Today we writeabout additional teaching info, with a focus on The Music Educator. Successful teachers bring fun into the classroom: Don’t be too serious. Some days, “fun” should be the goal. When students feel and see your humanness, it builds a foundation of trust and respect. Fun and educational aren’t mutually exclusive either. Using humor can make even the most mundane topic more interesting. Successful teachers teach holistically: Learning does not happen in a vacuum. Depression, anxiety, and mental stress have a severe impact on the educational process. It’s crucial that educators (and the educational model) take the whole person into account. You can have the funniest and most innovative lesson on algebra, but if your student has just been told his parents are getting a divorce, you will not reach him. Successful teachers never stop learning: Good teachers find time in their schedule to learn themselves. Not only does it help bolster your knowledge in a certain subject matter, it also puts you in the position of student. This gives you a perspective about the learning process that you can easily forget when you’re always in teaching mode.

Model expectations for your students. Interactively model how to complete an activity or task. We often offer multiple, repeated opportunities when teaching “academic” skills (e.g., letter sounds, math computations), but typically neglect to offer multiple, repeated opportunities for practicing behavioral routines (e.g., lining up at the door, pushing in their chairs). Say what you mean and mean what you say. If you make a request of a student, follow through with that request. If you cannot follow through, avoid placing the demand or providing the instruction. Know yourself and adjust expectations (for yourself and your students) accordingly. Read more info at Teacher Advices.

Learning is not only for young people. Whether you want to learn how to use email, browse the Internet, do video calls with your grandkids, purchase gifts or other items online, or share and view photos with friends and family, it’s easier than you think. If you have a family member (grandkids are naturals!) or friend to show you some basics, that’s great. If not, then there are several choices out there. Where do you start? Good news, there are lots of places for seniors to go and get computer literate.

Since writing by hand is something that they are used to, get them a notebook specifically for writing down any steps they need to remember. If they get lost or forget how to do something, they can jog their memory from their own handwriting. A 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. Make a long-term lesson plan that incorporates games. Divide your students into teams and award a few points in each lesson. Depending on the class and their projects you could award a point to the best student in each lesson. You could give points for correct answers and even for a positive attitude. Decide on a monthly and yearly prize for the winning team. This works especially well with younger children. But even teenagers can enjoy a competition if the prize is attractive. Being able to compete in a healthy and cheerful manner is a valuable skill for students to learn. It combines well with collaborative activities. But, it is important to make sure that no student feels left out when using a competition as part of your teaching. Keep track of prize winners and try to award a range of prizes so that every student has a good chance of winning at least once.

Advice of the day for music teachers : Set Ground Rules Early: Be sure to set classroom ground rules and policies early with your students, even if they are minimal. Setting ground rules early is important because it establishes the foundation for the rest of the year. Remember, it’s much easier to set strict ground rules early and loosen them up as the year goes on than the other way around.

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/.