We often think of making resolutions for the new year in January, but in the teaching profession the new year begins in August. The following is a list of resolutions that high school choral directors might adopt for the new year. While making and keeping resolutions are never easy tasks, the resolutions offered below provide a good starting place for revitalizing both choral ensembles and personal teaching practices.
1. I resolve to program literature of highest quality. I know that finding such literature will be a time-consuming process, but my students will be well-served by my
2. I resolve to program one piece of music from a culture that is unfamiliar to me and to the majority of my students.
3. I resolve to engage in a more thorough study of the scores that we will prepare for concert and
festival and to be prepared for every rehearsal.
4. I resolve to use new warmups and to vary my approach to rehearsals so that my choir will be invigorated and sing with greater musicality.
5. I resolve to form stronger relationships with the general music and middle school or junior high school choral teachers who work with my choral students before they enter high school. I resolve to be visible at their special programs and concerts.
6. I resolve to examine my teaching practices and to critically reflect on how I teach and how my students are affected by my actions in the choral rehearsal.
7. I resolve to analyze the grading process that I use in my choral ensembles to ensure that musical learning, rather than attendance or social factors, IS being assessed.
8. I resolve to read the voluntary content standards for music in the National Standards for Arts
Education, and I will try to address those standards in my rehearsals.
9. I resolve to have fun as I teach so that my students will see my commitment to choral music and develop a commitment of· their own that will serve them beyond their days in high school choir.
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