5 Steps to Starting the Next 6 Months of Your School Year with a Bang

Speaker 3 (00:27):

Hey there, and welcome to episode one of the Happy Music Teacher. As a music teacher, aren't you always thinking about a better way to do the same old thing? I mean, it's still the beginning of the year. You might be thinking about a new classroom management plan, a new look in your classroom, a new method of teaching, the same old thing, and the new year is really the perfect time to review what you've been doing and kind of revamp things. Think about it like you're in planning phase part two. Your students just had an extended break not too long ago, and so have you. So what better time to rethink and review and change things up just a little bit? So let's talk about the five steps that will help you continue your music teacher life the right way for the second half of the year.

(01:32)

First of all, you wanna start out this part of the year slow and easy. I like to start with something I call a fluffy lesson, a fluffy lesson, really. Now, what is a fluffy lesson? Well, that's what I call it for my students. And basically it is a fun activity that either reviews the skills that your students have already learned, or maybe it introduces something really easy in a new way and a silly way. Um, this type of lesson isn't part of a unit. It's actually something that if students are still trickling in from their break at some point, or maybe you're starting in the middle of the week or you know that you've only got two days of the week and then you're going to be going to your mea. Um, these are lessons that it's okay if somebody misses them. So that is kind of what a fluffy lesson is.

(02:27)

Now, some examples of a fluffy lesson, um, a listening lesson that reviews a skill that you're doing. Perhaps you are working on note values or maybe you are working on, um, some sort of movement, some steady b whatever. So, um, just some kind of a, a listening lesson. Um, a movement activity that just gets your students kind of back in the groove. Maybe you have a hand clap or you have, um, some sort of a movement meet and greet. Um, what about just a silly song that gets them active and moving and maybe playing some instruments or here's a favorite. Get out all of your percussion instruments, set them up in a ginormous circle and play a, uh, pop song and have your rhythm cards out. And you can just do some rhythm echoing or rhythm reading, depending on where your students are. And that is a great way to get them reviewing.

(03:34)

But also, and, and I like to play some pop music because why not, you know? Um, so that is a fluffy lesson. So that is one thing that I like to do. Now the next thing I'm gonna suggest is take it slow and easy. I don't recommend jumping in with both feet the very first couple of weeks that you are back into your school year. I think it's okay to, um, you know, kind of like ease in, I mean, don't start your choir rehearsals right away. Don't start your orff ensemble rehearsals right away. Give yourself some time to sort of revamp and, you know, get back into the groove. That is so totally okay. The next thing that I think is cool to do is to review your procedures, your transitions, your lesson structure. And the way I like to do that is during an actual lesson.

(04:35)

So if we take the example of the non pitched percussion instruments, you set them up in a circle. Um, you echo rhythms to a popular song or have them read rhythms to a popular song. And mm, by the way that works on proper instrument play, it works on steady beat, it works on rhythm skills. Um, it is a good way to introduce some instruments that they might have not gotten to play yet. And while you're doing that, you can introduce some new transitions or you can review the transitions you've been doing. For example, one of the things I like to do is when my students are moving around the circle, we'll play maybe three rhythms and then I'll do move down, move down. Everybody move down and everybody moves down in a clockwise fashion. I do not do anything but point clockwise and my students know immediately.

(05:32)

So I'll go like this, stand up, turn this way. And then we do move down, move down. Everybody move down. Now the cool thing about this is not only are you keeping their mouths active so when they sit back down, they're not talking, but you're also practicing a good transition and it is a great way to get them up and moving as well, which is kind of cool. So use it to review your transitions, introduce new transitions. Um, you can use, uh, activities to review your procedures for passing out and collecting instruments before and after the, after the activity. So like if I am sitting my students in a circle, sometimes what I like to do is I like to just start passing instruments and I'll go like this, pass it down, pass it down to the right, pass it down. Now they tend to get a little silly with it, which is totally fine, but as soon as they start talking we all stop.

(06:39)

Oh no, boys and girls, we have to sing along. So we all pass it down. Now, passing does not work well for your littles. Um, it's gonna work probably second grade up. I just walk around and pass instruments out to my littles. But second grade up you can totally like just pass instruments. They love it. They think it's fun, it's awesome. Um, so, so that's kind of a, a good one for passing and collecting. Um, you can collect the same way, pass it back, pass it back to the left, pass it back. Not only that your're reviewing your left and your right, which is always a plus plus, right? Um, you can discuss your rest position. I call it rest position. So rest position is we put our instrument on the floor, we fold our hands and our laps and that is our rest position.

(07:33)

So, um, anytime I'm talking I'm like boys and girls rest position or I might just say rest position. And um, so you can review those kinds of things too while you're doing your activity. I love to revamp things that aren't working. So that's step three. Revamp the things that aren't working and change them up. So a great process to help you with your revamping is sit down and think about the past six months and like I like to go through my outline of my activities and kind of just like take some little notes. Ooh, that worked really well, that didn't work so well. Um, this is not working. Um, this transition is not working. Um, I really liked this transition the way I was passing out instruments. Yes, that worked well, et cetera. So write down what worked, write down what didn't work. Now I know you're thinking Jeanette, I do not have time to do this, but I'm telling you, if you do this at the beginning of your second part of your year, it is going to help you so much and it is going to save you so much time.

(08:46)

So review the past six months, write down what worked, write down what didn't work, and then brainstorm ideas to change things up. Now, if you are having trouble and you need help, the best place to reach out is the happy music teacher group. We have that happy music teacher group right on Facebook and I will have in the show notes a link to the Happy Music Teacher group so you can come on and ask any questions. We are there to help you. That is my entire goal is to help you to be a happy music teacher just like I am. So that is step three, step four, review your seating charts. It is a good idea to think about who works best together and who needs a change. So, um, always at the beginning of the second half of my year, and it may not happen the first week or two because you know, kids are trickling in, you don't have everybody, et cetera.

(09:47)

So February's a really good time to review your seating chart and kind of take a look while they're in the classroom cuz I don't know about you, but I don't remember everybody's name even if they are in front of me. But definitely if they're not in front of me, I am not going to remember their name. So I kind of just take a look and I'll say to them, boys and girls, I am looking around to see who's really working well together and who might need a change to be more successful. I do not let them ask me cuz then they're like, Ooh, I need, I need to change seats. No. So, and I do know music teachers who allow a change of seats the second half of the year if you want to do that, that is awesome. But I definitely would review, um, you know, observe the student behavior those first couple of weeks back.

(10:42)

And by February you're kind of like, yeah, I know who needs to change. And I like to also discuss the possible seat changes with the classroom teacher. So, um, if you need suggestions on who works well together, that person is a great resource. Um, and then let the students know that you'll be changing their seats and not because they're in trouble, but because you know that they can be super successful in your, in your music classroom. And you know, right now they're not as successful as you want them to be in, you really want to help them. So that's kind of how I try to term that so they don't get irritated that you're changing their seat if they like their seat. Step number five, make a plan for the remainder of the year. So here are some steps to help you with that planning process.

(11:31)

And again, I know you're like, Jeanette, I do not have time to do this. I have to like just hit the ground running, but I'm gonna tell you it's going to save you time. So I like to think about what instruments I want to play. Like maybe I have a goal that I want my fifth graders to be able to play, I don't know, four or five ukulele chords. Well, by the end of the school year or maybe I have a goal that I want all of my students to be able to play the gong or to play the, we've got this really cool steel drum or whatever. So write down the instruments that you really want them to play. I also like to enlist their help. So for example, um, maybe there's something that they're dying to play. Like I have these new keyboards in my classroom that I'm still trying to learn how to do, how to teach.

(12:21)

But um, so you want them to, I've got all my stu my uh, instruments out in the classroom so that they can see them and I love to uh, give them a choice. Which instruments do you want to play? And then we write those down. So what songs do you want them to learn? Holiday themes. I know a lot of music teachers, um, only do holiday themes with their primary kids, but I love to do holiday themes with my intermediate kids too. Different kinds of activities of course. But um, so what I'll do is I will look at, I mean we've got what Black history month, we have Martin Luther King, we have President's Day, we have what else? Easter, if you're allowed to celebrate that springtime Mother's day, I mean there's all kinds of great holidays and I love to theme around that because hello, it's so easy that way.

(13:24)

Then the next thing you wanna do is you wanna look at your calendar. How many weeks do you have between now and the end of the year? Where do field trips and days off occur? Pencil in your units, in your planner. And then, um, kind of like look at, okay, is it realistic? Am I going to be able to meet these goals? And if you're not going to be able to meet these goals, let it go. Be like Elsa and let it go. These are your goals. The cool thing about being a music teacher is for the most part, no one's looking at us except on our performance days, right? So whatever you do in your classroom is your choice. And if you don't get to all of it, oh well maybe you'll get to some of it next year, right? So that is important.

(14:12)

And once you write all of that in your planner, then you have a plan. Now do you need a planner? I have a good friend, Lauren Mackenzie, who teaches with me here in my county in Shelby County, Alabama. And she has a fantastic planner to help you in your planning process. And I will link that in the show notes. Now guess what? I have a step six. I know I told you five, but there's a bonus to help you start off on the right foot with your music students. So if you've noticed that there are students that are missing, like all of your Monday students have missed two weeks in a row, or your Friday students have randomly missed because maybe you attended M MEA and then the following week there was a holiday or whatever. How do you schedule around these days? I'm going to give you some thoughts today.

(15:05)

We will plan another episode that is just around scheduling. But for today, I just wanna give you some thoughts. So if you have a couple of step lesson and your Friday kids have missed a couple of days and they haven't gotten to that lesson, but you still want them to have the skills, what I like to do is I like to skip like some of the fluffy stuff, some of the stuff that doesn't matter as much so that they still get the meat of the lesson. So you can skip some events, you wrote them, you are teaching them, you have the control, which is the best thing ever. Second, let go of any stress you may feel about your students missing your class. You can't help it. There's nothing you can do. You are doing the best you can and it is okay to be like Elsa and let it go.

(16:01)

Don't worry if students are missing your class. That is just what's happening and there is, you have no control over it. So since you have no control over it, it should not be something you worry about either. Of course, you're gonna worry that every student gets the same experience, but if you don't have control over it, it's not something that in my opinion, you need to worry about. Finally, ask yourself, what is your main goal for all all students? My main goal is that my students absolutely love every experience they have in my classroom. And when they leave to go to middle school, they join the band or the chorus. Those are my goals, period. End of story. If they go out and they know lots of rhythms and they know all of the notes on the scale, et cetera, et cetera, that is amazing.

(16:54)

But that is not my goal for them because I am realistic and I know that you are not going to be able to reach every student in the same way. So let's do a quick recap. Number one, take it slow and easy, use some fluffy lessons. Number two, take some time to review your procedures, your transitions, your lesson structure. Number three, revamp the things that didn't work and change them up. Use that process that I talked about. Number four, review your seating charts, review them with the students, review them with the classroom teacher, review them on your own. Make sure you review them and change up as needed. Number five, make a plan for the remainder of the year. I know it's gonna take a little time, but I guarantee you it's gonna save you time in the the long run and your bonus. To start off on the fr right foot, make sure that you use those thoughts that I talked about earlier. Skip some events. Let go of the stress you feel about students missing class and ask yourself, what is your main goal for all of your students. So the beginning of a new year is really the perfect time to review, restructure, revamp. Be sure to follow these easy steps and hopefully you will be a little happier and a little more peaceful in the second six months of your music teacher school year. Well that's all I have for you today. But before I go, let me remind you. Keep learning, keep growing, and keep being fabulous you!