Ask any teacher what their top three least favorite parts of being a teacher are, and most would mention “parent conflicts” somewhere on that list. (Likely among “grading” and “lack of administrative support,” but those are topics for...

      We are used to hearing that January is a fresh start.  Many people even make resolutions about what they will do differently as the calendar changes. We are also encouraged to focus on what habits we can change to make those resolutions come true. All of these things are...

I often get questions about how a Kodály-influenced classroom can also be one that asks questions to allow us to be anti-racist and anti-biased.

Today’s episode of That Music Podcast is all about refocusing the Kodály classroom to ensure that the repertoire we choose...

 What are we doing to make our classrooms as safe a space as they possibly can be?

      As teachers, we worry about our students fairly often. Not only do we worry about their grades or how they are understanding a concept, but we worry about them emotionally as well. I know...

      If you are a new teacher, it is completely normal to feel overwhelmed at this point in the year. With winter break coming up and concerts to get ready for and grades to finish, teachers often feel just as overwhelmed, if not more than, the students. If that describes you, I...

Assessment doesn’t need to be scary. Data and assessment are truly invaluable in the elementary music classroom.

In this week’s episode of That Music Podcast, I share my thoughts on assessment, and how we can use nearly constant informal assessment to truly guide and drive our...

Language Matters.

      Language has so much power. Spoken language. Written. Non-spoken. Body language. It communicates to the world what we want them to know, what we value, and what we know to be true in our lives.

      While language is one part of...

Whether we like it or not, we must advocate for ourselves and our programs.

On this week’s episode of That Music Podcast, I share a conversation I had with Sarah OIiver about advocating for ourselves and our students.

Sarah Oliver lives in Xenia, Ohio with her husband Kevin, her...

      I don’t know how, but we’re already in November! The school year seems to be a strange mix of dragging on, but also flying by. Is anyone else in the same boat? I’ve seen so many teachers this year mention how burned out they feel, and how this year is...

I had a mindset shift a year or so ago about teaching Solfege, and it was an absolute gamechanger in my classroom.

On this week’s episode of That Music Podcast, I share that mindset shift and talk about how we as music educators can really think about the why of what we teach in a...

Vocal health is important for all teachers, but we as music teachers have an added struggle if we don’t take care of our voices.

Even those of us who went through undergrad as vocal majors often lack the knowledge of how to truly use our voices in a safe and sustainable way.

...