May Favorites 2020

**I put together these monthly "favorites" posts for 2 reasons: 1) to share little glimpses of my life, and 2) to amplify other authors' posts. I almost deleted this month's post because, in the midst of a national conversation about Black Lives Matter talking about things like sunshine and bike rides seems out of touch. But I don't want to miss a chance to amplify the webinar by Decolonizing the Music Room and NAfME that I shared below, and I do think the ongoing attempt to share moments from my own life can be helpful in the long term for my part in the larger conversation, so I am choosing to keep it. More pointed thoughts to come.

1. Sunshine

The weather is always a highlight in May, but this year it was even more of a highlight after being stuck at home for so long! Being able to go outside in the sunshine makes all the difference in the world.

2. World music lessons

Another standard highlight in the month of May are the month-long units I normally do diving into one specific culture's music with each grade level, culminating in a school-wide international music festival. This year I couldn't do that in the same way, obviously- that was one of the biggest losses for me in terms of lessons I didn't get to teach this year- but I was happy I found a way to share some pieces of those units with each grade level through my online lessons. The best part was hearing from several students and parents who wrote to tell me how much they loved the lessons and all the extra time they spent exploring the culture and music beyond what I gave them!

3. Home projects

Now that my daughters have gotten a little more used to their distance learning assignments, they have so much creative energy and have been coming up with some fantastic projects that they would never have been able to see through to completion with our normal busy schedule! One of my favorites has been the violin that they made entirely from scratch without any input from me. Every time they would ask for advice on how to create some part of the instrument I threw it back and them and they came up with much better solutions than I ever would have been able to imagine for them!

4. Music Education Posts

I always love finding and sharing blog posts and resources from other music teachers- I post these on my Facebook page every Friday, but if you missed any from the past month you need to check them out! They are all fantastic and I have learned so much from each of them.

This has been a crazy, surreal month for all of us but I hope you have found some joy and inspiration as well! If you have a favorite moment, idea, or resource from the past month I'd love to hear about it in the comments, or send me an email.