organizational tips

As music educators, we all know about the necessity of keeping organized. I’m sure many of you are just like me in that you see every student in your school for music class. That’s a lot of paper work, names, materials, and information to keep track of! I’m still a newbie at this, and I’m always picking up new ideas and strategies for keeping on top of things. Here are a few of the things that I do to keep myself organized at work. I welcome any and all of your suggestions!

#1. Colour-Coding

I know I’ve just recently talked about my love for colour-coding (read it here), but it truly is one of the most effective means of keeping myself organized. My school uses the “Share the Music” texts, and I simply colour co-ordinate everything to do with a certain grade with the colour of their text (i.e. Grade 4 has a purple text book. I write all things having to do with grade four in my plan book with a purple pen, I use purple post-its to label their worksheets, I use purple baskets to collect their things in, etc).

#2. Personalized planbook

I didn’t purchase a commercial teacher plan-book because none of the ones that I could find were suitable for my schedule. I made my own just using Microsoft Word. I print off pages as I need them and I keep them in a binder. I use index dividers to mark the months of the school year. This way I can tweak my planbook exactly the way I want it, and make changes if need be.

#3. Labelled instrument baskets

I teach elementary music, so the bulk of my instrument collection is made up of shakers, rhythm sticks, jingle tappers, finger cymbals, etc. I purchased several baskets from the local dollar store and separated my instruments into the baskets. I labelled each basket according to the instrument that was in the basket. Then, I separated the baskets into families (i.e. wood, metal, tappers, shakers, etc). Now my students know exactly where each instrument belongs, so we keep things tidy. I also use this to introduce my younger students to timbre and non-pitched percussion families.

#4. Post-it note assessment

I buy post-it notes in bulk. I love them. The super-sticky ones are great, and you can get them made from recycled paper now as well! I use them for close to everything, but my favourite use for post-its is assessment. I can quickly jot down a note or two about how a student is doing without it being overly obvious. Its much less menacing then writing in a grade book all the time. I simply collect my post-its at the end of the day and transfer any necessary information into my grade book. Because of the constant shift of students (new class every 30 minutes), the post-it method for keeping info is the most quick and effective.

#5. Graded resource binders

I keep a separate binder for each grade (colour-coded, of course!) with songs, activities, and lesson plans divided into units (I go by month). Like I said before, we use the “Share the Music” text, but I do not use it religiously. I have many other books and resources that I like to use as well, so I’ve basically began creating my own collection of resources and materials that I use to teach the required curriculum by photocopying selections out of the books that I own and placing them in the appropriate section in my binder. It will take me awhile to get it right (years, I’m sure! – and even then it will change constantly!) but I like having everything I need at my fingertips rather than searching through six or seven books to find what I wanted.

So there you have it – those are just a few of the tricks and tips that I currently use to keep organized. I’d love to hear some more suggestions and ideas! Please comment and let me know some of the things that you do to keep yourself organized!

vacation!

Today is my last day of work before my first real “teacher” vacation! Of course, it’s nowhere near as lengthy as University breaks, but still, there’s a true excitement to it. I’m looking forward to seeing friends and family over the next 2 weeks, and getting some refreshment and renewal before it’s time to start again in January. So far, so good. Four months down in my first year as a music teacher, and I’m still alive!

ask and you shall receive

This week I’ve been doing some serious thinking and planning for what’s to happen after Christmas. I’ve decided to create some stations around my music room for various times throughout the year. I asked around, and I did a little digging in storage areas, and I came up with some great stuff!

#1. A Second Computer

I already have a computer at my desk, but I wanted to set up a basic technology station. As I’ve mentioned before, my school is fairly behind the times when it comes to technology, but I’m determined to use what we have to its fullest potential, and try to find ways to get more into the school!. Anyhow. I asked around and found out that we do have some computers laying around the school that are not in use. One of the teachers helped me set it up and hook it into the school network today. Ta-Da!

#2. Listening Station

I’ve got a large stereo system in my room, but I do not have anything for concentrated, small-group listening. I’d noticed that other classes around the school had headphone hubs and 6 nice pairs of headphones, each individually controllable. Again, I asked around and found that there was one complete set – headphones and all! – just lying in storage. I got permission to use that! Then, I looked around for a second CD/Tape player that I could set up the listening station with. I found one – brand new – in the basement and got permission to use that. Listening station complete!

Now, here are two questions for all of you out there

#1. What other kinds of stations do you set up in  your music room?

#2. What software do you use with elementary students? I’m thinking audacity, notation software, I own one copy of Groovy Shapes…What else?

Please comment and let me know your thoughts!

colour-coded baskets

I’m a bit of an organizational freak. I teach 9 periods/day, and have basically no down-time whatsoever what with choir practices, meetings, duty, and now I’m helping out our awesome phys. ed teacher with gymnastics. I need to have all of my supplies and paperwork – whatever I’ll need for each class – ready first thing in the morning because I usually don’t get much time (all of you music teachers know what I’m talking about!) to eat, let alone get something ready during the day.

I’m a little bit OCD on the colour coding. Everything I do is colour-coded specifically to the grade or activity that I am involved in.  We use “Share the Music” as our main text, so I’ve colour-coded all of my grade-level things according to the colour of their textbook (i.e. grade 1 = yellow, grade 2 = red, grade 3 = green, grade 4 = purple, grade 5 = orange, & grade 6 = light blue).I’ve also got my choirs and ensembles colour coded.

Here are some of my insanities:

• I have colour-matching post-it notes, for any sheets needing to be photocopied, filed, handed back, etc.
• I write everything in my daily plan book with coloured pens matching each grade level.
• I write notes to my classes (i.e. page numbers for texts, or the to-do list for the day) on the whiteboard with a marker in their corresponding colour.
• I keep a separate binder (with a coloured label) for each grade, containing my monthly units, worksheets, lesson plans, transparencies, etc.

I know…It’s insane.That’s not even the tip of the iceberg.  However, my favourite colour-coding thing that I’ve done so far (second to my triplus fineliner coloured pens) is coloured baskets.

Late in the summer I stopped into the local dollar store to look for some classroom supplies. I found baskets of varying shapes and sizes, and in a rainbow of colours! I bought a basket in the corresponding colours to the classes that I teach. Now, when I prepare for the day (either the afternoon before or early in the morning), I simply deposit any and all supplies I might need (i.e worksheets, story book, work to hand back, art supplies, handouts, pencils (I’ve got plastic pencil cases with colour co-ordinated tops with class sets of sharpened pencils and erasers. ), etc) into the appropriate basket.  Then, when each class comes in, I just grab their basket from my shelf and voila! I have everything I need.

“I Sing!”

I have a little boy in my grade 2 class who gave me a major heart-melting-teacher moment last week. He’s the same age as the other grade 2 students, but he functions at about the same age as a 2 year old in some respects, and younger in others. I’m not sure of his diagnosis. He only began walking in the last year, and has slowly increased his vocabulary to approx. 30 words this year.

This particular class had been working on a piece called, “When Santa got Stuck in the Chimney” for the Christmas concert last week. At the end of both verses, there’s “Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!” This little boy couldn’t sing the words to the song, but he COULD do the “Achoo!” – and with gusto! He was so proud of it. Anytime he would see me at school, he would bellow out, “ACHOO!!!” and point to me. It was adorable!

On the day of the concert, his EA’s were wondering if it was really smart to include him in the concert, as he can be quite moody. He was having a good day, and I really wanted him involved. He was SO excited during the dress rehearsal, jumping up and down, smiling, and laughing. As the class was leaving the stage after their dress rehearsal, he started achoo-ing at me, and murmuring and mumbling. His EA and I were standing with him as well as another teacher, and we heard him say as clear as day “I Sing! I Sing!” – Something he’s never done before. I was so excited and happy that my eyes even welled up a little bit.

That night at the concert, he got all of the “achoo’s” exactly in the right spots

almost there

I know I’ve been ignoring my blog lately. As a musician, Christmas is probably the busiest time of year for performances. I’ve already played in 5 different concerts in the last 8 days, and I still have 4 more this week, and 3 more the week after that. Yikes!

The only one I’m truly anxious about is my first school Christmas concert which is happening the day after tomorrow. I think the kids are almost ready, and I have an amazing committee of teachers and administration at school who are going above and beyond to help decorate and get all of the logistics worked out. I’m still nervous, though. It’s a big deal! And to top things off, we had a storm day today so I’ve lost a valuable rehearsal day. I’m trying not to panic.