EDITORIAL: Inspiration from Venezuelan Master Teachers
The U.S. El Sistema-inspired movement felt like “a field” at the El Sistema USA National Symposium in Detroit, Michigan this past January, as we honored our lineage together and shared new ideas about how to advance our practice. The symposium... Read More →
Supporting Teachers in Their Possibility Thinking
Your program faculty is busy, no question about that. But do they still manage to generate fresh ideas about new experiments to try to continually strengthen students’ motivation and achievement? This article from Educational Leadership magazine provides a protocol for... Read More →
Cultivating Creativity – A free e-book Resource!
In Sistema programs around the world there is increasing attention to developing creativity in our young people. We recognize that developing compliant musical technicians does not accomplish the goals of El Sistema; we must nurture the bold creative spirits of... Read More →
Developing Teaching Practices from Community Values
Sistema Whangarei/Toi Akorangi students mostly come from the local Maori community, with Pakeha (white Europeans) and some Asian students, and the program lives by practices that resonate with ancient Maori values, finding approval with the elders. We know that there... Read More →
International Teaching Artist Conference 2020
For those who read about (or joined virtually with) the hundreds of teaching artist delegates from 26 countries at the ITAC4 (Fourth International Teaching Artist Conference) at Carnegie Hall in New York last September, the dates of ITAC5 have just... Read More →
EDITORIAL: International Visitors and El Sistema Programs
Many El Sistema programs have the opportunity to host high-profile or international visitors, which can be a great opportunity. In Kenya, our experience with visitors has been mixed, with some very positive and some negative experiences, largely depending on the... Read More →
Three Take-aways from the World Sistema Movement in 2018
I crawl away from the excruciating geopolitical year of 2018 with three new conclusions about the global El Sistema-inspired movement. I am slow to adopt new assertions, for several reasons: because we have so little statistical data that provides clarity... Read More →
Improve Student Behavior with these Three Steps
How do we get students to consistently behave during rehearsal? This article gives three reasons to tear down the old understandings of training student behavior, and suggests three non-punitive, non-shaming reliable ways to build constructive group learning practices: 1) “Take... Read More →
“Kernels” of Social-Emotional Learning
The Wallace Foundation commissioned a series of analytic papers that draw on their major report, Navigating Social and Emotional Learning from the Inside Out, which examines the 25 most widely-used Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs. In the United States and other countries,... Read More →
EDITORIAL: Preparing Students To Succeed After Completing Our Programs
It’s a good problem to have, but it’s harder to solve than we knew. Sistema-inspired programs around the world have students finishing high school, moving into the world in various ways. How do we support them to succeed? That’s two... Read More →