Now more than ever, it’s important for us to practice collaboration and to creatively communicate in ways that are meaningful for others—especially our students. Sometimes we forget how essential these soft skills are for us to learn. Skills like confidently reaching out when we need help, and skills like listening—doing more than just hearing what our coworkers are saying, but really listening for understanding.
In this episode, I am so pleased to bring on a district fine arts administrator with a long career in music education, arranging, and composition. Pete Hazzard is passionate about helping music teachers (and all teachers) really learn how to better collaborate and communicate. We’re going to share some tips for how to work more effectively within your schools, how to build rapport with your co-workers, and all of the many rules you have to follow to keep students safe. We also touch on how you can more effectively feel like part of the community, a struggle for teachers even before online instruction.
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Topics Covered:
- The #1 way you can improve your communication skills
- Why collaboration and coordination are different now, and how you can leverage these opportunities
- Know something about everything and everything about something
- Stay focused on the things you can control, and let go the things you can’t
Additional Resources
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An experienced K8 music educator, Elisa Janson Jones specializes in helping music educators build, manage, and grow thriving school music programs and have long and happy careers. She holds a Bachelor of Music, a Master of Business Administration, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Education in Instructional Design.
Elisa uses her vast and diverse skill set to help nonprofits, businesses, and music educators around the world. She serves as conductor of her local community band, a columnist for SBO Magazine, and maintains a private lesson studio. Elisa is an internationally-recognized speaker, and has presented at national, state, and local conferences as well. She is the host and producer of the Music Ed Mentor Podcast, founder of the Society for Online Music Education, and author of The Music Educator’s Guide to Thrive and The Music Booster Manual.