and breathe…

This past week has been hectic, to say the least. The phys. ed. teacher and I put on a full day of activities this past Monday. We did 14 activity stations in the morning and our talent show in the afternoon. I am SO pleased with how the day went. We worked so hard to make it run smoothly and efficiently – and with the help of our awesome staff – it went without a hitch!

I have to say, I am so impressed at the response to the talent show. In previous years, so I’ve heard, students were really not that interested. Well this year they certainly were! We auditioned over 70 acts (in a school of 170 students, that’s pretty great!). We ended up showing about 33 acts that featured over 75 students in our talent show – singing, dancing, stand-up comedy, gymnastics, piano, karate…and so much more! It was such an amazing show of the diverse talent and skill we have in our school!

Now we are down to 6 school days…Can’t believe it! My first year has just melted away. Now I’ve got to think about packing and cleaning….and planning for next year!

i’ve been a bad blogger

I’ve been a very selfish blogger over the last few months. I’ve been religiously reading all of the blogs that I follow, but I have not been keeping up with my own blogging! I miss it!

With the school year slowly winding down (can you believe it’s already April!?), there’s still so much left to do! I can’t believe that there are only 3 months left in my first year as a teacher! I’ve still got many things to do, and events to look forward to! I’m preparing my primary and elementary choirs for their music festival next month. We’ll be celebrating “Music Monday” on May 4, 2009 – really excited about that! 

One thing about living in eastern Canada, though, is that we get a LOT of snow. Just last week we got dumped on with over 25 centimeters of snow! We thought that winter was over, but I guess winter just wanted one last blow! We’ve missed 11 school days due to snow and stormy weather this winter and spring, and more often than not, those storm days ended up being on my choir days! Due to my schedule (working alternating days between two schools), and the very active extra-curriculars in both schools, I cannot reschedule a missed choir practice. It’s so frustrating! The kids are so far behind on their music festival material. I think we will make it, and the kids are determined, but it will be interesting, that’s for sure!

The comforting fact is that every other school in my province has had the same thing happen to them. They may have a little more flexibility in terms of rescheduling rehearsals, but the time has still been missed. I may have to call a few after school rehearsals soon, but with sports already taking up most of that time, it’s hard to say if it would be a beneficial thing to do.

tales from the playground…

Last week I was on outdoor duty. I witnessed a little girl in grade 1 chasing a little boy in grade 3. It was funny enough watching him try to evade her, but what made it all that much better was her shouting, “Don’t worry, R.C., I don’t need to catch you. You’re my boyfriend now whether you like it or not!”

“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

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

Field Trips and Halloween

Today was my first time being in charge of a field trip! I took my elementary choir (grade 4,5, and 6) to record a track on the Children’s Wish Foundation Christmas CD. It’s pretty exciting for them – all of the schools in this area will each record a track and then the CD will be sold. The funds raised from the CD sales will go towards granting the wish of a terminally or seriously ill child. Local radio stations will also play the CD during the month of December. It was exciting for me!

On another note – has anyone ever done anything really fun and music-related for Halloween? I’ve been asked to do a station in our school’s Halloween activity day later in the month. I’m super excited about it – I’m thinking about something will scary sound effects…composing “halloween”-y music…I’m not really sure. Any suggestions?

Success!

My grade one music class is EXTREMELY chatty – they always have a story to tell! With only a 30 minute class, it makes it hard for the students to talk to me. It’s been all business. They come in, we do our thing, and then I have to shoo them out quickly because I have another class coming in right after them. If I let them, they would definitely use all thirty minutes (and then some!) to tell me their stories.

I’ve been overwhelmed with all of the stories – I’d be in the middle of a lesson and 3 hands would go up with comments having nothing to do with the lesson.

Today I tried a new strategy. I got the students in the room, we sang our welcome song, and then we got into a circle formation (using the song, “Let’s Make a Circle”). Then, I told the students that we had 3 minutes for story time. They could raise their hand and tell Miss Gallant whatever they needed to say. And then, the rest of the music class would be for music things only. I can’t believe it, but it made complete sense to them, and they loved it! I also loved the social/bonding time with them – because of time constraints, I rarely have the chance to just talk with them and hear about their lives outside of music class.

Funny story for today – I had a student submit an assignment that I’d given out (what kind of music do you like and why) – and this particular student said that he liked rock music, more specifically, AC/DC, becasuse his best friends older brother is in the band