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Music Drives the Story

Have you ever sat and listened to the music playing and became completely engaged with it, not realizing the mixture of music and words create a story that has pulled you in to far you need to hear more? I sit here listening to a new to me musician on Spotify who has done that to me all afternoon. I can’t get enough. So I started thinking, how can you encourage that musical story telling in your classroom?

Here are some ideas to get you started!

  • Movie Making – You could make a whole unit out of scoring movies and foley artists with found sounds. Create a short list of movies that might be familiar to your students. Have them choose a scene that speaks to them and rewrite the music for it, they could use any music making tool. When they are done, cue up that part in the movie and mute it, have students play their music over it. Discuss how this new music changed the scene. How did the new music affect the story? To add to the experience, there are so many behind the scenes shorts about how movies are made on YouTube and streaming services like Disney plus. My two favorite right now are the Behind the Scenes of the Hobbit on YouTube and Marvel Studios’ Assembled.
  • This one is a favorite for my Quaver people. Using the screen “Strings Can Do it All (Epic Soundtrack),” Have students create a pattern in that screen. Once they have created the pattern and played it. Using the resources you have available and which students are most familiar with, have them write the story that goes along with the pattern. Then have them share it with classmates. Want to go a step further with it? Using an app like Book Creator and have them turn their stories into books. They can illustrate it, and you could record their music and put it in as a QR code, or provide a link to the screen in the book and they can recreate the music at home as they read their stories to their families.
  • This one would be cool to partner with your library and media teacher. Have students pick a picture book from the library. Have them take it out and read it (could be something the general classroom teacher could do with them.) When they have read it and have an understanding of the plot and characters. Ask them, if this story had a theme song, what do you think it would sound like? Have them write down words they used to describe the song. Then using a music making tool, let them create the accompaniment. After they have written the music, work on the words. Have it summarize the story and include the characters and plot. When they are done, have them put both together and share it!
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The Story of the Staff

This is a cute activity I am doing in a few conference sessions this season that I wanted to share. I used to do this when I was in the classroom and have evolved it as the years have gone by. I know I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’m a sucker for a good story, and what’s a better experience than creating a story with your students. I used to use Freddie the Frog as the main resource because my students were so familiar, but I began creating my own stories and having students create ones with me that made this activity even more fun. So here’s what to do,

Staff Stories

Purpose: The ultimate goal of this activity is to bring the concepts of solfège together with the introduction and understanding of notes on the staff. As a bonus we integrate improvisation and literacy techniques into this activity.

Resources: Projector with Google or Microsoft Doc, whiteboard with staff lines, whiteboard markers, piano, student instruments (boomwhackers or xylophones recommended.)

Recommended grades: 1st – 3rd

Prior Knowledge: Solfège, Curwen hand signs, rhythm.

Directions:

  • To start you need to put this activity in the context of a story. I usually picked a story where the character would travel to multiple places. That way we could equal each place to a position in the musical alphabet.
  • For example, A = Airport, B=Bakery, C=Coffee Shop, D=Dog Park, E= Ecuador, F=Firehouse, G=Grocery Store
  • The story doesn’t necessarily need to have places that only equal to the musical alphabet, but it will be a great foundation for the activity going forward.
  • Read the story first to students, remember to ask questions about what is going on in the story so they have an in-depth context of the plot and characters.
  • Start the activity with “Let’s write the character another story together! Let’s draw a map of where they go during the day and describe what they do there.” Before students start giving ideas, make sure to let them know they can only give ideas on places they go that start with the letters A-G.
  • When they are giving their story ideas, write the story down in a doc where you do it on pencil and paper, typing in a doc file, or summarizing on the board. When the class agrees the story is complete, retell it, and every time the character goes to a new place, mark it on the board by drawing a quarter note in the musical staff.
  • When the story is complete, have students look at the “map” you have drawn on the board. Ask them if it looks familiar. Hopefully you’ll get the answer “music” or a “melody.” Once it has been identified, sing it using solfège with the Curwen hand signs and then play it on an instrument. Teach students how to sing and sign it with you after to make the connection.
  • If you feel they have a great grasp on the melody with singing it, move that to instruments and learn it and play it together.
  • After they have learned it, go over the story again with students retelling it while you point to the notes. Have a discussion on how they connect the two.
  • As a bonus, use the Book Creator app to create a book from the story, you can collaborate with the visual arts teacher to have them illustrate it with the students. Make sure to put the melody at the end. You can then share with the school community and families!
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The Problem with Too Much PD

I actually have time to write! Hooray! Life has been weird at the moment, feeling like I’m in a space of change but it’s not time to make those decisions yet. Trying to get back to enjoying life before making those big life-altering choices that will take me back to where I really want to be. For now though, we breathe and go back to what brings us joy.

Now I’ve delt with my topic today for quite some time, but now that I am more in the trenches with it. I find it annoying me more and more. Which is the case of “Too much PD-itis.” It’s the Boy who Called Wolf situation here. Educators have it drilled into their heads that professional devellopment is important. There is nothing better than PD…but when it comes to experiencing it. How many educators walk away actually having a positive experience? Did they learn anything? Or are they in there because their admin said they had to be? It’s become a joke, but such a bad one when we hear the phrases “that PD could have been an email”, or “that PD had NOTHING to do with what I do.” They’re right though! After being a music teacher I lost count of how many professional development days I spent in meetings learning information I would forget by the time I walked out of the room because it had absolutely nothing to do with my subject or anything remotely close to it. The only reason I was there? there was nothing else offered for me to go to. Now mind you, I tried really hard to make as many cross curricular connections as I could to try to make it worthwhile, but 3/4 of the time it never worked out.

I know I am not the only one with that problem. We then also run into the issue of educators not getting the PD they actually need to learn and grow in their profession so they get left behind. Then we get into the topics of educators burning out because they are not getting the proper help and motivation and when a new teacher steps in they need more and, well it’s a whole downward circle of life. None of this helps when so many administrators are calling up PD providers to do something with no rhyme or reason to it.

How do we combat this? Well, we listen, we differentiate, we simplify, we engage. We first listen, what do they need or want? We then provide unique opportunities for teacher to interact with experts who can help motivate and inform. People who can consult on curriculum, give advice on teaching it, motivate and inspire, and oh so much more. We lessen the amount of PD educators are mandated to attend so they can put their focus on really implementing what they are learning. Then, we get their hands dirty. Let’s get them actually getting hands on with the different types of concepts and topics they are focusing on.

So let’s start that, let’s listen. Provide surveys or polls out to educators in the school to learn more about what they feel they need, observe classes to see where deficiencies are, sit in a staff meeting and just ask, or even provide a place outside your office for them to write anonymus suggestions.

I’ve got many more thoughts on this to come..

Photo by u795d u9e64u69d0 on Pexels.com

If you could create any PD for yourself, what would it include?

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From PD to PL, Reigniting the Learning Fire

This is solely an opinion piece. After several weeks of focusing on learning opportunities for teachers in the audience I work with, and attending one of the largest innovative teaching and learning conferences in the US. I am still reeling from just thoughts and experiences and as always, love to think it out by just writing it down. So here we go.

The digital design divide. A term that is new to me, which I recently got to hear more about made an impact in my brain as it is something that we are seeing growing more and more wide as we are walking out of an era of constant new tech and into an era of redefining best instructional practices in order to use it all. As this divide is going to be a part of the OET’s new plan coming in 2024, hearing how this divide was already being combated in several large districts across the country was interesting to hear. The overall mission is to work on better learning opportunities for teachers that are more tailored to them and their needs. As so many of us know, professional development (PD) has been a one size fits all for too long. As we move into the era of professional learning (PL) more customized and varied learning opportunities are the new and better goal. Through more varied and engaging opportunities, support that is more than one-and-done, and easy-to-access resources we can make a bigger and more motivating impact on the amazing educators who are holding our educational system together.

This last week I had the amazing pleasure of attending the ISTE conference in Philadelphia. With thousands of educators attending, even my last flight into Philly was a buzz with excitement. Which leads me to ask the question, how does this conference create such excitement? How does any learning event create such an electrified atmosphere where everyone is so excited to be there and even though it is summer for most, what makes them take time out of their summer break to learn? This is more of a rhetorical question than anything else because it is hard to pinpoint one answer. For me though, it was the ability to personalize my experience. There were hundreds of sessions to choose from, playgrounds to experiment, lounges to relax and collaborate, an exhibit hall four football fields long filled with new innovations, and lots of short product-based training sessions. The sheer amount of options was definitely overwhelming, BUT it was the options that made it worthwhile. It takes some time to orientate yourself into knowing you don’t have to see everything, you don’t have to do everything, you just have to create the path that follows what is best for you.

That to me is really the key when it comes to learning. It’s your admin or professional learning coordinator’s job to create opportunities for you, but then it’s up to you to choose the best path of opportunities and what is going to motivate and excite you and make you better at what you love. You know what’s best for you.

The more flexible opportunities we can create, the more to choose from that allows the learner to find things that are going to get them excited to be there and find out more.

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com
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Let’s Go Outside

It’s that time of year for many, mental exhaustion season. Like, you know it’s time to call it quits for the day when you can no longer form words or full sentences. I may have experienced this yesterday while trying to end my work day, I pretty much had to push myself out the door. This was an often experience when I was in the classroom after spending a normal 100+ hours a week trying to keep my head above water. Teaching can be hard and being asked to pretty much have a superhero-sized workload most of the year is mentally taxing on anyone. We’ve had “self-care” drilled into our heads a lot recently as we’ve come out of the lockdown and pandemic, but what does that really look like? They can tell us to rest and relax until the cows come home, but self-care looks different for everyone. But, what’s one universal thing that works for pretty much everyone?

GETTING OUTSIDE

That’s right, go get your vitamin D and bring your students with you. I know schools with all the violence that has happened over the years sometimes have different rules based on the area of the country they are in, but make yourself familiar with those rules and find ways to bring your class outside when the sun is warm and lovely. Here are some ideas I did and some are collected from friends on what to do with your students for class outside during the spring before summer starts kicking into full gear.

  1. Drumming Circles and Games – I had a lot of auxiliary percussion instruments and Remo kid drums that students could use responsibly outside. Sometimes we just used rhythm or drumsticks. My favorite resources to use for these activities came from Kalini music, his books Together in Rhythm, The Amazing Jamnasium, and Drum Fun provided some great ideas and activities to do with students. More about his books can be found here, https://kalanimusic.com/products/books/
  2. Chalk Notation– I had a bucket of sidewalk chalk and permission from my principal and we go out and take up the blacktop on the playground and write measures of 4 beats. They then grab a partner and clap it together before adding more or going to the next free space and making another one. By the end of class, the whole blacktop is filled with music!
  3. Reading – Sitting outside under a tree and reading a story was sometimes the most relaxing. There are hundreds of books that are great for music class particularly (Freddie the Frog was one of my favorites.) A few more recommendations can be for on this post I made several years ago.
  4. Found Objects Performance– Give them 20 minutes and a whole area to find something they can play as an instrument and bring it back to the circle before time is up. After, treat it like a drum circle and get playing.
  5. Instrument Safari – This is a more in-depth experience to do with littles, directions can be found here, https://celticnovelist.com/2013/03/30/venturing-out-for-a-safari/ but you can also find this and more in my book found here, https://global.oup.com/academic/product/interactive-visual-ideas-for-musical-classroom-activities-9780190929862?cc=us&lang=en&

Just a quick trick, have a bucket or bag ready with all the necessities to head outside. I had one for outside, one for centers, etc. Here is a post I wrote a while back with some recommendations if you make a quick decision to head outside for class.

What are you going to do outside to end the school year?

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Walking that Professional Learning Line

We finally are feeling the pains of the awaited teacher shortage. With people leaving the profession in droves for a variety of reasons, we now see a huge push for professional learning in order to take the new teachers, the pre-service teachers, the emergency cert teachers, and those who need to know more about current teaching practices and tools to a sustainable level of knowledge in order to run their learning spaces. That’s one tall order.

The trend I see is similar to when the use of digital resources became almost mandated in daily instructional practice. We went through training after training on how to use the resources, but workshops where we are actually shown how to use the resources with students in classes was few and far between to really begin with. The same trend really holds true still for district or school mandated professional learning. It’s a one size fits all situation where teachers who may never even use the models that are presented are forced to sit though “just in case” they were to ever come across it during the school day. We’ve heard the jokes about how our time is wasted sitting in these day long workshops, but it’s really not funny. So there in lies a question, how can we create customized, engaging, and worthwhile professional learning opportunities for all, that relevant for everyone in the room?

Learning is customized, learning is relevant, learning is experiential. We don’t teach every student in the class the same way, why is that expected of a teacher during a PD Day? Having someone come in for an hour to talk about a product that everyone is going to use might be a great way to start the day, but then you break it off into their respective groups to dive into more of what they need.

So what are some things to keep in mind as you develop some professional learning opportunities?

  1. Customize it, if you have to do a mass workshop with a lot of different audience members, send out a survey or poll beforehand to gauge what they are looking for so you can try to reach everyone.
  2. Leave time to explore, far too often I see a workshop turn into a lecture and I sit there at the end with a little bit of drool hanging from my mouth because I started spacing out halfway through the entire thing. Not because I wanted to, but because I have the attention span of a toddler and if I can’t get hands on with it and try it for myself I’m probably going to stop paying attention. Set time aside to allow teachers to purposefully play with each other and find how it all operates.
  3. Don’t be afraid to do this in chunks. A straight 6 hour workshop we all know is know going to be helpful in any way. The presenters probably hate it as much as the teachers. Just don’t do it. Plan something for a couple of hours, then maybe give them time to debrief or move on to another topic. If you want, have presenters do a couple hour workshop on one day, then come back another time to follow up and answer questions.
  4. Let the teachers lead. Have a good old fashion day of learning where the teachers in your schools actually share what they do and their best practices. The ones who sometimes know the most, are right underneath your nose. Don’t leave them out, teachers in your school learning from other teachers in your school has potential for a powerful core memory.
  5. Have patience, not everyone learns the same way or at the same speed. Sometimes you are going to need to circle back for others to make sure everyone grasps the materials.

What kinds of PD days have you had recently? The good and the bad?

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The Rules of Engagement

So this is a little bit of a rant to start. This comes after reading several articles and talking with so many people about that big word that seems to be a hot topic of conversation especially now, engagement, how to create engaging content, how to engage your students, how to make what you do in class resonate with your learners in your audience. Engaging your students has always been a best practice when it comes to instruction, but it has become a hotter topic after we have dealt with lockdowns and teaching remotely. I cannot tell you how many educational influencers out there I have heard blame the entirety of student engagement and learning loss on remote teaching alone. In my opinion, I don’t find that the case. Well, let’s backtrack a hot second. I do think that remote learning definitely was a small contributing factor to the shrinking of student attention spans and did not allow students to develop social and emotional skills as fast as previous generations, but we can’t blame it all on being separated for so long.

What we see from a different perspective is a consistent general decline in student engagement using current practices. Which leads to a general decline in learning loss because they are not engaged. For the most part from year to year, this decline is not as noticeable because we see these students all the time. Then we are thrown out of the classroom for consecutive years before being asked to jump back in full-time. That unnoticeable decline is now noticeable because we haven’t had to deal with it for a while. All this just didn’t magically happen, it was always there because, with the new societal innovations, we see almost every day now, things change quicker than they used to. Students are just learning differently, and it’s time to help meet them where they are at.

So how do we meet them there? Where do we change our practices in order to find connection and make core moments for them? These are just some tips and tricks to help.

  • Just Ask – Having a conversation with your students about their interests and what they like to do can lead to such a special connection where they feel you care and want to hear what they have to say. Once they know that, they listen closer to be able to contribute to the conversation. “But what if it just turns into chaos when I open the discussion?” Limit the number of shares and let students know that before you start. Saying “I’m going to take 5 hands to share” gives them a level of expectation. Once the 5 hands are done they know it’s time to move on. Building in conversations like this into a normal lesson lets them know they will all get their turn at some time.
  • Interactive Resources – I don’t mean engaging, I mean interactive. What is the difference? The hands-on aspect. A movie can be engaging, but it’s not really that interactive. Resources that students can interact with and manipulate allow them to explore and build routines without a barrier. These don’t always have to be a digital resource, but with the attention spans of so many individuals now (not just kids! but Adults too!) digital resources tend to build a stronger connection with audiences. Try composing together using Garageband, try playing games like Staffwars, try to bring out egg shakers, and play to the beat.
  • Letting them Lead – Yes, students can lead activities and games. Give them a shot in a controlled environment. Not every student might want to do this so never force them, but a lot of your more vocal students might jump at the chance to lead the class or be the leader of a small group to make something really fun.
  • Play Music they Like – Especially in the older grades, playing Hot Cross Buns on the recorder just doesn’t do it for them anymore. When I was in the classroom, one of my proudest moments was building a choir program up from practically nothing to over 70 students in just a few years. Why? because I added music to the repertoire that was current and that they wanted to sing. Of course, I always had a few songs in there that were ‘for me’ to work on technique, but we always had a few songs in there that they could not wait to sing. You don’t have to go that big though, even the simple art of turning on Spotify during a quiet period can mean so much.
  • Time Together – Of course, whole class time does a lot but giving students time to be in small groups or partners to discuss, create, make, or brainstorm connects them with their peers over a common learning goal further adding to the core memories in their safe learning spaces.
  • PLAY – Time to play is essential and allows learners to explore at their own pace with minimal expectations but maximum imagination and creativity. Allow for activities and lessons that allow for some free time with just minimal guidance. This sort of guided play leaves room for positive environment building.

There are so many more ways to engage out there, thanks to amazing innovating educators. In what ways are you changing your practices in order to better reach your students?

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It’s Like Jimmies on Top of the Ice Cream; Creating a Learning Space Using the Interactive Board

I really need to move back to New England, no one knows what jimmies are down here, (If you’re in New England and still don’t know, we need to have a chat.) What I’ve come to realize over the years working in the field of education is that not one educator has the same access to technology. Some have the really expensive interactive TV while some are grateful for a computer that has the ability to answer emails. It’s all different no matter where you look. The big question I get a lot is “Do I need an Interactive board to teach?”, the best answer? “Heck no,” Teachers are known for being scrappy problem solvers. You can still teach your technology-centered students without the latest and greatest. There is always an alternative to work with…..but if you have one? Oh, friend, you’ve got a gold mine of opportunities to use it with. You’ve already got the most delicious ice cream of lessons, the interactive board is the jimmies on top that make it even more fun.

Now I’m sure you’re saying “I do have one! But how do I set up my classroom expectations to make sure we can use it successfully?”

I’m glad you asked! Here are some tips and tricks for using an interactive board in the classroom;

  • Your rug seating should have clear pathways for walking. Interactive means students are heading up to the board to actually touch it. If you are in a space with tables and chairs, set them up where there is plenty of space to move around. If you are sitting at a rug or have an open floorplan, I put painters tape down at the beginning of the year where I needed the open aisles so students knew the expectation. After a month or two, you can start to pull it up when they get used to it.
  • If you have the option, mount the board at waist height for your students. This is important especially if you are teaching littles. Interacting with the board means they actually have to reach it. If for example, you teach preschool and your board is mounted at your height, they won’t be able to reach much unless you have a step stool or wand available.
  • Make sure to orient your board at least once a week. This is an important thing to do for most boards because it keeps the accuracy of the touchpoints good. This is usually a simple task that you could hand to a student once a week to do and will keep aggravation at a minimum.
  • Turn off your display when you’re not using it. Depending on the students in your classroom, you might have some “screen kids” who are driven by the power of the screen. Know how to quickly turn on and off your screen during times you are not using it so it can keep focus!
  • Cleaaaaaannnnnn it! Yup, if you’ve got fingers touching it, get some disinfecting cleaning wipes and get that sucker cleaned up on a regular schedule. You could even make this the responsibility of a student to do at the beginning or end of every class. After the last few years we’ve had, we don’t need to be spreading any more germs around than we have to.
  • Build in specific times when you use the board. That way you’ve set in the expectation we aren’t using it all the time, but when we do use it, it has a purpose. Have it going and put a message on there when students enter the room, use it to play an interactive game about what students are learning to help drive a point home. Do research together guiding students on how to look for answers, take a virtual field trip, or video chat with an expert. Show students the board has a purpose.

Want more tips and tricks for using projection systems in the classroom? Check out my book! It’s on Amazon!

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Where’s the Money Tree?

We all wish we had one, not only for work but also for play. One thing teachers struggle with a lot is knowing where funding for classroom resources is and how to best maximize those funding pots. I hear all the time, “Man, this is cool, but I just don’t have the money.” Your budget for your personal classroom might not have those funds, not might your school budget, but the money doesn’t stop there. You can find so many other ways to acquire additional funds to do what you want to do with the resources you have. When looking for any additional funding outside of your regular budget, just make sure to follow this advice;

Have a purpose and defined outcomes

What I mean is, most outside regular budget resources will want to know what you want to do with the funds and how you will measure success with them. Make sure you have those parameters defined before going to search for funding. Finding a cool project or new initiatives like a permanent center or new piece of technology to create a new learning experience for your students would make it more fun for you as the teacher, but also stand out in a pile of applicants.

So once you’ve got your plan, where do you go? There are a lot of options out there, but here is a place to start based on research from 2023;

  1. AdoptAClassroom.org is a great site to get quick funding from donors to immediately spend in their marketplace with approved vendors. This site does not ask for project proposals but is limited on where you can spend funds. So pay close attention to their approved vendors before jumping in.
  2. DonorsChoose.org does ask for a specific purpose for the funds you are requesting and donors can find you on the site by your specific projects to donate. This site is more geared towards smaller funding asks but you have a bigger list of vendors to request your materials from.
  3. Arts.Gov/Grants National Endowment for the Arts grants has several opportunities for arts educators to gain funds to get resources and unique opportunities for their students. The deadline for 2023 is July 6th.
  4. NeaFoundation.Org offers student success grants at different periods throughout the year that require a project in order to be considered for selection. The next period for application starts March 1st.
  5. Look for grants on your state’s DOE website. Sometimes this is one of the easiest ways to get some funding because they only choose projects from your state. They are a little more in-depth because it is a local thing, but the outcomes and create some amazing results.

Where else do you look for grants and additional funding?

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Things I’d Wish I’d Known My First Year

This one gets a little personal, as I travel and get to hang out with more and more teachers at events during this convention season. I realize what they’re going through now is what I went through many years ago. With such hard working conditions, it’s hard to keep your head afloat in a new place, with a new job, juggling 50 things at the same time. Burnout is tough. As I talk to others who are currently in the field and from what I remember from when I had my first classroom. There are things I wish I had known that could have made my first year of teaching so much smoother.

  1. As soon as you can get into your room in the summer, get in there and start setting up. I didn’t do this my first year and very much regretted it. Get as much time as you can in your new space to look over what the previous teacher left for you and figure out how you want to use it. Take inventory and figure out what you need to make it a great year.
  2. Ask questions about resources and budget when you get offered a position. Figure out what technology you have, if you have a curriculum, and what it takes to get the resources you know will make you successful. It doesn’t hurt to ask about getting a little bit of a bigger budget for the first year to make sure your room is stocked with what you need.
  3. All your resources don’t necessarily need to come from your specific budget. Especially when it comes to instructional materials. Curriculum should be coming out of a separate budget whether it be a school fund or a district fund. If those funds have run dry, ask colleagues and administrators about possible grants and what that process looks like in your district to write and hopefully receive one.
  4. Spend the first couple of weeks teaching your students what expectations and procedures look like in the room, and get to know your students in the process. During the first few weeks of school students are settling in, it can be overwhelming for them so don’t try to jump right into your lessons too hard. If you set them up for success in the first few weeks, the rest of the year is just making sure you follow through with enforcing those expectations and having fun teaching your students.
  5. Don’t expect every lesson to go the way you planned, there were many times I threw a lesson completely out the window because I knew it just wasn’t happening and we would turn to a few review games or something alike. Things happen, and staying on a strict schedule is never going to happen.
  6. Grade-level shows do not need to be over the top. Pull some amazing songs together, get those students on stage, and get them moving and singing. Elaborate costumes, props, sets, and scripts can come later. Keep it simple for your first time! My students did have fun with the shows my first year or two, but when we just focused on performing music together, it made such a bigger impact on the audience.
  7. A good admin will be flexible coming to do formal observations. It is ok, to be honest with them and ask for a different time, especially when your 5th graders just did an amazing show the night before and you hadn’t planned anything too strict for the next day. Pop-in observations were a whole different animal (which I ended up loving, I would ask them to come in during my toughest classes and learned a lot about class management during those times.)
  8. Don’t spend all your weekend lesson planning and creating resources. It will create a cycle that will go on for years and lead to burnout quicker. Be ok with not getting everything done, and look for resources from colleagues. We are in a time where you don’t need to recreate the wheel.
  9. When one student asks to use the bathroom, they will all ask to bathroom. This herd mentality happens with sharing stories, asking questions, going somewhere outside of class, etc. Set limits and learn when it is actually an emergency, and when it is not. Sometimes with sharing and questions, I would set a limit of just a few hands before we moved to the next thing but would let students who didn’t get a chance know when the next opportunity would be.
  10. Ask for help, it’s your first year and there is no expectation that you are gonna be perfect. I wished I had asked more of my colleagues in the school for help. There was so much experience and knowledge in those buildings I wish I could have unlocked more, I could have learned so much more.

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