almost all forms of live/in-person instruction, quarantining elements of the population, enforcing isolation and social-distancing requirements, closing schools and even cancelling most close-collaborative artistic ventures (music lessons, rehearsals, concerts, musicals, etc.), educators everywhere looked for a way to reconnect with their kids… and settled for the less-than-satisfactory, latency-prone, desensitizing virtual-conference environment! Overnight, schools and teachers resorted to “very” remote models of online learning only to view rows and rows of “trapped,” emotionally-detached, mummy or wax-museum-like faces of their students in windows of Zoom, Google Meet, or GoToMeeting platforms.
It’s time to retool and revamp. The most important thing we can do right now is to reach-out to, re-engage, and re-energize our music students, find out how they are doing, foster moments of meaningful dialogue, and share (there’s that word again) empathy… and that we care. We need to immerse ourselves into and apply the principles of human relationships, teacher presence, “bucket drops,” and recommended habits of empathy, EI and SEL explored above by a few wise educational leaders (a.k.a. “our models”).
paulfox.blog 