The Sheep, The Sheepdogs and the Wolves. Which one are you?

There are three types of people in the world: The Sheep, The Sheepdogs and The Wolves. Most people are sheep. They live a somewhat normal life…they go to work, do what they’re told, pay their taxes, raise their families, watch tv, hang out on weekends. For the most part not creating any waves. Most of …

Don’t Confuse Being Famous With Making Money

Many people set their aim on becoming famous, thinking that’s the path to earning money as a musician. It’s not. There are famous people who make money, but there are many musicians you probably have never heard of who make $75,000 a year or more plugging away in their local community. I have a friend …

Was My 1st Job a Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Did you know that the ancient Hebrew language does not have a word for coincidence? I “found” my first teaching job by “coincidence”. (in quotes because I don’t believe in that word) I was performing full time and wanted to give teaching a try. I would not have sought out a full time teaching job, …

How To Practice Effectively

***James is the author of 5 books, including I Cannoli Imagine: My Italian Life. You can reach him HERE.

A Farmer’s Life – Tone Poem

I wrote this song a few years back. It’s a tone poem, meant to paint a picture of a Farmer’s Life. If you would like the sheet music, get a free pdf copy at www.jamesdivine.net/farmer. ***James is the author of 5 books, including I Cannoli Imagine: My Italian Life. You can reach him HERE.

Education Reimagined

Education is in an upheaval. Teachers have been forced to learn how to teach online practically overnight. Parents were forced to suddenly become their child’s coach, teacher, and counselor. All this while we are at record unemployment rates, with many working from home while still supervising their kids. What if we took advantage of this …

I Thought I Was Going To Jail

The summers of 2010-2012 I was driving every week to Weatherford, Oklahoma to work on a master’s degree in music education. The trip took me through the Texas panhandle. The panhandle gets its name because when you view Texas on a map, there’s a thin stretch of land in the northwest corner that – when …

I Was a 7th Grade Bully

Throughout my childhood, I was often picked on and bullied. I was somewhat of a momma’s boy. I was not close to my father. I had a high emotional IQ and cried easily…the men in my life pounded into me (sometimes literally) that men don’t cry. One day in 7th grade things turned around… Red …

Get A First Down

In an interview of Lou Holtz – famous college football coach and analyst – he was asked what type of goals did he inspire his award winning teams to achieve. Was it to win the game? Score a certain number of touchdowns? Block passes? No. Lou instructed his teams to “Get a first down.” If …

Get Started Writing a Book

Go to Udemy to enroll in the course. Udemy offers a 30 day money back guarantee. I think that EVERYONE has a book inside of them, but maybe they just don’t know how to get started writing it. In this course, I teach you the steps I used to create my own six books. You …

Music Intervals Lesson

***James is the author of 5 books, including I Cannoli Imagine: My Italian Life. You can reach him HERE. 

A Love Letter to my Fellow Title I Teachers

Dear Fellow Title I Teacher: Don’t compare yourself to other teachers. You are amazing. You work hard. Even if they don’t tell you, your students appreciate and love you! You may be one of the few stable things in their life! When you look at where your students are “on the charts”, often they fall …

All Dogs Go To Heaven – Guest Post By Anonymous Dog

Man’s Best Friend. Faithful. Loyal. These are just some of the ways dogs have been described. Not many dogs have undertaken the task of writing about life. It’s important for you – the human – to understand what it is we see in life as dogs. Dogs were designed by God to be special, to …