I thought I would post all the "behind the scenes" outside the sessions separately as I took quite a few pictures (but still missed a bunch!). I hope you enjoy! Tuesday, July 25, 2017 Lynnette and I met at the Phoenix, AZ airport and flew over to Chicago on Tuesday...
NCKP 2017 Saturday Sessions
Willis Showcase It was the last day of NCKP and Glenda Austin was the perfect person to kick it off. The theme to this showcase was "Happy Birthday Mr. Gillock!" showcasing many of Mr. Gillock's pieces. If you are you are friends with Glenda on Facebook then you...
NCKP 2017 Friday Sessions
Strike a Chord Showcase The first showcase of the morning that I attended was by Elyse Weakley who developed an app called Strike a Chord. I met Elyse several years back at an MTNA conference. At that time Strike a Chord was brand new so I was looking forward to...
Summer Practice Packets
The idea of summer practice packets came last year after I read an idea from a teacher going on maternity leave and what she was doing with her students. (You can read about the details in the original post here). So last year I offered summer practice packets as an...
Are Printable Resources Eating Up Your Time?
Let's face it, while printable resources can save a TON of lesson plan time, sometimes those same resources can take a lot of prep time in order to use them. Printing, cutting, laminating, stapling, binding, hole punching, the list can go on and on... If you are...
Let’s All Make a Drum!
Back in 2011, I had the opportunity to participate in a 3-day Roots of Rhythm workshop given by Dr. Craig Woodson of Ethnomusic and Frank Thompson with AZ Rhythm Connection. In this workshop, we learned about percussion instruments from around the world within their...
From Preschoolers to Adults
Have you ever had a student hide under the grand piano playing a little hide and seek the second you turned your back? How about a really wiggly student who just couldn't sit still? Or maybe an adult student who's lesson time was over and realizing after...
From Stagnant to Engaging!
As teachers, we know all too well that no two students are exactly alike. For this reason, it is important that we change up our teaching styles, strategies and techniques to prevent our lessons from becoming stagnant. The not so great news is we are creatures of...
Establish an Engaged Learning Environment
Engaging our students can sometimes feel overwhelming especially when a teacher might be feeling a bit burned out. But did you know that when we truly engage our students in their learning we can also be engaged in our teaching? And visa versa. This is because...
3 Ways to Activate the Students Brain
Have you ever had a student tell you, "You never taught me that" when you know that not only have you taught them what they were claiming you didn't, but you have gone through it multiple times? There is actually a scientific reason in the brain that explain...