From Train Wreck to Rock Star Music Teacher

Speaker 1 (00:48):

So I was sitting in the middle of my classroom, my ginormous beautiful classroom surrounded by second graders who were talking and talking and talking and talking and laughing and shouting and doing everything they could to misbehave. And I literally sat down and put my head in my hands and I didn't even know where to go from there. This happened my first year teaching. You may not know this about me, but when I started teaching, I came in what I like to call the back door. So I had a lot of music credits, but I did not actually have my music certification or even a music degree at that point. I only had some classes and I had not done a student teaching experience. I mean, I came in so green and so just unprepared. It was ridiculous. And I knew a lot about what I wanted to teach, but, well, that's not really true either.

(01:55)

I really didn't have a clue what I wanted to teach, how I wanted to teach it. And most of all, I had no idea what to do as far as behavior management. Well, that was the day that I decided seven and eight year old children were not going to ruin my day and they had truly ruined my day every single time they came into my classroom. I am going to tell you that this class had at least seven or probably eight students who had some major behavior challenges. So there was that, but there was also me who at this point in my career would have them just sitting with their little hands in their little laps at this point in my career, within about, I kid you not 30 seconds. That's true fact. But at this time I literally knew nothing about teaching as as far as behavior management or anything else.

(03:03)

But I knew I wanted to do it and I knew I wanted to do it well. So I am not a person who's going to complain, complain, complain, and never do anything about it. In my opinion. If you are going to complain, complain, complain, and never do anything about it, then don't complain about it. Because not doing anything about a problem, it is not going to fix itself. And I am nothing if not a problem solver. That is something that I have spent my entire life doing is solving problems. And now I'd like to help you solve your problems. So this experience completely changed my life. It changed the way I looked at teaching. It changed the way I looked at behavior management and I began immediately to research how and why and what and all the things that I needed to do because I knew that if I didn't change the way I was handling behavior, my students were never going to learn anything and my passion was teaching them music.

(04:10)

I knew things needed to change and I knew they needed to change right away. And I am not a person who is going to allow myself to be frazzled or overwhelmed or upset for very long before I do something about it. That's just my personality. I am all about being happy. So above all things, I am going to make myself happy in any way that I can, of course, without damaging anyone else because that would make me very unhappy. So the first thing I did is I went to Harry Wong, the first days of school, how to be an effective teacher. Now this tells you how old I am and um, I we're, we're not even gonna go there cuz this is a second career. Do the math. I was in another career for eight years and then three years as a stay-at-home mom. And then I started teaching and I've been teaching for 24 years.

(05:11)

So yes, I'm definitely on the over 50 side. At any rate, the first thing I did was read that book and it legit changed my life because he talks about how to structure, how to handle things, how to, um, just, just anything you can possibly imagine having to do with behavior management. And I would say to you that most of what he talks about is still applicable today, applicable <laugh>. Um, anyway, it's still applicable today. So the second thing I did is I did a lot of teacher observation. I looked at those teachers who I really respected and admired. I looked at the way that they talked to their students, I looked at the way that they interact with their students and I just modeled my teaching after them. So one of the things that I learned right away was that positive reinforcement is a big deal for all students.

(06:17)

I used to think it was just for littles. And now I've been watching the teachers where I teach currently, which is all fourth and fifth graders, and I watch the way they positively reinforce their students and the way that they talk to them. And believe it or not, they talk to their students exactly the same way as the kindergarten and first grade teachers did at the first school I taught at. Now that is not to say that you're gonna talk in, you know, your wee little voices and um, and you know, teach exactly the same way, but the basic methods are the same. So I watched those teachers, I listened to those teachers and I modeled my teaching after them, especially my behavior management. The final thing that I did, well, not really the final thing, but let's say that the third big thing that I did was I used trial and error.

Speaker 4 (07:15):

So what I mean by that is, for example, one of the things that happened to me all the time when I was first teaching is you know how you'll give those directions and you'll be like, boys and girls, I want you to stand up and I want you to this and I want you to that. Well, what would happen is as soon as I said, I want you to stand up, everybody was standing up. I mean, you know how that goes. So I was saying things backwards. So I had to learn through trial and error that the way I gave my directions really, really mattered. The way that I phrased things and the way that I said things and the order that I said them in really mattered. So what I started doing is I would say, boys and girls, in a moment I'd like you to stand up, do this, do this, do this. Now I only give three directions at a time at the most. And if it's my wee little ones, I will do it like this. Boys and girls, I'd like you to stand up and they stand up. Then I'll say, boys and girls, I'd like you to put on your dance bubbles. And they put on their dance bubbles, boys and girls. Now I'd like you to find your own personal space around the room. So that is the way I do that.

Speaker 1 (08:33):

So those are the three things that, the big things that really change my life. Harry Wong observing other teachers and using trial and error. And there were times, and there still are times I did a Facebook Live about this just today at the time of this recording, where I will stop a lesson and say, Hmm, this is not working. And I will tell my boys and girls, this isn't working. And then I'll say to them, boys and girls, what is it you don't like about this lesson? Or what is it you're not understanding about this lesson? And then we will go and do it in a completely different way or sometimes we'll scrap it and we'll do something else. I have been known to do that as well because again, I am wanting to keep things happy in my classroom. I want my students to be happy.

(09:27)

I want to be happy myself. I want it to be a positive experience for everyone. And if it's a positive experience for you but not your students, which probably that's not happening. But if it is, then that's not really a positive experience. If it's a positive experience for your students but not for you, then it's definitely not a positive experience. And if your students are having recess in your class, they're having a really good time, but you're not. So that's kind of an example of what I mean. So what happened next? What happened next is I continued through trial and error and I developed as a teacher, I developed my behavior management, I developed my systems, I developed my structure, and I began to realize that having a structure in my classroom was a really big deal and having a step-by-step process that I could follow was a really big deal.

(10:31)

And for me that was difficult. I am the big picture thinker. I am not the detail thinker. So I needed a lot of help with that. So I asked everybody I could think of for help and that's okay to do. I know Bryson, that music teacher who I'm hoping at some point when I start doing interviews, I can get, get him on my show and interview him, but he calls it Music Teacher Island. And I so resonated with that phrase that I was like, I'm gonna call it Music Teacher Island too. So we are on Music Teacher Island and it's so important to reach out and ask for help because you know what? We need help. And even if it's just talking through an idea you have or talking about a situation that happened that day or whatever it happens to be, we do not want to be on Music Teacher Island.

(11:29)

We want help, we want mentors, we want guidance, we want people that we can just, you know, just complain to, oh my gosh, I just had the most horrible day. Somebody that's going to understand. And by the way, while we're talking about being on Music Teacher Island, if you are not yet a part of the Music Teacher group, which is my private Facebook group, all you have do is go to my show notes and I will have a link for that. So be sure to do that. You could also just go to Facebook and search for the music teacher group and I will come up, you'll see me, I'm full of bright, bright colors, pinks and turquoises and purples and yellows. So those are all my, um, my branding colors. Anyway, so that's what happened next is I went through and I just continued to learn and continued to grow and asked as many questions as I could.

(12:24)

And by the way, even though classroom teachers are not music teachers, they're educators. And in my opinion, if you're an educator, you can teach anything and you can learn from any educator. Even I have learned the most amazing things from educators that are first year teachers, second year teachers. It does not matter how long you've been teaching. If you can teach, you can teach and you can teach anything. So that's what happened next. Now, what you're going to get from this podcast, because this will be the very first I'm calling this my prequel episode, and I just want you to know what you're gonna get. So you're gonna get tips on how to shift your mindset and try to always be happy even in the face of adversity, even in the face of kids who are using your classes. Recess, even in the face of an administrator who might not be treating you the way you want to be treated, even in the face of colleagues who are doing things that you don't like or, or talking to you in a way that you don't like, whatever's going on in your life, in your music teacher life.

(13:38)

I want to be there to help you shift your mindset so that no matter what happens, you will always be happy in your classroom and outside of your classroom as well. Because let's face it, if your music teacher life is going well, your personal life is going to go better as a result. Second thing, I'm gonna be adding lots of tips and tricks to add storybook lessons to your classroom because if you've just discovered me, you don't know this about me, but I am the stories that sing lady. And I am super excited to help you add story books to your classroom, not only to teach music skills, but also to seamlessly teach reading skills in just a teeny tiny little bit of time. I'm also gonna share with you tips and ideas to add Happy to your music classroom every single time a student steps through your door. And finally, I'm going to give you some tips on how to add classroom structure and management to create a peaceful, harmonious, and balanced environment at all times.

Speaker 4 (14:48):

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.