Learning Outcomes and Our Ability to Pivot It seems like every month there is a new term or phrase that surfaces as we journey through the COVID-19 educational landscape – Hybrid Learning, the Digital Choral Classroom, Synchronous and Asynchronous Instruction. Now here in Central New York, we have another new phrase going around called “the […]
Leading Voices: Adapting Specs Grading for the Virtual and Hybrid Choral Classroom
As I start the Fall semester, I find myself right where I left off at the end of last year – trying to keep my students engaged in a virtual high school choral program. This year, my high school moved to a two-semester scheduling system with students taking four classes per semester in 80 minutes […]
Leading Voices: Teaching and Singing While Wearing a Mask: Why it is a Challenge and How to Make it Better.
The picture below is of one of our colleagues who is currently teaching middle school vocal music in San Antonio, Texas. Vicke, like most of us, was thrown into distance learning last Spring, learned more technology in the past six months than during her entire career, and now will be teaching vocal music with personal […]
Leading Voices: Spring 2020, A Look in the Rear-View Mirror
Like many of us, I can clearly remember where I was on 9/11. In the months and years later, after this tragic event, our world and our model of national security evolved and changed into a new recognition of personal and social safety. Now, after months of teaching online this Spring, attending Zoom meetings, […]
Leading Voices: Something to Look Forward To
I used the phrase above to introduce my students to their last in-class activity before we left for online learning this Spring. It was titled “What Would it Look Like”? I was interested in getting their input and ideas on what online choir assignments might look like. The objective of this activity was to have […]
Leading Voices: Building A Community of Practice
In my last blog Agile Centered Instruction, I closed with the following quote: “Tell me, and I forget, teach me, and I may remember, involve me, and I learn” (Xun Kuang). This quote sums up my experience and sometimes frustration with the education profession for the last fifty-five years. “Tell me, and I forget” is […]