Let the the Groove Get In

I am a musician sycophant.  Not in a crazed stalker way, but in a venerable, need to be near it kind of way.  Guy with a guitar shows up to a party, I'm in, giving requests to help the singing begin.  I took clarinet lessons when I was in the 4th grade, but my heart was not in it.  I wanted to play the drums, but, in 1980, girls didn't play drums.  So I compromised for the flute, however, the school did not have enough of those to lend, so I was a clarinetist by default.  "Gene Kelly played the clarinet, " my mom encouraged, carefully recounting that directorial scene of genius from Xanadu.  My fandom for Gene got me through 3 years of playing, but by sixth grade, I was done. Keeping up with lessons and buying reeds seemed a bit too much for my mom and me.  When I first heard this story on NPR, my veneration boarded on jealousy.  I was always a strong reader-imagine how amazing I would be if I played an instrument?  Once I got a hold of my sixth grade self, I thought about my students.  Middle school is that testing ground for habits that will either be fostered or abandoned for the rest of our academic years.  I don't think we needed more evidence to support keeping the arts in school, but this is worth passing along to our music teachers.
From Mozart To Mr. Rogers: Literacy, Music And The Brain

The Monkey Mind

I am horrible at titles.  To create a title for this blog, I actually followed a tried and true method one of my colleagues uses with her students to create titles for stories using a mind map.  I began with a center circle called "question." After a series of circles I got to a phrase used by a Sea Isle City beach yoga instructor.  She would say to us, in her soothing yoga voice, that somehow did not need to be raised over the waves breaking the shore, "Quiet your monkey minds."  It was a great analogy for me because there is surely a monkey jumping around in my brain  making a mess of my thoughts, jumping from one tree branch of an idea to another, without every pausing to stop and admire the view.  The monkey mind should not be silenced but it does need to lean how to be still long enough to pick a few apples. Writing this blog is my way of pausing on those tree branches to reflect on what I see, and how I can use the view to direct my teaching and learning.  Welcome to my tree.