We’re now in the heart of summer and hopefully, you have had some time to decompress and gather your thoughts. This month’s Up Close features ideas to increase harmony (of all kinds!) in your classroom next year. I guarantee there’s nothing in the article you haven’t heard before, so you may be asking, “why should I read it?” Quite simply, it’s too easy to forget some of the basics that should be at the heart of all our teaching. As I read the article, my face flushed with embarrassment more than a couple of times, because it was cautioning about avoiding some things I must admit I found in my teaching this past year.
I’ll cite just one example. I was subbing in a middle school band where students thought just about any kind of (mis)behavior was acceptable and my frustration grew throughout the day. This will come as no surprise to you but there were three times as many percussionists than the parts needed and two of them had mastered the art of distracting others, avoiding all learning, and getting under my skin. I soon dubbed them Beavis and Butthead. While that might have been somewhat amusing (to me at least) it had little relevance to them and only served to reinforce their (mis)behavior. As I read through the article, at each of the paragraphs I asked myself, “did my behavior add to or detract from creating harmony?” Too often, the answer was a resounding “no.”
So, please take a few moments to review the article and identify the areas where you are excelling and where improvement is needed. The beautiful thing about a new school year and a new cohort of students is it’s your chance to reinvent yourself for the better.
Matthew Arau returns this month with an excellent edition of Leadership Tips. He shares five steps on how to make difficult decisions. One of those steps is: Write out the pros and cons of each decision. Based on each possible decision, what would be the likely outcome? Who would be affected positively and who is affected negatively? Which decisions are or are not in alignment with your values and the values of the organization or group? To this I would add that it’s rarely possible to arrive at a surefire 100% correct decision. At the Army War College, we were constantly reminded that all but the simplest decisions had so many unpredictable variables, we had to strive for, and accept the risks of, what we felt was the best possible decision. If you’re interested, read about VUCA which stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. It’s used to describe the challenging and unpredictable nature of the modern world.
I hope you have been able to attend some professional development sessions this summer. In July I will be with the Colorado Bandmasters Association presenting a new music reading session and a conducting workshop.
