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!
- Creativity in Education
- Educator self-care, health and wellness
- Ethics
- Fox’s Firesides (geared for students – on practicing and leadership development)
- Interviewing
- Pre- and In-Service Training and Job Hunting
- Preparing for Retirement
As you can see, I am not really retired… perhaps a better term would be “refired” or “redirected” or “reinvented.” If you are already “living the dream” in your post-full-time employment years or anticipate this happening in the near future, that’s how it’s done. That’s what I wish for you, too! Do you want to live-it-up to Moses’ age – supposedly 120 years old? Then, you better plan to be physically and mentally active and engaged! After all, a mind is a terrible thing to waste!
PKF
© 2022 Paul K. Fox
In the category of “things I wishes someone would have told me before I was hired to be a school music educator,” the inspirational book, My Many Hats: Juggling the Diverse Demands of a Music Teacher by Richard Weymuth, is a recommended “first stop” and easy “quick-read.” Published by Heritage Music Press (2005), the 130-page paperback serves as an excellent summary of the attributes (or “hats”) of a “master music teacher.” Based on the photos in his work (great “props”), I would have loved to have seen Weymuth’s conference presentations in person as he donned each hat symbolizing the necessary skill-set for a successful educator.
Next, I would like to direct pre-service and new music teachers to Case Studies in Music Education by Frank Abrahams and Paul D. Head. This would be an invaluable aid to “facilitate dialogue, problem posing, and problem solving” from college students (in methods classes?) and “rookie” teachers to veteran educators.
His chapters are organized into six tips:
The first thing I want you to do (and you don’t even have to be a member of NAfME yet, although you should be!) is to take at least a half-hour, scroll down, and read through numerous NAfME “Music in a Minuet” blog-posts, bookmarking any you want to return to at a later date. Go to 
now would be the perfect time to explore supplemental resources and get a “head-start” on additional pre-service training for next fall. These tips are especially valuable to anyone entering his/her senior or final year as a music education major, finely honing in and marketing your skills as a professional in order to be prepared for finding and succeeding at your first job.
Mix and mingle to improve your networking opportunities
Understanding specific educational jargon and the latest approaches, applications, and technologies in the profession (e.g. Backwards Design, The Common Core, Whole Child Initiatives, Multiple Intelligences, Depth of Knowledge and Higher Order of Thinking Skills, Formative, Summative, Diagnostic, and Authentic Assessment, etc. – Do you know the meaning of these terms?)
You need to ask yourself the question, “What are my greatest weaknesses in music education?” Or, to put it another way, “What school assignments would I feel the least confident to teach? After earning your state’s all-essential credential, your certificate will likely be general and only say “music Pre-K to Grade 12.” Administrators will expect you can “do it all” – introducing jazz improvisation at the middle school, accompany on the piano or guitar all of the songs in the grades 1-6 music textbook series, directing the marching band at the high school or the musical at the middle school, starting an elementary string program, etc.
Since music teachers are all “fiduciaries” (do you know the meaning of the word?) and legally responsible for our “charges,” wouldn’t it be a good idea to review our state’s regulations and code of conduct, and hear about the challenges and pitfalls of ethical decision-making before we jump in and get “over our heads,” so-to-speak?
ask your cooperating teacher (or his/her supervisor’s) permission. Some school districts have “do not photo” rosters. (However, in my district, only a few elementary students were “on the list” and most defaulted to a “permissible” status unless the parent opted out. The principal’s secretary had a record of all exceptions.) It is also suggested that you focus your camera mostly on YOU and not the students, from the back of the classroom or rehearsal facility (possibly from afar), so that the student faces are not clearly discernible. To respect their privacy, in the recorded excerpts, do not use any segment announcing the names of your students.
When MySpace and Facebook came upon the scene in 2003 and 2004, most school administrators recommended “stay away from these.” The online sharing and archiving of photos initiated the adoption of many other social media apps (Flickr and later Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, etc), which provoked new challenges in maintaining privacy, appropriateness, and professionalism. Danger, danger, danger!
Communicating digitally or electronically with students may lead to the blurring of appropriate teacher-student boundaries and create additional challenges to maintaining and protecting confidentiality.
www.gmajormusictheory.org
Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA): 
posts with your school’s location.
I hate the Pennsylvania Turnpike… but I’ll get over it!
privilege of keeping “in tune” with fellow retirees, active practitioners, and even members of our PCMEA pre-service music teachers. This has stimulated my mind, kept me current, made me a better listener, and fostered a lot of moments of satisfaction knowing that I can still help dedicated professionals in the career that I devoted most of my life.
paulfox.blog 