Music in Schools

I was blessed to go to a high school where music was held as indispensable, but I have been sad to find this is not the standard. More and more boards of education are cutting music from schools and the children suffer for it. Music can be the only acceptable way for some students to express their feelings.
I remember freshman year and the first concert following September 11. A lot of students were full of hate and fear over the event. My choral director asked us to write a phrase to capture the sentiment of the concert following the horrific occurrence. I recall my quote was put on the back of the program, not because of it's linguistic prowess, but for what it captured. "Sometimes all you have to do is sing the bad out of your heart."
Music can be the only way to release feelings without risk of harming another. When students lose music in their schools, they risk not knowing it's power. As one of my choral directors always told my women's choirs, "Music is the only thing, that I know of, that can make a small child laugh and bring tears to the eyes of a grown man."
With this understanding, I go into my future classroom with the hope that, even if I am in a school without a defined music program, I can show them that outlet. The appeal to the musically intelligent benefits every student.

For more information on how to keep music in schools please visit: http://www.savethemusic.com/

Exam Preparation

Fulfilling the requirement of the state, I will be taking the Praxis Exam on the ides of March. Though I have been a fairly good test taker in the past with SATs, etc, I am genuinely nervous about this test. Maybe because it really hasn't been brought up in my classes, as how to attack it. I hope that everything turns out alright, but even with my practice book in hand, I don't feel confident.
I'm sure that many students, regardless of age feel this way without a proper review. Perhaps I'll devise some flash cards to help myself review. For this exam, it's all on me, but in the classroom, a great deal of the review has to do with the teacher. Do I want to pass out a review sheet, do a jeopardy game, leave my students to their own devises? This can often be a challenge for teachers because they don't want to spoon feed their students, but they also do not want them to fail their exam.
Since most of my exams will be literature based, most of the questions that they will see will come from class notes, class discussion and reading questions. Using the knowledge they have from these, I will (hopefully) ask a question that requires application.
When it comes to reviews for vocabulary... sometimes a good old fashion game of pictionary/charades can be exactly what they need to have the meaning burned into their memory. For me, it will always be one of my male classmates awkwardly moving at the front of the class, attempting to mime carrying something "unwieldy" that makes that word a part of my vocabulary to this day.