It is almost that time in NYC for public school students, teachers and staff to come back together and build. What a fertile time! What a scary time! What a freeing time! What a stressful time! The ocean, the iced coffees, the sun, the travel, the post-beach-sand-in-my-apartment and the meet ups with teacher friends to dream and design *all the things that we want to do this upcoming year! have truly filled me with energy and momentum to begin my 13th year teaching students and learning from them. Every new year, teaching gets better. Every new year, my commitment to loving my students; all my students, gets stronger. Every new year in the classroom, I learn more about who I am, what I am doing here and why I am doing it and hopefully, through the process of being in community with my students, I facilitate that process for my students to experience that.

Here are my hopes for this year:

I hope that my drive and commitment to do the work don’t dwindle or ghost on me. That is the thing that most scares me about the uncertainty of life. I hope that every new challenge that arises comes with an opportunity to grow and find a solution that changes the way I view things and thus change the world.

I hope that this year, I fall more in love with teaching. It happens every new year and that feeling is one that I love and crave. I hope to store it deep in my heart for those days when nothing works and when I get the bird flipped by an upset kiddo. ← true story.

I hope this year I hold space for the concept of “familia” to grow in my classroom. I truly hope my students view themselves as and work together as a family. Each classroom is its own ecosystem. Each one gives life to the next one. I hope that this year,not through me, but through the work we do together while making music, my students build strong and solid ground in which they can stand together as a familia. I hope that through our work together, they can be stronger together than they can alone, and I hope that I hold space for them to realize that. I also hope that while becoming a strong “familia” together, they also become strong individuals. I hope that through my students focusing on familia, they experience how important they are as individuals to their own communities.

I hope that I set up all my lessons in ways that make sense to all my students and in ways that hold space for my students to teach themselves and each other. I hope that I realize quickly if something is not working, and adjust. I hope that I am always alert and present to reflect and adapt;regardless of what is written on my lesson plan.

I hope that I have the drive, commitment and “ganas” to constantly advocate for my students’ needs. I hope that no matter what, or who says it, I always stay true to my only shareholders and bosses; my students. I hope that I can stand up for justice when injustices arise. I hope that I don’t give in to the system that rewards complying people, in cases of injustices and oppression.

I hope that I get humbler in my approach to life. I hope that I constantly “check” myself for my previously unquestioned white male privilege and that I learn how to view life beyond right or wrong and judgments. Good people can do bad things and bad people can do good things and most importantly, it is not up to me to decide who is who. I get to decide who I am and that should be enough.

Here are my dreams for the new school year:

I dream that me and my students learn to love themselves and each other and their school communities. I dream that through that process of love, deep trust emerges and through the process of deep trust, I dream that we get to make this world a bit less lopsided each day. I dream to experience love, in the way that bell hooks speaks of love: “Love is a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust.” In a way, this is my most important dream for my practice. A commitment to love and respect and care for each other. A responsibility to do so. Why? Because most of my students get told constantly that they are not worthy of love because *endless reasons but racism, misogyny, white supremacy, homophobia, classism, ableism and ageism are at the top.

I dream that we can be the best music makers that we want to be. I dream that we make fun and magical music together. I dream that we get to experience the joy of grooving together. I dream that my students get to experience how it feels to be free when you are closing your eyes and playing your part on your instrument while listening to their peers play their part. I dream of the times when my students play their last note together, and their audience cheers for them and they get to say “we did that.” I dream that my students ask questions; me, each other and themselves. I dream that my students answer questions; me, each other and themselves. I dream that through learning more music making skills like learning chord shapes on a guitar, piano or ukulele, or building 4-limb-coordination when playing a rock drumbeat, or learning ear training, they learn that music making is a very human thing to do, and that doing so is enough on its own. I dream that my students find joy in music making because it is a joyful and human thing to do, and not because it will make them smarter for math, or help them read better. (Although it totally will) I dream that my students learn and experience that they can find and get joy from an activity in school. I dream that in turn, they can spread that joy onto their world.

I dream that my students learn how to code switch so that they can be all of who they are in every space they inhabit. Christopher Emdin talks lots about the importance of Code Switching and I vibe with it so much. Code switching is sometimes perceived as switching off who you are and becoming something other than you. “In my view, it’s being able to switch back and forth between who you are and who you need to be based on a particular space. The end goal of code switching is hybridity.” I hope that through music making together, my students get a chance to explore this in a safe environment.

I dream that I have music makers who LOVE music making and who know about music making. I dream that my students make connections between the artists they know and love, and the artists who preceded them and the ones who preceded them. I dream that they build timelines that connect Hip-Hop to Rock n’ Roll, R&B, Jazz, Blues, and ultimately to West African rhythms. I dream that my students look at music making through the lens of scientists, artists, journalists, thinkers, philosophers, private detectives, anthropologists, skeptics, and activists.

I dream that my music making community in the classroom uses our talents and our privilege of having access to so many instruments and an administration that not only 100% supports the arts, but LOVES ad believes in the arts, in ways that are good for the community. I dream that my ensembles put together performances that brings together their community, to celebrate, party and dance/sing. I also dream that my students feel empowered to challenge that which is not acceptable through music making. I dream that they write songs of protest and stand up for what is right.

Finally, I dream to keep constantly changing and following my hopes and dreams. I dream that I am not afraid to make a change when my reality does not align with what I set out to do. I dream that I can remember that slow progress is powerful and that sometimes I just have to rip the band aid quickly and I also dream that I know which one to do when.

What are your hopes and dream for this school year?