I am happy to be learning about this because this is something that I have not considered before. Allowing students to help each other is very important but how you frame it is just as or more so important. "Buddy burnout" is also a new concept I am interested in learning more about.

Paraprofessionals are also such a huge resource when it comes to having students with disabilities in your class. They know the students very well because they spend so much time one on one with the students and usually have very effective strategies on managing behaviors.

I see this in action when I am student teaching this semester with my co-op in beginning band. We try to ask lots of questions to the students to demonstrate their knowledge, have them demonstrate their skills, and have them interact with technology when being assessed for learning.

I never considered this idea before this reading. Students are much more aware than we realize as adults and as educators. I think including them to the extent that is appropriate is a great tool and helps them understand their role and value.

I know some classroom teachers in the beginning of the school year have the students come up with class rules to follow as a group. This is a great way to get students involved in the expectations of behavior. It also gives them a voice for how they would like to build their classroom community.

I think there can be some overlap between music educators and music therapists in terms of what our goals are. I know Montclair has a music therapy program and it would be interesting to learn more about it.

I think this could be difficult advice for the schedules I have experiences at the 6 different schools I have been at. Maybe you could do a deep reflection right after if you have a prep or lunch, but many times you are ushering in new kids as the previous ones leave. I think reflection is important, but this does not seem realistic to me.

I have seen lots of paraprofessionals in my time observing and most of them have great intentions and are super helpful with the kids. I have also seen how paraprofessionals can step on the toes of music teachers, and it be kind of awkward. It is definitely an important and delicate relationship to have as a music teacher.

I think observation is very important and can be beneficial for music teachers, but I wish there was more support from admin to complete this task. From what I have observed and what I am currently experiencing in my student teaching placement, music teachers tend to have full schedules and even miss their preps at some points to teach their students. Realistically, when is this observation supposed to take place?

Our degree is so jammed packed with so many other requirements that I wish we focused more on this. I wonder if other elective teaching programs like art, gym, or technology have certain courses or a better way to implement more education on this topic into the curriculum.