Today we talk about extra education info, with a focus on Teacher Toolkit. Successful teachers break out of the box: It may be a self-made box. “Oh I could never do that,” you say to yourself. Perhaps you promised you’d never become the teacher who would let students grade each other (maybe you had a bad experience as a kid). Sometimes the biggest obstacle to growth is us. Have you built a box around your teaching methods? Good teachers know when it’s time to break out of it. Successful teachers are masters of their subject: Good teachers need to know their craft. In addition to the methodology of “teaching”, you need to master your subject area. Learn, learn, and never stop learning. Successful educators stay curious.

Use visuals or gestures. Know your students and choose age-appropriate visuals and gestures. Including students in the development classroom signals can increase buy-in, particularly for older learners. Provide directions versus asking questions. This recommendation can lead to the quickest change. It may not be all that you need to do, but it’s definitely one of the first 10 things you should try! Remember, if we ask a question, we have to be willing to accept yes or no as an answer. Read more details at Teacher Toolkit and Resources.

Learning is not only for young people. Seniors in a digital world can be easily overwhelmed by all the new technology around us. We are surrounded by an array of digital devices, whether its smartphones, social media, tablets, banking machines, or laptops. There’s no avoiding it, so we should learn how to use all these technological advances to make life easier. It’s easy to become tech savvy seniors when you begin to learn more about the technology around you.

It’s always best to start small and have multiple sessions so you don’t give them information overload. The last thing you want to do is get them feeling too overwhelmed and then they give up because you gave them too many tasks to try by themselves. A good website for senior learning is Tech for Seniors tutorials.

Music education is hot this days, many people try to learn music, for various reasons. There are a few podcasts that focuses on teaching people about music and one of them is The Music Educator by Bill Stevens. While individual practice can be an important part of learning to play an instrument, the music classroom is a great time for interaction. Academics have described the clear benefits of collaborative learning. ResourceEd explains that collaboration is a significant element of the world of work. It is important to introduce this as part of school-based education. Collaborative learning teaches skills such as decision-making and problem-solving in a group or team context. Employers value these skills, which can be learnt beginning in early childhood.

Tip of the day for music teachers : Find a Reliable Instrument Dealer: As a music teacher, you’ll need to be able to provide students with reliable and affordable instruments, so it will be important to find a reliable instrument dealer in the area. Young teachers will want to establish a relationship with an instrument dealer far before the school year starts. To help with this feel free to ask local music teachers for ideas, but don’t be afraid to do some exploring yourself.

You can listen to the The Music Educator podcast by using the app from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.themusiceducatorpodcast.android.music. You can learn more about Bill Steven by visiting his website at https://www.4themusiceducator.com/.