Notes from the "Good Teaching" Conference

Just back from presenting my workshop "We All Sing with the Same Voice". About a 1,000 teachers and other leaders in education attended the CA Teaching Association's annual regional conference in Northern CA. this weekend. What an excellent opportunity to re-charge the spirit and catch up on the latest ideas, tools, and techniques for providing children with the best possible classroom experiences.

I was delighted to meet with fellow teachers and offer them ideas and material for incorporating more music---specifically group singing---into the daily round. What greater gift can we give a child than to foster a life-long love and appreciation for our most natural and human of expressions: giving voice to the joy of music with which we're each born?

Based on the comments from teachers, both at the conference and after their return to the classroom, singing with their students greatly enhances the learning environment, the receptivity of the kids, and the energy of the whole class.

One expert in the field I quoted most often was Dr. John M. Ortiz, author of Nurturing Your Child with Music. I highly recommend his book for an abundance of ideas on including music in your "daily dance of life".

The message I most wanted to impart was this: That we are each and all of us singers; that there is no such thing as a bad singer; and to not give our children the notion that there is even such a thing as a bad singer.