Tomorrow is Arts Day

As you may be aware, October has traditionally been designated as National Arts and Humanities Month.

Guide to posts

Two weeks ago, my morning coffee was accompanied by some of the best news I've heard in years regarding education and the arts.  President Obama announced he is waiving many of the absurd requirements of the No Child Left Behind law.  It is long overdue, and welcome news

RZ's EZ Piano Method

The first of 25 instructional videos to accompany RZ's EZ Piano Method went online last evening.

More Hybrid Education

In the last post, I put forth the idea of hybrid schools as a new paradigm for education that combines online technology with personal interaction with teachers and classmates.  In the excellent example of the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School, that is accomplished by having online instruction with teachers and material on a flexible bases, and regional centers, where students and teachers, especially in the arts, can get together, and perform or display their skills, knowledge, and abilities.  

Today, I want to talk about another model for education that is getting rave reviews.  It is presented on network news programs as the largest 'virtual school' in the world.  It is the Khan Academy,

Are Hybrids the wave of the future for schools as well as cars?

BMW’s New Vision: 155-MPH Plug-In Hybrid

The model of a Cyber-Charter school such as I described last week is one interesting and obvious one way of addressing the changing demands of education today.  One of the important aspects of learning however that is missing from that model is the element of personal contact with a teacher or even other students.

Cyber-charter schools

School?

Last week I talked about Cyber-schooling, and I tried to emphasize that there are some paradigms for using technology for education that are more effective than others.

Time to change

In another blog, I am writing a more-or-less detailed accounting of some of the lessons and practices that have proven effective in teaching music to the  thousands of kindergarten through high school students that I have had in my career.  

Adult Modeling

As a successful teacher for many years, I have observed that one of the elements that is a significant help in teaching children, but is often overlooked or missed, is the importance of role modeling.  Not the role modeling of other students, though good student role models are certainly important, but the role model of another adult in the class,

High Tech and High Touch

In the art of teaching, the challenge is to communicate information to the student in such a way that they receive, process, interiorize, apply and retain new knowledge.  To do that the teacher has available to them the seven senses of learning

Music Makes You Smarter ?????

In another blog,  JNM-Teachers Corner, I am spending time each week going over specific portions of the RITMMAP study because of its value to practitioners in finding, and applying those portions of it that were most helpful in extending the language learning capabilities of the students involved.   Before going into that study in depth here however, I want to make it abundantly clear that I do not believe that teaching the arts is ever justified by the 'instrumental' effect that it has on other learning.

Reading Improvement through Music, Movement and Play 'RITMMAP'

Up to this point, I've shared some principles and insights of educators, psychologists, and even neuro-biologists that have proven to be particularly instructive in my own understanding as I've taught thousands of students over the last two decades.  These insights are not new.  What is new however, is the convergence of the various sciences of cognition, neuroscience, learning theory, and psychology - especially as it relates to emotional development.

Notes and Neurons, Mozart & Einstein

I get puzzled by why so many people (often politicians and all too often, school officials) claim that we need more of an emphasis on math and science in our schools because we as a nation are falling so far behind other countries in the world in  grade-level tests 

Play is the work of children.

In this discussion, I want to talk about one of the most effective instructional strategies for student learning that I am aware of.  This model  has received enormous attention and research over the last few decades, and has been utilized by knowledgeable  educators for years.  

Direct Instruction + Art = Engaged Students

In the last blog, I talked about how one of the arts, drama,  can enliven any classroom and significantly contribute to student interest, engagement and learning.

Drama In The Classroom

One of the statements that I made in my last blog is a little difficult to understand without some background.  The statement suggested that an infusion of the arts into teaching is how we all learn, all the time.

The 'System' isn't working

Long before the educational morass that we are now experiencing  began,

Current state; Identity

Hello - Let me introduce myself.  My name is Ron Zell.  I am a former California k-8, public school music teacher.  Believe it or not, once upon a time,