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The expression goes, “too many chiefs, not enough indians.” I suppose there are situations where we need a single strong leader with a group following her lead unquestioningly. Far more often, we need far more leaders. Leaders from within the team, leaders standing side by side. I believe this at every level of […]

My students are in the midst of second trimester exams, and I’m sure that teachers have been regularly been fielding this question for the last couple of weeks. Will this be on the test? The question – the mindset of the test – is anathema to building real hungry learners. […]

You often hear an extended metaphor between education and business. In this metaphor, teaching is “instructional delivery” and students are “customers.” Please, please, please stop using this metaphor. Students aren’t customers. They are children, they are human beings, they are dreamers, learners, individuals. They are and Ellie and Emilee and Michael […]

Earlier this year I made a personal goal to make the last rehearsal of every month pianoless – using a pitch pipe for pitches and locking up the piano at the start of rehearsal. It’s going well and I’ve been able to apply the lessons to the rest of my rehearsals, relying […]

February 29 is the one day that only happens every fourth year. Four years is a funny length of time – it’s not unimaginably long like a decade, but it’s not as near as a year, either. So as I walked yesterday I wondered, where will I be in four years? What can I […]

Theatrical productions, especially musicals, are exercises in addition. Begin with the text, add blocking, add choreography, add pit, sets, lights, microphones, costumes, and finally add an audience. The most essential elements are the ones added first and last: the text and the audience. Good directors know to keep the audience in mind […]

Waffles, pancakes, pizza dough, lasagna, sponge cake, 2 breads, pasta sauce, eggplant parmesan, macaroni and cheese. Chocolate chip cookies. These are a few of the recipes I’ve committed to memory over the years. Memorizing recipes gives you freedom. Freedom to improvise. Freedom to cook when no recipe is available. Freedom to shop for a meal […]

Do you agree that a mistake is not wrong, and that making mistakes are a vital part of learning? Then we must spend more time teaching students to recognize mistakes. Far too many students are going through life making one of two assumptions: I probably got it right, or I probably got it wrong. […]

In his new book Lit Up, David Denby quotes NYC Beacon High School principal Ruth Lacey saying: “High schools should have the same warmth as elementary schools.” Is it any wonder that the choir room is the most welcoming room in the school? For many students, choir class is the one […]

Last rehearsal, I had a student who wasn’t able to phonate (still at rehearsal, though!). He listened with score in hand and asked to stay after to ask me a question? “How do you decide what to work on?” In other words, with all the things to be fixed, to work on, […]