Today we talk about more learning guides, with a focus on Rookie Teacher. Successful teachers welcome change in the classroom: This relates to the above tip, but in a slightly different way. Have you ever been so bored with your house or your bedroom, only to rearrange it and have it feel like a new room? Change ignites the brain with excitement and adventure. Change your classroom to keep your students on their toes. Simple changes like rearranging desks and routines can breathe new life in the middle of a long year. Successful teachers take time to explore new tools: With the advance of technology, there are fresh new resources and tools that can add great functionality to your classroom and curriculum. There is no doubt that the students you are teaching (far younger than you) probably already use technologies you haven’t tapped into yet. Don’t be afraid to push for technology in the classroom. It is often an underfunded area but in this current world and climate, your students will be growing up in a world where technology is everywhere. Give them a headstart and use technology in your classroom.
Reflect. John Dewey once said, “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.” Be honest with yourself. Be mindful and make changes in the future. You can model the reflective process for your students as well. Teach them to evaluate. Breathe. Give yourself time. Cut yourself a break. Ask for help. Not everything will go as planned. Tap into your colleagues. Use the resources available to you. Be realistic. Be forgiving. See extra details on Teacher Toolkit and Resources.
Learning is not only for young people. Seniors in a digital world can be easily overwhelmed by all the new technology around us. We are surrounded by an array of digital devices, whether its smartphones, social media, tablets, banking machines, or laptops. There’s no avoiding it, so we should learn how to use all these technological advances to make life easier. It’s easy to become tech savvy seniors when you begin to learn more about the technology around you.
It’s always best to start small and have multiple sessions so you don’t give them information overload. The last thing you want to do is get them feeling too overwhelmed and then they give up because you gave them too many tasks to try by themselves. A very good website for senior learning is Tech for Seniors tutorials.
Music education is hot this days, many people try to learn music, for various reasons. There are a few podcasts that focuses on teaching people about music and one of them is The Music Educator by Bill Stevens. Today’s kids are digital natives, and today’s tech is a great resource for education, like this article you are probably reading on a screen right now. Music is the perfect subject for using new technology in the classroom, and clever use of tech can make your teaching far more effective. Use apps and YouTube or other video sites. Sometimes watching a video can make a lesson more memorable than listening to the same piece of music without a video. Showing videos of live performances is a great way to teach your students about how instruments are played. It is also a good way to see famous artists performing.
Tip of the day for music teachers : Find a Reliable Instrument Dealer: As a music teacher, you’ll need to be able to provide students with reliable and affordable instruments, so it will be important to find a reliable instrument dealer in the area. Young teachers will want to establish a relationship with an instrument dealer far before the school year starts. To help with this feel free to ask local music teachers for ideas, but don’t be afraid to do some exploring yourself.
You can listen to the The Music Educator podcast by using the app from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.themusiceducatorpodcast.android.music. You can learn more about Bill Steven by checking his website at https://www.4themusiceducator.com/.