music, therapy, and me

It is Monday, which means that I now give myself permission to get into a bit of a rant or express opinions that I hold near and dear. So, here it goes. I was thinking in the shower this morning about education and how students interact with the world these days. My sister, a second grade teacher, has a group of students that are challenging her this year. The students have not settled into any sort of learning routine. They have no interest in learning anything. All they want to do is play without consequences. Almost all of her students are performing significantly below grade level, and they have not been taught how to learn in their school experience so far. She is struggling to find ways to engage their interests while teaching curriculum (which is an entirely different rant) and reining in the extreme behaviors that happen every hour in her current classroom. I feel that we have shifted so far away from teaching into the realms of social-emotional development that we have forgott...