Teaching elective classes is tough sometimes. There is almost constant pressure to get as many students as possible to take your classes, and yet none of those students actually need to take your classes. In music especially, we feel like
Not long ago I was talking to a colleague about his concert the night before. He mentioned how frustrating it was for him that his students would play so well one day and so terribly the next. He knew they
“Now go home and practice that.” Music teachers tell students to practice. It’s what we do. As a music student, I was expected to practice for a certain amount of time. As a music teacher, I expect my own students
A veteran teacher once told me that the secret to a long and happy teaching career is to have a major change every seven years. That advice came to me just after I decided to leave the school I had
Like most teachers, my first year of teaching quickly made me realize that there was a lot that college didn’t prepare me for. I ran into challenges that I never could have anticipated and discovered that there was a lot
For the last several months, I keep hearing people talk about 2020 as if it were the worst year in human history. Already people are looking longingly towards 2021 – or even 2022 – with the idea that anything would
Dear future self, Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen a huge outpouring of gratitude posts on social media. It’s been refreshing to read through posts from old friends and past students, seeing what they’re doing and what they are
The pandemic has certainly changed a lot about teaching, and especially teaching music. As a teacher who has had to switch back and forth between in-person and online teaching, I’ve had to be creative and find ways to adapt. One
“How are you so patient, Ms. Thorup?” is a question that I’ve gotten more than once. The funny thing is, I don’t think of myself as a patient person. I certainly don’t have a vast reserve of inner calm and
I am not new to journaling. When I was little, my mom gave us journals and made us write in them every so often. As a teenager and into my twenties I religiously wrote in my journal every day for