Rhoda Bernard, who chairs the music education department at the Boston Conservatory, offers the following ideas to make the winter holiday season a positive experience:

• Do your holiday wrapping.  Tie up as many loose ends as you can before the vacation so that your time away from school can be truly restful.
   
• Give yourself a break.  Leave your teaching duties behind, and give yourself the opportunity to do other things during your vacation.
   
• List your New Year’s resolutions.  Before you leave on vacation, make a to-do list for when you return. That way you can hit the ground running after the vacation without anything falling through the cracks.
   
• Have your ducks in a row for your return.  Pull lesson plans, materials, scores, worksheets, and other resources that you’ll need for the first week back, and have them ready for you when you're back from vacation. The first week after a break can be a bit chaotic, and your students will be able to focus more easily if the teacher is prepared and well-organized.
   
• Ramp it up with patience.  It can take a couple of days or even a week for students and teachers to get back into the routines of school after a vacation. Understand that folks may need some gentle reminders or guidance.
   

MENC member Rhoda Bernard is the chair of the music education department at the Boston Conservatory, Boston, Massachusetts.

--Ella Wilcox, November 10, 2009, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education (www.menc.org)
 

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