by Melissa Stouffer | Jun 9, 2026 | All, New Teachers, The Sustainable Music Teacher
Don’t come at me. I’ve got some hot takes. Some of it’s for all of us, some of it is for new teachers. What’s your take? 1. Set Boundaries I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. I had ZERO boundaries before and it is SO easy...
by Melissa Stouffer | Jan 6, 2026 | All, Music Teacher Life, School Breaks, The Sustainable Music Teacher
Happy New Year! Semester breaks are a great place to reset things that went awry during a previous part of the year. January is all about resets so let’s look at a few things that you can quickly review at the new semester. Grading/Rubrics I know I’ve said...
by Melissa Stouffer | Dec 2, 2025 | All, Music Teacher Life, Season: Winter, The Sustainable Music Teacher
The closer it gets to holiday breaks, a lot of teachers lean into a little holiday fun, relaxing, extra crafts, movies, and parties, (don’t come for me, I know learning is still going on!!!), music teachers are often rushing to get MORE done because concerts....
by Melissa Stouffer | Mar 18, 2025 | All, The Sustainable Music Teacher
As we get into the dredges of the year, I thought this would be a good time to talk about some of the things that successful music teachers do. It’s easy to get bogged down with to do lists, events, performances, and feel disenchanted as student behavior slides...
by Melissa Stouffer | Dec 19, 2023 | All, School Breaks, The Sustainable Music Teacher
Happy almost break! As we wind down (or run full steam ahead), I wanted to stop and wish you all a Happy Holiday. Thanks so much for being an amazing supporter, reading the posts I put out, and supporting my small business for the last nine (!!!) years. This will be...
by Melissa Stouffer | Aug 8, 2023 | All, Back to School, Organization, The Sustainable Music Teacher
As the school year gets ready to kick off, we start thinking about all the prep work we have to do. Obviously a lot of us think of decor but there are a lot of other things (more important things!) that go into a well run classroom. Here’s a big list of...
