Andrew Hernandez - Choir Director at JSerra Catholic High School

The greatest gift that returning to live instruction has been is seeing students laughing and singing in the choir room during breaks, lunches, or after school. I love being able to spend my breaks & lunches with students talking about life or playing games.Our choir room is bustling with tags, random instruments, and community. The most challenging obstacle I faced this year was our Spring calendar. I had over planned our 2nd semester and we had our school's Spring musical - at one point in the semester, we were learning music for 4 different events! I definitely learned from this experience, but I also learned that students love the challenge and will learn anything we can teach them... So, teach effectively! Something wonderful that our students have really been enjoying is conducting their own pieces. I did not get the opportunity to do this many times througout the year, but when we did, it was always very impactful. After a short lesson on the conducting pattern and time signature, we have the students stand in a circle and all conduct a verse or phrase of the music. Already primed with the question, we then have students volunteer to conduct and voila! The students get a chance to practice notes and rhythms, never singing the same phrase twice, and watching a new conductor. Students usually leave this exercise with a new found appreciation for conducting, the music, and themselves.