slacker

I’m sorry I’ve been such a slacker with my blog lately! I think I’ve told you before that my job as a music teacher up to this point was only part time – we only have enough kids in the school for half a music teacher. Over Christmas vacation, I got offered a job teaching core French at another school, also part time. So now I am officially a full-time teacher (what a blessing! And in my first year! I’m so thankful!) between two schools. It’s been hectic, that’s for sure! But teaching the French classes has really been stretching me as a teacher. I teach grades 4-8 French classes there, and jr. high is new for me. I love the elementary, but I can say with certainty that I am not gifted for teaching jr. high – but I will take it as good teacher training!

On top of this, I’ve been getting masters applications ready, and will hopefully be starting some distance courses in the next couple of months…crazy! But I do promise that I will be back to the blog very soon!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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.

Oreo Cookie ABA

Today I was reviewing ABA form with my grade 2 students. We were singing our new “Welcome” song (”Everybody Sing Hello” from “Its Your Turn Again” by Cheryl Lavender”) that includes a singing together portion, an echo portion, and then the singing together portion again.

They remembered learning ABA last year with their previous teacher, but they couldn’t remember what it meant.

I wrote out a quick diagram on the board that looked something like this:

A : Everybody sing

B:  Hello (hello)

A: Everybody sing

I left out the ABA part first, and we just talked about the sections of the song. Then we labeled the first section “A” and the second section, because it was different, became, “B.” (They are quite pleased with themselves whey they decide to use “B”  for the second section, they look like they’ve just solved a mystery!) Then, we decided that since the last section was the same as the first, it could be “A” also.

I told them that ABA form reminds me of an Oreo Cookie: The beginning is a chocolate cookie, and the end is a chocolate cookie, and the middle is cream. We talked about other things that could look like “ABA” – i.e. an ice cream sandwich, a peanut butter sandwich, a hamburger, etc. Next day, we’ll be singing some more songs that will be ABA form and some that won’t be, and they will have to discern which are in ABA (or “Oreo Cookie”) form.

non-melodies for a non-reader

I  run my own private music studio a few evenings a week in my home. I have one saxophone student who was referred to me because she was having trouble reading music. She was learning all of her band parts by watching the fingers of the player sitting next to her, or just by trial and error and playing by ear. After numerous attempted remedies by the band teacher, he suggested that she get private tutoring.

I decided right after meeting her and watching him play for the first time that this was going to be a challenge. All of her music is easily recognizable and easily learned by ear. The method book wasn’t much good because it, too, was full of familiar tunes.

So. I went there. I wrote out melodies that were completely un-melodic. I know it’s so non-musical and so non-meaningful, but it’s working. We started out by only using the notes in the spaces on the treble clef staff. That Major 7th chord just doesn’t sound right to her, so as she is playing the exercises, she cannot do it by ear. She is forced to concentrate and READ. We’ve also done the same thing with the lines on the treble clef staff.

She’s getting quicker at reading the notes, and we’ve not gone to reading a mixture of line notes and space notes. She doesn’t need to write in the names of the notes anymore (a habit I quickly ended for her). She is still a bit slow at reading the notes, but she is definitely progressing. I’m moving her back into the method book now for some sight reading. I’ve also got her working on the note trainer at www.musictheory.net

Any other suggestions?

things I’ve learned

I’ve been a “real teacher” (edit: paid teacher) now for just about 2 1/2 months.  It’s time to do some reflecting! Here is a list (though nowhere near exhaustive) of some of the things I have learned so far:

1. Lesson plans are not set in stone!

This is not a new concept to me, I learned it over and over as a student teacher in different schools, but it’s something that I always need to be reminded of.

I love to plan. I like to have things in order. When that order gets messed up, I don’t like it. I have to let that go a little bit because I know that no matter how much thought I put into planning something, it sometimes just doesn’t go exactly the way I had planned. I have to change and adapt with each class, the student’s moods for the day, MY mood of the day, if there’s a substitute, the weather, etc.

The good thing, though, is that I have multiple classes in each grade, so I get a chance to teach each of my lessons more than once. By the end of the day, I’m pretty much a pro at the lessons because I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t as each class goes through.

2. Flexibility in schedule

My school is great for making sure that students don’t miss their specials when something else comes up (i.e. a guest speaker, a field trip, etc). Sometimes these things are unavoidable and cannot be rescheduled, so I actually end up with a prep period for the day (wow!) – but that is rare. I’ve learned to be flexible in moving my schedule around and allowing classes to trade music periods so that all students get their music class. It really doesn’t bother me that much, I would much rather change my schedule to fit them and still teach them, then miss a class.

3. What? I have homework for music class?

On the very rare occasion, I’ve given some small assignments in my upper elementary music classes – for example – we’re working on music portfolios in grade six. I asked my students to write a paragraph or two about what music they liked and why they liked it. I also gave them the opportunity to be more creative then that. Some students did amazing work! One student made me a video, others made collages, some made posters, CD’s, and some wrote wonderful short essays. The key word here is “SOME.” More than half of my students didn’t hand their assignment in on time, and had to be reminded over and over, notes home, etc. Some didn’t even do it at all. It was like they couldn’t get it through their heads that this was actual homework.

In grade 4, I had my students working on a note-naming worksheet. We spent a class and a half working on them, most finished their work. Those that didn’t finish were told to finish it at home. I got one back.

It’s going to take awhile to get this going. They would never pull this in their homerooms (at least, not to this magnitude!). I’m not planning on giving a whole lot of homework, but I think I’m entitled to it. I take my class, the things I teach, and their work -  seriously!

4. Choose your battles

I have a couple of students in the school who continuously give me trouble in class. I’ve learned that – for my own sanity, and for the sake of the lesson – I don’t need to react to every little misbehaviour. I don’t want to make their lives miserable, and I do only have 30 minutes in which to teach the class. So. That’s it. I need to choose my battles.

5. Ask and you shall recieve

My school is very small (<200 students), and we don’t have very much money. My music room is fairly well-resourced, but there are a few things that leave much to be desired.  I love to use Orff instruments in my teaching – I find them so much easier to manipulate, the sound is excellent, and for so many more reasons. At the beginning of the year, I only had an alto metallophone, and alto xylophone, a soprano xylophone, and 17 cheap (CHEAP!) glockenspiels. They’re the ones in the blue plastic cases with yellow plastic mallets. They do offer a complete chromatic set of bars but the sound is AWFUL, and the bars are so tiny. They are far too difficult to use for younger students.

I asked my principal about money for purchasing new instruments. She said it just wasn’t there this year, but for me to give her a list of what I would like. I did so, and she authorized me to purchase a new soprano metallophone. The bass metallophone and xylophone will have to wait, but I know it will come!

I also got permission to have a donation jar at our Christmas concert this year – I don’t think this has ever been done. We really need a new electronic piano (preferably a clavinova). I know if I keep asking, things will come.

6. Personal PD

Like I mentioned before, my school is very small and has less than 200 students. We run on a 6-day cycle, and music occurs 3 times in a 6-day cycle. I can teach the entire school – all classes – in a single day. Therefore, my position is only 50 percent of a full-time teaching position. I teach every second day for the full day. The previous music teacher taught music in the afternoons and taught grade 5 in the mornings (then another teacher took the grade 5 class in the afternoon). Enrolment was down this year, and there was no need for that extra half a position, so that’s where I am. It’s possible that they will give me more subjects in the coming years, which would be great!

Anyhow – I decided that on days that I am not teaching, I will make sure that I do something educational for myself. I subsitute teach quite a bit on those days, but on  days when I am not needed, I read other teacher blogs or books about teaching, discipline, etc. It’s been awesome! I would continue to do this even if I were teaching full-time, but as I am not, I have a lot of time to do this! It’s refreshing, interesting, and I have used lots of lessons, techniques, and ideas that I have learned.

7. Colour Coding is in

I’m an organizer – I love lists, folders, labels, everything like that. Because I teach 6 different grades and multiple classes of each grade, I desperately need to keep myself that way. Colour-coding has been the key for me. Our school uses the “Share the Music” program as the main text for music education. I use the colours of those texts to colour code everything I do in my music classes. I have coloured baskets for worksheets and assignments, my resource binders for each grade that I make are colour-coded, I even have coloured pens (buy these!) that I use to write my lessons in my plan book, to grade papers with, etc. I have post-it notes and flags that match too. I know it seems excessive, but it works for me!

8. Hand Sanitizer!!

The nearest bathroom is quite a hike from my music room, and after being on the floor, handing mallets/instruments, holding hand, etc. with the children, I desperately need to wash my hands!! I keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in my desk to blast those germs!

9. Coffee, coffee, coffee!

Just like the bathroom is a long ways away, so is the staff room. And who has time to go to the staff room anyway? I’m a bit of a caffeine addict, so I keep a coffee maker in my music room in “my” area. That way I can have hot coffee quickly, and I can also make tea when my voice isn’t doing so well. It’s saved me more than once already!

10. Hydration!

I have a 1L Nalgene water bottle (BPA-free!) that I take to school every day. I need to drink a lot of water because I’m singing all the time (plus I just like to drink water!). I can refill at the handy water fountain outside my music room as needed. I can also use it to fill my coffee maker if needed

11. Lysol!!

I keep a can of Lysol disinfectant spray and a jar of Lysol disinfectant wipes in my room. At the end of the day I try to remember to always wipe down my mallets and instruments, anything the kids and I touch or handle. I don’t want to get sick. End of story!

12. Post-it Notes

The number one life-saving thing I’ve learned about for the music room is the wonderful, beautiful invention known as the post-it note. I buy the “Super-sticky,” recycled versions. I use them all the time for to-do lists, quick notes, etc – but the best use for them that I have found is for assessment. I watch the students playing or singing or whatever I need to assess that day, and I just jot down a little note on my post-it. It’s simple quick, and much less threatening than to the students then writing in a big mark-book or binder!

I’m sure this list will change and grow (exponentially, I’m sure!) over the next little while, and over the years