Hi all, I have been away from this space for a while. 2021 was absolutely crazy. 2022 brings hopes of getting back to the things that I enjoy most. Writing about my experiences in the music classroom is one of them. I would like to start the year by sharing with you some of the strategies and activities that worked for me in the classroom to promote students' agency. At the start of the 2021-2022 school year, I made it my goal to focus on creating a space for my students where they could explore their identities. Our mantra is, "every day is a new beginning and I get to choose to show who I am." I asked them "How do you want to be seen?" Whether we are listening or making music, navigating how to play various instruments, getting into ensembles, or composing a song, our identities are bound to come out at every step of each activity. With all the trauma we have endured the past two years, I must create trauma-informed lesson plans that purposefully embed so