 Image created by Gemini  Image Created by Gemini There is a concept that I read about that highlighted the concept of work life balance for me. It is called the Four Burners Theory, and it goes something like this, imagine your life as a cook with four burners. The first burner represents your family. The second represents your friends. The third represents your health. The fourth represents your work. The theory suggests that to be successful, you have to turn off one burner. To be truly exceptional at what you do, you have to turn off two.
I have shared this theory with a number of fellow school leaders and the conversation that follows is almost always the same. At some point the conversation will go around that Principals don’t really invest in friends, and to some degree health. Work, and family for principals are usually the priorities. At some point if we talk about this theory someone says, quietly and with great sincerity, "I don't really have any friends." We tend to laugh and the reality is that it is not entirely a joke. It is one of those peculiar truths about school leadership that nobody puts in the job description. When you step into a principal or head of campus role, the social landscape shifts in ways you do not fully anticipate. You become, by default, the person who has to make difficult decisions about people's livelihoods, their timetables, their professional development. You hold information you cannot share. You carry concerns that are not yours to distribute. The after work drinks or social events with colleagues become complicated territory, and the genuine, easy friendships you once had within a school community quietly evolve into something more guarded on both sides. There is a misconception that you are aloof or stand offish, the truth is you have be aware of your public profile and abide by the Nolan Principles. I have felt this acutely across my own career. Moving between countries, between schools, between roles, I have built warm working relationships everywhere I have been, and I am genuinely grateful for them. But there is a difference between collegiality and friendship, and I think school leaders are often too busy, too peripatetic, or simply too professionally cautious to nurture the latter in the way it deserves. Here is where it gets interesting, though. The Four Burners Theory is not meant to be a counsel of despair. It is an invitation to be intentional. If you accept that you cannot keep all four burners burning at full flame simultaneously, then the question becomes: which ones are you choosing to turn down, and are you making that choice consciously, or simply by default? For much of my career, I suspect I let the friends burner dim without really deciding to. Work burned brightly, because the work mattered and still does. Family was non-negotiable, particularly now that my sons are growing up fast and time with them is finite in ways I feel more acutely each year. Health has been a work in progress, as I have gradually gained weight with each new role, and it is a common factor for most people in demanding roles. But friends? That burner has often been left to manage itself, which is to say, it has not been managed at all. What I am trying to do differently now, in my current role at Aoba Japan International School, is to be more deliberate. We are talking more about balance, about the importance of wellbeing alongside academic performance. I would feel somewhat hypocritical if I were not at least attempting to practise what I encourage. That does not mean I have suddenly acquired a lively social calendar. But it does mean I am more aware of the choices I am making, the sacrifices and more honest about their costs. Overall my personality does suit time where I can be alone and collect my own thoughts. The Four Burners Theory does not tell you what to prioritise. That is entirely your own decision to make, based on your values, your season of life, and what you can genuinely sustain. What it does do is remove the comfortable fiction that everything can be kept at full heat indefinitely. Something always gives. You have to think can the burners be rotated, so there is time to focus on health and social interactions. Overall we are all cooking up something and we are all in the same kitchen.
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 This week I had the honour of being featured on the Leading Your International School blog, where I was invited to reflect on my personal and professional journey in educational leadership.
You can read the full piece here: My Journey in Educational Leadership: A Personal and Professional Reflection In the blog, I reflect on the experiences, challenges, and lessons that have shaped my leadership across diverse international contexts. It’s a journey that has taken me through China, Vietnam, Brunei, and Singapore – and now towards a new chapter in Japan. I’m especially grateful to Andre and Amy for the opportunity to share my story on such a respected platform. Your belief in the importance of connecting leaders and sharing experiences continues to have a powerful impact on our professional community. Thank you for the trust, support, and the space to reflect. Finally, I’m in deep appreciation of the mentors, principals, and colleagues who have guided me along the way, their wisdom and support have helped me develop the mindset, values, and skills that continue to shape how I lead and serve. Thank you for reading – and for being part of the shared journey in international education. Valuable Music Teaching Resources: My Top Recommendations As an experienced music educator, I’ve had the privilege of exploring a wide array of teaching tools and platforms to enhance student engagement and learning. Below, I’ve outlined my most recommended music teaching resources that have consistently delivered value in classrooms worldwide. These resources can elevate your teaching practice. Musical Futures InternationalIf I had to pick just one resource to recommend, it would be Musical Futures International. This platform offers a comprehensive suite of over 1,000 resources designed to support music educators in delivering practical, engaging, and student-centered lessons. Developed by teachers for teachers, these materials cover a wide range of instruments and pedagogical approaches, making music education accessible and enjoyable for students aged 7 to 16. What sets Musical Futures International apart is its emphasis on authentic musical learning. Students are encouraged to learn by doing, which fosters creativity and independence. Additionally, they provide bespoke training to help educators maximize the potential of these resources.
If you want to build music in your school, get them to sing, Sing Up is a must-have for teachers looking to incorporate more singing into their lessons. This music education organization provides schools and teachers with online resources for singing and music-making activities. Its cross-curricular resources are designed for both classroom and extracurricular use, making it a versatile tool for enhancing primary-aged children’s music education. Sing Up stands out for its ease of use—even classroom teachers without a music background can confidently integrate it into their lessons. Membership includes access to songs, training, and support, making it a holistic option for promoting singing opportunities.
For those looking for a cost-effective yet high-quality option, Musical Contexts delivers an extensive collection of tried and tested music education resources. Suitable for both primary and secondary classrooms, it offers fully-resourced lesson plans, topic-based units, ensemble performing arrangements, and various quizzes and assessments. Musical Contexts’ resources are particularly valuable for inspiring creativity and ensuring high-quality music lessons. It’s a practical option for educators who want well-structured content.
Charanga is a configurable music teaching and learning platform that offers a range of resources for music education. Its comprehensive offering includes complete curricula, teaching resources, content-building and personalization tools, music technology, online learning etc. Charanga is ideal for schools seeking a fully integrated music education solution. Its rich resources and cutting-edge tools ensure that both teachers and students benefit from an engaging and modern learning experience.
'Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/vladvictoria-9785604/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3957586">Vlad Vasnetsov</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3957586">Pixabay</a>  Exams can be a challenging time for students, but with the right support and strategies, parents can play a vital role in helping their children succeed. This guide offers practical tips to help your child feel prepared, confident, and stress-free during exam season. Create a Supportive Environment A calm and organised environment is essential for effective study. Ensure your child has a quiet, comfortable place to study, free from distractions such as TV, loud music, or interruptions. Encourage a consistent study schedule and minimize unnecessary disruptions. Providing basic supplies like pens, paper, and highlighters can also make a difference in their organisation. Encourage your child to take regular breaks. Balance is important. Research shows that studying in intervals, such as using the Pomodoro Technique (25 minutes of focused study followed by a 5-minute break), boosts productivity and helps retain information. The mind is like any other muscle if it is overworked it becomes tired and cannot perform effectively. It is important to maintain balance and allow time for relaxation as well as study. Teach Time Management Time management is a crucial skill for exam preparation. Work with your child to create a realistic study timetable that balances revision with leisure time. Help them prioritise subjects or topics they find more challenging and allocate extra time for these areas. Setting daily or weekly goals can help keep them on track and motivated. During exams, remind your child to allocate time for each section of their exam paper based on the marks assigned. Practicing timed exams at home can help them develop confidence and improve their ability to manage time effectively. Encourage Healthy Habits Good health is essential for peak performance. Ensure your child is getting enough sleep, as lack of rest can affect concentration and memory. Aim for at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night (preferable 8-10 hours), especially before an exam day. A balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and proteins can help maintain energy levels and improve focus. Encourage your child to stay hydrated and avoid excessive caffeine (tea drinks) or sugary snacks, which can cause energy crashes. Light physical activity, such as a short walk or yoga, can also reduce stress and refresh the mind. Help Manage Stress Exam stress is common but manageable. Teach your child relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or visualisation exercises to stay calm. You can also try grounding exercises, like identifying five things they can see, four they can touch, three they can hear, two they can smell, and one they can taste. Positive reinforcement can go a long way. Celebrate small milestones, such as completing a revision topic or finishing a practice test, to build their confidence. Avoid adding pressure or comparing them to others, which can increase anxiety. Be Involved Show your child that you’re invested in their success. Offer to quiz them on key topics or proofread their revision notes. If they’re feeling overwhelmed, listen to their concerns and provide reassurance. Remind them that effort matters more than perfection. If your child is struggling, consider seeking help from teachers or tutors who can provide additional guidance. Exam Day Tips On the day of the exam, help your child stay calm and focused. Ensure they pack all necessary materials the night before, such as pens, pencils, a calculator. Encourage them to eat a nutritious breakfast to fuel their brain. Remind them to read instructions carefully during the exam, allocate time for each question, and review their answers if time allows. Most importantly, reassure them that you’re proud of their efforts regardless of the outcome. Final Thoughts Exams are an opportunity for growth and learning. By fostering a supportive environment, encouraging healthy habits, and helping your child develop effective study techniques, you can make a significant difference in their academic journey. Remember, your encouragement and understanding are invaluable in helping your child succeed. By Christopher Hoddinott  The Extended Essay has long been a passion of mine being involved in IB Education. My first ever student I supported to get an A grade in Visual Art and have helped many others get great grades for them in the Extended Essay after over 12 years experience helping students in the Extended Essay, including 7 years as an Extended Essay Coordinator. I see student make the same mistakes continually, and want to share what I see in order to help avoid them. These are some of the common pitfalls students need to avoid in the proposal and continuing on in the Extended Essay.
1. Vague Research Question: A clear, focused research question is crucial. Everything else in the essay follows on from clear research question that allows for critical thinking. Many students start with a question that is too broad making it difficult to develop an Extended Essay that goes deep enough into the subject or a question that is too narrow and technical and does not allow for critical thinking. Also, a question that is too narrow is difficult to find quality research on the subject. 2. Choosing a Topic Without Enough Sources: Some students select a topic without first checking the availability of quality and relevant sources. This can lead to difficulties in conducting thorough research, ultimately impacting the depth and quality of the essay. 3. Ignoring the Subject Guidelines: Each IB subject has specific criteria and expectations for the extended essay. Failure to adhere to these guidelines can result in an off-target proposal or an essay that does not fulfil the subject's requirements. Students need to check the requirements before starting, these can change so it is important the subject leaders are kept upto date with any amendments to the guidelines, which can be found here. 4. Underestimating the Importance of the Supervisor Meetings: Some students do not fully utilise their supervisor meetings, missing out on valuable guidance and feedback. Regular and meaningful engagement with the supervisor is crucial for refining the research question, methodology, and structure of the essay. Students should not underestimate the knowledge and experience of their supervisors when it comes to the Extended Essay. 5. Overlooking the Importance of Planning: Lack of proper planning, essay structure and time management can lead to rushed research and writing process. This is in keeping with the IB Learner Profile of Balanced., that students need to ensure they working at a measured pace through the essay and not pulling all night sessions before the deadline. This can affect the essay's overall quality and lead to unnecessary stress. 6. Plagiarism and Not Citing Sources Properly: Plagiarism is a serious offence in the IB. Failing to cite sources correctly or paraphrasing too closely is classed as plagiarism. Plagiarism can be deliberate or accidental, either way understanding and adhering to academic integrity is crucial. Types of plagiarism can be found from Grammarly here. 7. Not Aligning the Topic with Personal Interest: Some students choose a topic based on what they think might impress the examiners rather than their interests. A lack of genuine interest in the subject and topic can make the research and writing process more of a grind than a worthwhile experience. 8. Neglecting the Formal Presentation Requirements: The IB has specific requirements for the structure and presentation of the extended essay. These are the easiest marks to gain or lose. Overlooking these requirements can lead to unnecessary loss of points. 9. Failure to Reflect: The reflection sessions are an integral part of the extended essay process, contributing to the final grade. Some students do not take these reflections seriously. The reflections should talk about the engagement and challenges of the essay and how they have overcome these challenges. Many reflections do not talk about the topic or the essay itself. 10. Insufficient Analysis and Critical Thinking: Some essays are more descriptive than analytical, lacking a critical examination of the topic. Sometimes, it is due to the quality of the research question that it does not allow for critical thinking. Some Science papers end up being more of a Paper for an experience rather than leaning into Essay. Therefore, it's important to not only present information but also to analyse and reflect on its implications. The key to a quality Extended Essay is starting early, choosing a topic of genuine interest, utilising supervisor support, and adhering to IB guidelines are key strategies for success. Moreover, is to learn, have perseverance and to overcome challenges that writing essays entail in order to give great preparation for University. References IBO. “Subject Specific Guidelines.” Ibo.org, 2016, ibpublishing.ibo.org/extendedessay/apps/dpapp/guidance.html?doc=d_0_eeyyy_gui_1602_1_e. IBO. “What Is the Extended Essay?”, 2024, www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/dp-core/extended-essay/what-is-the-extended-essay/. Kramer, Lindsay. “7 Common Types of Plagiarism, with Examples.” Grammarly Blog, 15 Feb. 2022, www.grammarly.com/blog/types-of-plagiarism/. This is something I worked on a few years ago which is still relevant and I think a good process for helping students choose their extended essay topic. The topic choice can be straightforward for some students as they know what their passions, future careers and which subjects they excel in. For the majority of students, it is a difficult process for them to make the decision of what subject and topic choice they want to pursue. I have been fortunate to work in schools where we give the students a lot of choices to select a subject within certain parameters. Currently, these parameters include that it is preferably a Higher Level subject, and they are achieving a certain grade. These are guidelines to ensure students have the tools and the subject knowledge to be successful in that subject. Overall, you cannot make a choice for the student. However, you can give them the tools to make an informed choice based on who they are. In life students will have to make tough choices and stick by them, it is important to help students seek out information to make informed choices. It is the opportunity for students to develop skills in academic writing in an area that really interests them and helps them learn a lot about themselves. It is important to make those correct choices. To enhance subject selection choice it is also important to engage in subject selection activities such as
 The ATL skills are the foundations of IB MYP education. Developing the skills ensures students are learning how to learn so they are adaptable for lifelong learning. These skills of Communication, Research, Self Management, Social and Thinking are applied in a wide variety of situations in MYP Music. Throughout the last couple of years, I have made a conscious effort to be more explicit in my teaching of them to ensure students recognise and reflect on the skills that they are developing. More importantly how they can use those skills in a variety of situations. With the help of AI and some editing. I have produced this poster on some of the ATL skills and how they are applied in Music. Please feel free to use and share amongst the community under creative commons usage.   Example of note-taking on a score. There are several different approaches to analysing music. what is important is to show a deep understanding of the music, analyse, discuss and evaluate what is happening in the music. This aims to look at some of the basics. Listen to music. Can you pick out any key detail from your first listen to the music? When discussing what is happening in the music, quite often students can miss out on the obvious. Start with what stands out in the music, what kind of mood and tone is the music set out to have? Which instruments are taking the lead? What is particularly interesting about the music? Use a score and make notes Ensure you have a score and make notes of what you think is happening in the music. Make references to specific parts of the music that interest you. Use highlighters and a range of colours for different themes, motifs or sections. You will need to refer to the score and bar numbers in your writing. (See example). If you do not have a score, make a graphical score. It helps you to visualise the music and see how all the elements fit together. You don’t have to be a great artist to make one. Add timing marks so you know what is happening and when. Generate-Sort-Connect-Elaborate This is a project zero thinking routine I like to use when starting a musical analysis and writing about music. (Harvard School of Education, 2016)
DR (CP) SMITH This is a handy mnemonic to remember as it helps to ensure that the basic elements of music have been covered for discussion. Each of the letters stands for a different element of music. The CP in the middle is optional and stands for Context and Purpose, to help contextualise and understand the meaning of the music. DR CP SMITH stands for
Get an IDEA Another useful analysis tool I have used in music and inspired by Samuel Wright (2021) in Music for the IB MYP 4&5. The strategic listening idea is to get an IDEA. Identify, Describe, Explain and Analyse. This also helps to provide a good framework for writing more in-depth about the music. Identify sounds and patterns you hear. Describe how they are being played, presented or layered Explain what role they play in the structure of the work Analyse the smaller parts (intervals, motifs, sequences, to their outward larger parts of the form, modulations, phrases and cadences. (Wright, 2020) Use a table/template to organise your thoughts and ideas Using a table is another way to help organise ideas. Also helps with being able to organise, thoughts and ideas to be able to discuss them in the assignment. One example is below of a template we use in class.  Template to use to highlight the elements Plan your paper
If you are writing to a question, highlight the keywords in the question to understand exactly what the question is asking you. It is easy in a question to start talking about the context rather than showing your understanding of the music itself. For example, in a paper on the use of themes in the Brandenburg Concerto no.2, half of the paper is on the story of Bach’s life. Talk about the music and talk about the context of the music if it serves to answer the purpose of the music. Kelly (2011) highlights when analysing music “Ultimately, you will need to select, organise, and explain fully only those musical details that connect to your argument.” Avoid a play by play analysis too. It is natural to lend yourself to analyse as you listen through the piece, but it does not lend itself to high levels of critical thinking and analysis. Instead, focus on the key points you want to make and find examples in different parts of the music to reinforce your argument. Think about the key points you want to make and be sure to reference either bar numbers or timings in the piece. Think about the purpose of the music and hypothesise, analyse, discuss, and evaluate. There is no such thing as a completely correct answer, but there is an insightful and well thought out answer backed with evidence. Use terminology and build your vocabulary. It is easy to write a lot describing what is happening in the music when there is already a term that describes it. I would recommend the oxford music dictionary of terms. It is useful for remembering tricky musical terms. My copy got me through University, my masters and my career as a music teacher. Also, practice on tools like Quizlet to build an understanding of the common terms that are used. References: Kelly, T.F. (2011) Writing about music: A guide to writing in A & I 24. Available at: http://writingproject.fas.harvard.edu/files/hwp/files/ai_24_guide_to_print.pdf (Accessed: 14 January 2022). Harvard School of Education (2016) Generate, Sort, Connect and Elaborate. Available at: http://www.pz.harvard.edu/resources/generate-sort-connect-elaborate (Accessed: 14 January 2022) Wright, S. (2021) Music for the IB MYP 4&5: MYP by Concept, Hodder Education, London I am very happy to share my latest article with the ISN on developing effective feedback with students. It is based on in-depth research I did a couple of years ago. Please give it a read. https://bit.ly/34QxQTk #education #feedback #ibdp #ibmyp #research #students  |
About meI am the Secondary School Principal at the Canadian International School Kunshan in China. I have over 12 years of IB teaching experience and working on bringing great learning experiences and opportunities to students. Archives
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