Staying Connected: John Legend's National Anthem

John Legend has been one of my favorite musicians for many years. Not only is he a supremely talented singer, pianist, performer, and composer, but he also cares deeply about the power of education. John Legend has taken some interesting pathways during his career simply because certain things actually matter to him, even if they aren't cool or popular with mainstream media. Hearing his soulful, precisely tuned version of a song we ALL know made my heart happy this evening, especially since we just celebrated Memorial Day this past week.

Thanks, John. That's how you sing the national anthem.

Staying Connected: The Importance of Practice

Here's an interesting interview with Anders Ericsson about his thoughts on the importance of practice, specifically in relation to musicians and prodigies. I'm not sure I can jump on board with everything that he's saying. However, based on his extensive research, I can connect with his larger claims about education needing to become more skills-based so that "students will be able to see how, by learning certain skills, they'll be able to do things that they couldn't do before." Check out more regarding talent, time, and levels of engaged learning below:

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/06/01/forget-talent-why-practice-is-key-to-most-prodigies-success/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29