What’s old is new again

Been a minute! With a new year underway I decided to use some of my downtime to clean out and organize some old files at home. I came across my new teacher portfolio from the spring of 1999, which I used for interviews in search of my first job.

To think I had the energy to not only iron but starch a dress shirt!

I don’t tend to save a ton of stuff but I was glad to find this in the binder pages…an action shot of me making copies in the Midland High School band office (where I student taught). 

I supposed this photo was to demonstrate I had excellent command of the most relevant piece of technology I was regularly using at the time.

Something else thing I came across in my portfolio (and the real reason for this post) came when I found my philosophy of education statement. I was expecting to read it and find misguided earnestness and new teacher naiveté.

What I found made me smile. Turns out I still agree with what I wrote and it seems I had a good handle on my beliefs and priorities going into the classroom. I credit many mentors in music education in helping shape the words that made their way to this page. Here is what I wrote.

This was a helpful reminder on what I believed in 1999 and how much of that is still fundamental to how I hope my classroom feels each and every day. It’s funny and reassuring that I started on a path almost 25 years ago with these ideas in mind and they have continued to be north star principles.

I hope you have a wonderful second semester-let’s be great!

I’m rooting for you-Jon