Amusant et intéressant de faire le portrait de tous ces gens qui se disent bio ! Qui sont ils ? Que font ils ? Que pensent ils ?…

Don’t get discouraged! First of all you are doing a lot of good things that show to the parents, school and community that music is important - the letters, the one on one meetings, and the parent night. Hopefully the schools sees you as the music expert and the advocate! I recently was thinking about what we do and how we reach parents so that a value system for music can be established. That support and appreciation from home is very critical to our success. Reaching the students and helping them connect with music in a positive way is important. So is making the parents see that and appreciate our subject that we value so much.

As far as your professional development - keep hitting the sites like those of Owen Bradley, and Joe Pisano. I see you have listed Evan Tobias (I am new to his stuff, but I think it is great). There are people out there who asking the same questions, and to part of your question - blogging and emails are a great way to clarify our thinking and help us move forward. As far as professional development - just keep asking. I continually ask mine for the moon and back. I want my administration to understand how seriously I take the opportunity to improve my own teaching. The worst they can say is No. The best that you can do is make your band better!

Good luck Ted. If you would like to talk further let me know.

Sincerely,
Travis J. Weller