Vivian Greene stated, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” Though I have known those profoundly beautiful words for a long time, I started thinking that this moment in our lives may be the perfect one to reflect on them even more deeply and more intensely. This “storm” we all are enduring is unlike many of us could have ever imagined. What we as teachers have had to learn, adapt to, and figure out is akin to attaching the wings of an airplane while taking off at full speed. I never would have thought it could be done. With a year or two of notice to prepare, maybe. In an instant, never. To basically – overnight – change every aspect of the way most of us teach? I would have bet it impossible! But then I started getting vast numbers of emails, virtually every day, from teachers around the world sharing exciting ideas, techniques I would never have come up with, ways to “dance” while in a “storm” of astounding magnitude. Why? Because you are teachers. That is the way you are wired. That is the heart and mind and soul each of you possess. That is why, quite possibly more now than ever, your students need you. Because each of you, in your own way, will teach your students that “dancing” is possible in any “storm.”

Peter Loel Boonshaft, Director of Education
KHS America

About the Author

Dr. Boonshaft, Director of Education for KHS America, is the author of the critically acclaimed best-selling books Teaching Music with Passion, Teaching Music with Purpose, and Teaching Music with Promise. Dr. Boonshaft is currently on the faculty of Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, where he is Professor of Music. He was honored by the National Association for Music Education and Music For All as the first recipient of the “George M. Parks Award for Leadership in Music Education.”