Hot for Teacher!

    One of my favorite websites, Salon.com, just published its annual list of Sexiest Men Alive 2011. Every year Salon releases their list of the year's sexiest men in correspondence with People Magazine's popular annual contest of the same theme (People's 2011 winner: Bradley Cooper. No argument here). I enjoy Salon's list because it focuses on non-famous people who aren't actors, but also it always highlights ten genuinely great guys across all sorts of fields and industries. Innovators, artists, academics, chefs - you name it. It's great fun to read about these hunks-of-love, who are managing to pursue interesting and even groundbreaking paths despite how distracting it is to look at their faces.
    But the overall winner of Salon's contest this year, and the reason for this post, is a man by the name of Gregg Breinberg. A music teacher by trade, he has taken the children at Staten Island's PS 22 and transformed them into a full-fledged choir. Using his passion, expertise, and absolute dedication, his choir now has fans, fame, and even made an appearance on last year's Oscars. He's humble and cute, but mostly it's really cool to see a teacher at the top of his game, inspiring kids and using music as a valuable learning tool. 
    Here's the article and an interview with the dashing Mr. Breinberg: 
http://www.salon.com/2011/11/17/salons_sexiest_man_of_2011_the_interview/singleton/ 
    Studies show that participation in music programs in childhood improves cognitive thinking, social skills, and even math scores. If more schools had Mr. Breinbergs - and the money to fund great art and music programs - I imagine we'd have a lot of engaged students on our hands. (The 6th graders I taught in San Francisco Unified had music class only once a month! Sadly, I think that's become the norm).

The real treat of course is to see the choir in action (my favorite moment starts at the 1:25 mark):

       
Speaking of a "real treat," here's that other guy who won: