By Elisa Carpenter, Music Teacher

“…its objectives are two-fold: to aid in the well-balanced social and artistic development of the child, and to produce a musically-literate adult; an adult who can read and write music as easily as words..”  - Zoltan Kodaly

An intriguing quote from Zoltan Kodaly, the founder of the Kodaly Teaching Method developed in Hungary.  Years ago he wanted to be involved in a music education system that was capable of leading children toward love of and knowledge about music, from the youngest of ages into their adult lives.

Many educators, whether in traditional or cyber school, strive to replicate this idea each and every day, in their own course, in new ways, and with fascinating tools so their students are well prepared and successful!

by Ms. Hannah Lewis, Secondary English Teacher

Photo courtesy of @bamagal on Unsplash

This generation of students are more literate than past generations. They engage with writing daily, sometimes hourly, on their smart devices and computers, usually communicating with one another. Yet, they are plagued by record-breaking amounts of depression and anxiety.

In spite of their constant connectedness, they feel lonely.

In this world of hyper-literate, connected-yet-isolated students, being a literacy teacher presents new opportunities and challenges, some of which are exacerbated where I teach, at a cyber school in Pittsburgh, PA.

By: Peter Mysels, Secondary Social Studies Teacher

One of the mental hurdles many cyber school teachers need to overcome upon entering the field of cyber school teaching is removing the preconceived notion of…

“Will I be able use the same, projects, assignments, and methods I did in my traditional school, now that I am a cyber teacher?”

I'd like to challenge you: rather than, “Will I be able to?” I encourage you to consider, “How will I?” 

Dakota Burke is a middle school student at PA Distance Learning who submitted a drawing for a Breast Cancer Awareness Project (you can check out other art contests she has entered and won here) and was interviewed by Studio Raw with Dan Burda. She describes the great purpose and details she put into her work in the interview:

By Allison Harvey-Benedum, High School English Teacher

With summer here in full swing, some of us have more time, others less. Whether you read in a marathon or for only a few minutes a day, Secondary English Teacher Mrs. Harvey-Benedum gives us some very important reasons to spend time reading this summer!