Teaching music can be awesome! After all, we get to be the fun class. Of course this has its good and bad aspects. Today, let’s focus on the great parts of being the class that your kiddos look forward to. Here are some of the wonderful reasons you love being a music teacher:
- For the most part, you get to design and plan your own units.
- You run the show. No one is really looking over your shoulder and telling you how to pace your lessons or what to add.
- Your kiddos are excited to come to your class
- Music is the universal language, so your english language learners and your students who struggle academically can participate and feel successful
- You get to sing, dance, and play instruments together with your students
- You get to hear those adorable voices raise in song (even if they are a little off key)
I know what you’re thinking teacher. But the schedule… Yes, I’m with you. I know how difficult your schedule is. I know you are in performance mode at all times. You’re a one-person band on your own island with no life preserver. You teach double classes, 10 classes a day with no break to even go potty. Your classes are an hour long with kindergarten or 20-30 minutes. Your classes are back to back with not a minute to take notes about what’s happened or to talk to the teacher about behavior that occurred. You have hall duty and bus duty and car pool or cafeteria duty. You have choir and Orff group; drum ensemble and private lessons before or after school.
I’ve been there too. That’s why today I’m going to share a couple of tips to help you keep all the things together in your music teacher life.
- Google apps are your best friend. If your school system is not using Google, I recommend signing up with a personal account so you can use some of the following apps. They are highly interactive, and once you share a doc, sheet, or slide show with your students or a colleague, they can add their own ideas in real time.
- A Virtual Classroom is great for connectivity. I use Google Classroom. If you don’t have Google in your school system, I recommend building a virtual classroom. Here is a link with good instructions on how to create one. I use this classroom to connect with my students. I post my PowerPoints here, give them music suggestions, connect them with the storybooks and YouTube videos I use throughout the year. This is where they can ask me questions and where I can give them directions. This is also where I post links that we use during class for digital games and activities. I send the code to my teachers at the beginning of the year, and my students join the classroom.
- Google Classroom/Virtual Classroom also works well for your choir or other performing groups. You can use this classroom to post your music, your calendar, and make announcements. You can invite your performers and their parents to be a part of this classroom.
- When students are signing up for one of your performing groups, send a Google Form to the classroom teachers, requesting that they send it to the parents of their students. The form should include all of the details you want to have for each student (student first name, student last name, student school email address, parent name(s), parent email address, parent cell phone number, teacher name). Once parents have filled out this form, you can then create a spreadsheet with all the info you’ll need for the year. Pretty cool right??!
- If you have more than 1 class per grade level, you’re probably always asking your classes what they did last week. At least that’s what I always had to do. One day I had a brainstorm. Why not write notes for each class?? So that’s what I did. Below is an image of the Google Sheet I use to keep track of what each class is doing from week to week. I have each teacher’s name in the far left column but did not share that column in the interest of anonymity.
- Instrument and equipment set up can be terrifying. Do you spend time setting and resetting during your day? Is kindergarten using one type of instrument, while 5th grade is using something completely different? Or maybe 3rd grade isn’t even using instruments. My number one rule when dealing with instruments is Keep It Simple. You are in charge, so you can make it difficult, or you can make it easy. Here are some strategies I use when dealing with instruments in my classroom:
- Use the same instruments for everyone. If at all possible, everyone gets to play the same instruments each week. Set them up once, and don’t clean them up until the end of the week. You are in charge of your plans, so plan activities that make life easy.
- Enlist student help. Grab a couple of big kids before your first class starts, and let them help you pass out instruments. They so LOVE to help (too bad that doesn’t extend to home, right?). You can also allow your students to set up and clean up at the end of their class.
- Have your big kid and little kid instruments out and ready. Set up two different instruments, and just tell your kiddos to pick up the instrument you’re using that day.
- Put a seat sac over your chairs with your instruments and equipment already included. You can put all the supplies your students need in their sac and just tell them to take out what they need.
- Become tech-savvy. I know it can be scary to try something new, but if you are old-school (using CD’s or your iPod for music), it’s time to investigate some other possibilities.
- Invest in digital music. All of the major music distributors (J.W. Pepper, Music K-8) now have the option for digital downloads. Keeping all of your music on your computer saves more time than you might imagine, and it also eliminates the need to look for the accompaniment tracks for that show you did three years ago.
- Use the amazing digital instrument options that are available. MusicPlay Online has all the classroom instruments you could possibly imagine on their site, just waiting for your students to play them. You can also find other digital instrument options by simply searching for them.
- Look up the lyrics to your music online and copy and paste it into a Word or Google Doc. You would be amazed how much is out there.
- Use YouTube for your accompaniment. Again, you will be amazed at how much is out there. Before I contact an accompanist, I search YouTube for accompaniment or karaoke versions of the music I’m using in my classroom and for my choir. It’s fast and easy
- Get some help from parents or responsible big kids
- Type your lyrics
- Organize your choir list
- Put music in your choir folders
- Delete your emails once you’ve read them, and organize the ones you need to save. Having thousands of emails can be overwhelming and time consuming. How do you find that important email your principal sent at the beginning of the month?? Did you know that you can create folders in your email account to store and organize your important emails? You can even color code them. Here’s a link to a great article about all things email organization.
Teacher, you are busy. You are overwhelmed. Your schedule is crazy. Try your best to make your life a little easier. I know other music teachers would love to hear how you organize your life and how you make your life easier. Join my private Facebook group so you can join in our conversation, share tips, and just have a place to connect with other music teachers.