Get Enthralled By "The Precipice" From How We Burn [embed]https://open.spotify.com/album/5qta6NlTjBS4vKQdjIym0D[/embed] How We Burn is an indie/modern/rock group comprised of talented musicians TJ Brennan (Vocals, Acoustic Guitar), Kevin Morrissey (Bass), Matt Berg (Keyboard) and Darrell Cellucci (Lead Guitar). Based out of Boston MA the band formed in 2017 and have since been making waves in the music scene. Loud amplified guitars, poetic lyrics and focused rhythms are just a few of the unique qualities which draw listeners to the music of How We Burn. From anthemic stompers to acoustic tales, the band incorporates sounds and textures from various genres, making them stand out among their peers. The band is influenced by the classic vibes of Dave Matthew's Band, Pink Floyd and Aerosmith. Since their formation, the band has had the pleasure of opening for Texas artist of the year Creed Fisher and their song Electric Lights was featured on 95.9 and the Spotify podcast "It's a Hard Rock Life". How We Burn is poised and ready to take their music to the next level, with plans to perform shows in the US and to eventually break into the international music scene. With hard work and determination, How We Burn is determined to make their mark in the music industry. [caption id="attachment_42266" align="alignnone" width="796"] Get Enthralled By "The Precipice" From How We Burn[/caption] How We Burn have released a powerful EP 'The Precipice', recorded entirely at their own Halo Studio. This is an actively involved band, no outside producers had anything to do with it – just the band members themselves. The message the EP conveys is one of bravery, resilience and blossoming self-growth. It’s about never letting anyone or anything hold you down and pushing through whatever life throws at you. This band’s hero-ready anthems enable their fans to find the strength to conquer their struggles. The male vocalist carries you through the highs to the lows of their song's emotional journeys. The rock vibrancy of the music is complimented by their US-based sound. The uniqueness of their musical artistry will set them apart from their peers, making them rise as soaring musical talents. https://open.spotify.com/track/7ixiuOopmUlaDjDnIalKBI?si=8bce612cbe244ede The EP is a 7-track wonderlist with the standout track being “Electric Lights”. It is the perfect example of the dichotomy of light and dark on the EP. The upbeat guitar riffs and punchy drums provide a captivating mix of rock and pop with male vocals. This cheerful and optimistic track is an absolute bop and radiates positive energy. The chorus is a great singalong, with a powerful and contagious groove. The bridge builds to an impressive guitar solo as the drums play a shuffling rhythm. This EP is an amalgamation of riveting sounds and heart-warming messages. It offers understanding and hope when life puts you at the precipice. It's an absolute masterpiece, the kind of EP that will move the body and the soul. Follow How We Burn on: Facebook, Soundcloud, Instagram, and Website.

The precipice.

Wow. What a week. 

I am not entirely sure where it was more chaotic, in my remote classroom or in the political arena. I gave my thoughts on all of that last week and I’m still very much in the same place. I’m feeling fortunate to live in Victoria, that is for sure. I can’t wait to stroll the busy streets of Melbourne again...

The chaos in the classroom is actually great though. The remote learning environment is a hive of activity. It has been well documented by many in the education sector that the energy and time commitment required of online/remote/continuous learning is substantially more than what many anticipated or had experienced in the classroom. But it’s also, so rewarding! 

There were days it used to feel like pulling teeth when asking for feedback, questions or concerns in the physical classroom, but online, it’s a rush of queries and challenging thoughts. Students are engaging with their content with an enthusiasm that I really didn’t anticipate, and the communication! Students are messaging and emailing ahead of time when they are unable to meet a specific task requirement and providing an alternative. Truly inspiring what can happen when you leave a young person to “fend” for themselves.

There are negatives of course. I am reminded of the distance every time I check in with my students via video conference, that the personal and social component is a large percentage of what makes teaching such a great profession. But while the social distance is substantial at the moment, it won’t be forever, and it will quickly change when it is appropriate and safe to return to schools. The pedagogy however, well that is a completely different story.

With all of this talk about going back to school, I find myself reflecting on this ongoing remote learning experience and how positive it has been for me personally. It has without a doubt changed the way I intend to teach when we return to the college grounds, and I am pretty excited about that. Rejuvenated perhaps is the right word. Much of what I have learned or intend to take back is probably old news, but it has energised me and that is what really counts.

With a looming date for the end of the State of Emergency in Victoria, I can’t help but think that we are on the precipice of great change again in education. This time it isn’t how - as in “how are we going to shift everything online in such a short period of time?”, but what - as in “what are we going to take back with us?”. 

I previously spoke about my experiences and reflected about my own re-working of practice and development of a model for my classes. Some of that is on this blog and also in a couple of LinkedIn articles (here: “You helped me. Thanks”, and here: “I watched my students learn from a distance. It was awesome”). I intend to keep my three lesson model when we return. Today though, I thought I would reflect on my biggest personal learnings and why I believe they will be held very tightly as I jump off this cliff and back into the physical teaching environment - whenever that may be.

1. Less instruction, more construction 

I see myself now as a facilitator, not a teacher. I do not belong at the front of the class as the “expert”. My primary role is to create an environment in which my students can become the experts. Online I don’t set tasks, I share tasks. Online I observe my students challenging, exploring and creating, while providing guidance and feedback where I can from a distance. I have said previously “put away your spoons, the students can feed themselves” and I meant it. Across this journey so far I’ve seen an increase in the quality of work from my strongest students to my lowest achievers, and to be honest those classifications mean nothing in the remote learning world. Where students have wanted to be involved, they have succeeded because this environmental change has supported their individuality.

Part of this I attribute to drastically reducing the amount of content rather than attempting to replicate and mimic the traditional classroom. I think all teachers facilitators would agree, that student feedback is some of the most meaningful. Especially, unprovoked feedback. A number of students have provided me with surprise thoughts, opinions and thanks across the last three weeks and it’s been incredibly meaningful and allowed me to be more productive in my role. They love the more focussed and reduced workload. They have time to work through the content and time to process its application to their world, rather than in service of an assessment task. The return to the physical classroom environment will be a drastic change to what has quickly become habitual, but I intend to maintain the quality over quantity mindset, freeing up time for discussion and conversation. Not all of the time allocated to the lesson has to be “on task”. Creativity, curiosity and critical thinking is not the stuff of textbook questions, it is more exploratory and I won’t be looking backward. 

Less instruction, more construction means less of my voice and more of theirs.

2. Blended, not mashed 

Technology and education have an interesting history. Sometimes it feels forced, other times it is a miracle classes were taught without it. This experience has demonstrated to me that my students are tech-savvy, but also select with the application of their abilities. Today’s young people thrive on choices. They are incredible when you want a video published on social media or a code written for gaming platform but when it comes to spreadsheets or word processing or conducting research on a fixed topic outside of that interest - they may be disengaged.

This experience has shown me the value of sharing a task and giving the students the room to engage with it. Technology used in this way is not forced or out of place, it is ingrained. This isn’t a PowerPoint to support a 40 minute lecture, it’s a recorded 5 minute video, followed by a research question, to formulate a response for the discussion forum and the basis for a class debate. I don’t envisage this classroom to have students in rows of chairs with books and pens. It’s students outside, in the hallway and on the floor, engaging with the content as they choose. This is taking the wins from the remote learning period and applying them to the strengths of the physical classroom.

This is not just lashing technology to the side of the lesson and hoping it stays attached. This is creating a lesson that is designed to give the students control of the pace and allow them to discover with more freedom.

Blended, not mashed means less information and more exploration.

3. Connection instead of direction

In my role as a House Leader it sometimes feels like I only contact parents and they only contact me with concerns or to schedule meetings and of course, at parent teacher interviews. Since moving to remote learning however, I have found that communication between parents, students and staff has been much more free flowing and spontaneous. Perhaps this is because many parents find themselves temporarily working from home also and the barrier of conflicting schedules has been removed. In any case, the level of parent, student and my own engagement is high. I love it.

While I would say I am fortunate to teach secondary education, and a lot of what I am talking about here is framed to that particular environment, the shared responsibility of parents, students and teachers in guiding a learner on their journey has never been more evident. Weekly updates of concepts, tasks and their application have been met with parent support and gratitude. Allowing those parents the intel they need to politely inquire or praise and congratulate their 17-18 year old child in the least intrusive manner possible. At my school we are currently in process of a 3-week parent-teacher interview cycle (via phone) and the conversations have reflected both the parents understanding that the learning is their child’s responsibility but the support is ours to share. Incredibly valuable and rewarding!

Connection instead of direction means less reporting and more supporting.

This is the precipice

Do we jump and be curious and adaptive? Or do we step backward and return to the safety of the land?

I don’t believe there is any long term benefit of returning to the “old way” of doing things. The short term comfort in going back to what we “used to do” will not last. It might be uncomfortable initially, but all forward thinking and future focused movements are slow, painful and challenging for individual's but, the rewards are potentially huge for whole communities.

Going back to a pre-corona model of education would be to the benefit and comfort of certain teachers only. Students would suffer. 

So it is time to consider why we got into this game and whether we are ready to continue changing it.

Will you jump with me?

This is the precipice.

Here’s a few things that have inspired me this past week as an educator and a leader:

Educator Perspectives on the Impact of COVID-19 on Teaching and Learning 

(https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mattlukepitman_pivot-state-of-education-2020-white-paper-activity-6661744495702474752-1in6)

Pivot Professional Learning along with Education Perfect ran a series of fantastic webinars this week, highlighting the incredible effort of educators across Australia and NZ. Pivot also, in a massive effort, collected a ton of data and has put together this report. Definitely worth a read, very insightful stuff.

Continuous Learning Toolkit Vol. II | Leading Through Crisis 

(https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mattlukepitman_continuous-learning-toolkit-volume-ii-activity-6661169533031723008-sP68)

I continue to be unashamed in how much I love their podcast, but a close second to that is The Game Changers (Adriano & Phil) Continuous Learning Toolkit. This second volume presents a number of innovative and game-changing schools, their models, frameworks and stories. For any aspiring Game Changer this is a must read!

Future Agendas for Global Education: Executive Summary 

(https://issuu.com/4796376/docs/gef.agenda_eng)

Sold to me as “an excellent report that should be read by every school leader and educational policy maker” this summary is a long read but an engaging and inspiring one. Worth your time if you have it and if you don’t, make some!

#fbf remembering one of our favourite back covers VMM volume 2 #ThePrecipice Explore more of volume 2 on our website www.voixmeetsmode.com/volumes. Volume 4 'VISION', coming together beautifully. Thankful to all our contributors for the upcoming issue and looking forward to sharing it with the world soon. 😊😉🙏 Believe in the power of your dreams and when you create your VISION, make sure you dream BIG. To support us in anyway, check out our contact us page for options and don't be shy to get in touch 😉🙌 #vision #dreams #ideas #creativeart #quotes #inspiringcreativeminds #inspirationalwords #befearless #bepositive #believe #trust #trustthejourney #dreambig #magazine #vmmmagazine #voixmeetsmode #gamechanger #bedifferent #beunique #standout #silence #silencethenoise (at London, United Kingdom)

#GuyOnTheHigh #NYC #newyorkcity #newyawk #manhattan #THEcity #onthewayIN #makinnnmoooves #theprecipice #allweareisstardust #allofthelights #quikshot #whippin #onthemove #jerseyJourney #complete #muchlove #peace

I couraged all over the place yesterday. Easy and in comfort zone can easily settling. Especially if you want a change. I knew I needed to say some hard things to myself, do some hard things and put myself out there. I had approached this precipice many times before, stepped quietly away and acted like it didn’t exist. But it does. And until you learn to step out, you always come back to that spot. It is more miserable to keep revisiting it then to just do it. Myself 12 months from now needs me to do this. So I did. when was last time you stepped out encourage? When was last time you overcame fear? . . #Brave #courage #fears #StepOutInFaith #ThePrecipice #ReturnAgain #BeBolderThanYesterday #IDidIt #IDidNotDie #Empowered #Entrepreneur #HealthyLifestyleCoach #TalkingTheTalkAndWalkingTheWalk #positive #thenextstep (at Greensboro, North Carolina)

Fallen Angels

The lies

a broken heart 

tells itself

Better than to another

Solitude

the grand soother of souls

its rocky precipice

for few

high climbers

that spread their wings

with every deeper breath

till

fallen angels

fly again               

         - The MuseMistress

Stranded On thePrecipice

death escaped my hands and left me standing at the altar the emptiness received me like a self- inflicted wound in a room adorned with trinkets of trifle faintly linking my alter-ego to this faux land of vaulted heart and vapid mind where visions turn away afraid to learn of their inbound inception this blunderous aberration has no station nor foot to find it steady a cistern of depleted days

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#everythinggoeswrong #seijunsuzuki #filmarchivistpov #35mm #35mmfilm #japanesecinema #theprecipice (at Egyptian Theatre)

It's November whoop whoop 🙌🏾💃🕺🏽💃 Just a few short weeks to launch Volume 5 Modern Muse 💃🕺🏽but before the launch it's important to revisit our previous Volumes and above we do a #throwback to Volume 2 #ThePrecipice. Since the inception of VMM we have been privileged and honoured to work and collaborate with some amazing and super talented creatives all over the 🌎. We are grateful and thankful for all of you and super grateful for our audience, readers and followers. We appreciate all of you. Thank you @looksstylists for this cute 🎥. Really appreciate it 💖✨✨✨ . . . . Volume 5 #modernmuse launching November. Launch date to be announced soon. www.voixmeetsmode.com . . . . . #voixmeetsmode #publication #video #tbt #photography #art #magazine #book #throwbackthursday https://www.instagram.com/p/BpomtfTg0Pb/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=aduro66c36zi

"The Precipice" - Alia Lorae "Of course I won’t be fine. I know it, and so do they. After the rapture of merrïochistic feeding, I get to enjoy about ten minutes of mental and physical calm. Ten minutes of being soft and sated, painkillers in full kick, my mind un-plagued by thoughts of panic or suicide, of ripping and raping, shredding my teeth through anything that breathes. Thank the Empress for brief moments like this. Soon, once again, I’ll begin to sweat, go feverish, shake. My stomach will return to its ravenous spasm and growl. The broiling pressure will rise again in my lower belly and pulse there in spite of the bruising. My cock will stiffen into a throbbing iron claw, hard as a weapon and painful. The hazy sense of peace will leave me. I’ll fight to stay lucid as blood-lustful monsters snap at my brain, dredging up fear, dredging up craving and fury, sneaking sharp fingers under my skin and seeking to drag me down. There I’ll stay, often for hours, wobbling at the brink of the precipice with one wheel spinning wildly over the edge and darkness sucking at my ankles. In the end, the monsters always win." ~ Excerpt from "The Precipice," by Alia Lorae. #darkart #weirdart #illustration #art #morbid #theprecipice #merriochism #edward #wheelchair #demons #originalcharacter

Stranded On thePrecipice

death escaped my hands and left me standing at the altar the emptiness received me like a self- inflicted wound in a room adorned with trinkets of trifle faintly linking my alter-ego to this faux land of vaulted heart and vapid mind where visions turn away afraid to learn of their inbound inception this blunderous aberration has no station nor foot to find it steady a cistern of depleted days

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