cotsen

about a month ago, some people from the cotsen organization gave a presentation to our staff soliciting recruits for their foundation. in a nutshell, their philosophy is that teaching is a fine art--an art form that each teacher personalizes and makes his or her own. they believe in nurturing teachers' individual strengths through fellowship and collaboration with mentors. no one style or method is advocated (since there is no ONE RIGHT WAY TO TEACH), but that the end result--great teaching--is a product of personal expression.

since music is a medium though which i express myself, i thought this might be an opportunity for me to learn more fully how to integrate music into the language arts and mathematics curricula. i've already begun using songs that i developed in collaboration with the company, teacher created materials, to teach some reading comprehension skills, but i'd like to more fully utilize music across the academic spectrum, in different disciplines including science and social studies. this looked like an opportunity for me to realize that.

this year we were lucky enough to hire one former cotsen fellow, glenda bishop away from our neighboring school, alvarado. she's a complete dynamo! the level of work her 3rd graders did--and the amazing work she is currently doing in 5th grade with readers' workshop--is a testament to her incredible passion for teaching and learning and a huge endorsement of the cotsen philosophy. if you don't believe me, just click here and watch her for yourself. (check out the other videos, too--they're pretty incredible... and also short!)