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I love keyboard shortcuts. I love knowing that if I hold command+option+F, my copying will be filtered in Finale, and that if I add shift to that combination, I can edit the filter. They’re tough to learn, though. Because most times, you are replacing a known pull-down menu. But once […]

I’ve written about how curiosity is one of the most important habits I look for in my students. Another is self-motivation. And I do not think our industrial-model public school system is designed to teach it. Indeed, I think Self-Motivation is actively discouraged. We work to keep the class together, […]

A friend of mine recently vented on Facebook about their child’s elementary PE class. She asked her friends if she was old-fashioned to expect skills-building such as sit-ups, pull-ups and jumping jacks rather than just playing games. Whether or not the PE teacher is using sound pedagogy, the fact is […]

The mother of one of my Rockford Aces, Cindy Todd, is the chair of the art education program and Kendall College of Design and recently was named Michigan Art Education Association Educator of the Year. In a brief profile in the WMU Alumni magazine (page 29), Cindy said, “In the day-to-day […]

Our society has witnessed a long, steady decline in public music education over the last generation or more. More and more elementary schools are completely cutting elementary arts education, and this inexorably leads to lost opportunities at the secondary level. Meanwhile, in 2015, what we need is more choir teachers. […]

In our first 5K, Mandy and I ran the entire way at a respectable 28:42. About a 9:15 mile pace. The second half of the run, we kept passing and getting passed by another couple. They would sprint for a minute or so, and then walk for about the same. […]

Dear Aces, You never ask, but I see your tired eyes. I see you roll your eyes or slump you shoulders when I ask you to stand. Again.    I work you – and myself – hard for many reasons. Here are a few: 1. There isn’t enough time. Rehearsing […]

Last night I finally got to watch the last episode of Cosmos with Neil deGrasse Tyson. He gives the following speech near the end of the episode: Only a few centuries ago, a mere second of the cosmic time, we knew nothing of where and when we were. Oblivious to […]

Don’t tell us that music makes you smarter.  How does the football team present football? They don’t tell you that you’ll do better in classes. A kid joins football because she want to play football. You watch football because you learned to watch it as a kid. Your experiences shaped […]