5 Ideas for the 1st Hour of Guitar Class

by Glen McCarthy | Jul 17, 2016 | Classroom, Education, News, Principles, Stories, Success Stories, Tips + Tricks, Uncategorized

What to teach? So many choices! I want to teach my kids something substantive, but I don’t want to scare them. I hope they walk away inspired. The first hour of your guitar class can be intimidating; fortunately, you can cover a lot in just a little time. Here’s a...

7 Real Classroom Questions Answered

by Glen McCarthy | Jul 6, 2016 | Classroom, Education, Gear, News, Principles, Stories, Success Stories, Tips + Tricks, Uncategorized

If you’ve ever attended a Teaching Guitar Workshop, you may have written a question, concern or comment on an anonymous sticky note for one of or guitar-teaching gurus to answer. If you’ve never been to a Teaching Guitar Workshop, that’s how we roll....

The End Is Near – Time for End-of-the-School-Year Chores

by Glen McCarthy | Jun 9, 2016 | Classroom, Education, Gear, News, Principles, Stories, Tips + Tricks

Just like your students, you are counting the days until the last final exam is taken and those sweet guitarists are on their way to summer! In our district it is very difficult to keep the momentum up during the last month of school. The first major interruption was...

Classroom Guitar Diaries – The Big Test

by Glen McCarthy | May 22, 2016 | Classroom, Education, Gear, Principles, Stories, Tips + Tricks, Uncategorized

Wrap it up! Show me what you know! It’s the day of the big test! I begin by letting kids study with buddies for about 10 minutes of class. They are allowed to ask me any questions and review anything they don’t understand. Students ask about how to tell the...

Classroom Guitar Diary – Review Time

by Glen McCarthy | May 15, 2016 | Classroom, Education, Gear, News, Principles, Stories, Tips + Tricks, Uncategorized

Review Time! It’s week 8! I was the preparation for the BIG unit test! Of course, it also was the week our students took the Terra Nova test. I don’t know about you but, I know our kids can be a little crazy these days! I think it’s because of sitting in a chair...

7 To-Do’s Before the June

by Glen McCarthy | Apr 29, 2016 | Classroom, Education, Gear, News, Principles, Stories, Tips + Tricks, Uncategorized

Photo credit: kconnors from morguefile.com You’re just about there! The school year is coming to a close soon, your guitar class is ending, and you and your students are thinking about relaxing in the sun. That’s all good, but don’t check out just...