INSPIRATION - Mr Rodgers!

I have many hero's in the worlds of the arts and education, and I think it is important to be reminded of the work they do. So in order to inspire everyone, and to promote thinking like, and being inspired by, the great artists and educators of the past and present, I am going to sporadically post "Inspiration"  blogs featuring their work.

My first blog, as you can guess, is featuring one of my all time favorites: Fred Rodgers. I was searching for some songs that would have perhaps been good to use during our classroom time, and I ran across these two:

1. Making Up Stories is Learning:

2. I'm Still Myself Inside:

Both of these songs are so lovely - He is so brilliant at taking a concept/problem/fear etc... and explaining it simply and using singing to do it.

On his program he utilized song, puppetry, dance, video, storytelling seamlessly to educate, comfort and empathize with children of the early childhood education age group.

He also used music many times to help children manage their feelings, and new things that were happening in their lives. I think this is a part of CITA that we could explore further, helping teachers develop classroom management methods not only for the educational needs of their students, but for their emotional needs/management, and learning of social skills.

I plan on watching more Mr. Rodgers to get inspired!!

And his message to adults is one that I still watch every once and a while when I feel low, or uninspired - I feel like this message especially pertains to the Teachers and Teaching Artists of AIM:

What a brilliant man.