Wandering

“All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

I often feel like I'm wandering... especially on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Why? Because my position necessitates that I travel to another school to teach. I know that many of my fellow music educators have to do the same to scrape up enough classes and hours to make ends meet. I am the only teacher at my primary school, but I pick up 7 30-minute classes at a nearby school. I teach three sections of third grade, three sections of second grade, and one section of third grade. On I start and end the day at one school, and spend the middle of the day at another. Don't get me wrong - I am THANKFUL for my job, extra kids to love on, and the ability to work alongside a fabulous, experienced music teacher; however, it's been a challenge trying to find a way to make my lessons at the second school equally as effective for the kids and for myself.  Many of my fellow wanderers don't have a "home base," or have to teach in classrooms instead of a designated music room... all positions come with their own challenges, but some  require a bit more creativity and thinking than others.

Here are three of my favorite lessons and ideas for the traveling teacher (but not exclusive to a traveler!)

1. They like to... move it!

    The less I have to travel with... the better! My go to activities, especially for the kindergarteners, are all about movement.  I have recently been acquainted with Dalcroze "Quick Reaction" exercises. The students have to listen for music/rhythmic/phrase cues and respond by altering their movements. For example: I may play high, legato sounds, and the students will pretend to be ice skating. Then I may switch to an upbeat boom-chick sort of sound, and the students will pretend that they are having a friendly snowball fight with their neighbor. Then I would play a low tremolo and they would have to shiver to stay warm.  After the students get used to the sounds, the teacher can vary the order in which they are played, and the length that each sound is played. The students will be moving, and focused.  This activity can be done with recordings, piano (the black keys are your friends!) or temple blocks. Any way that you can provide a variety of sounds will work!

             Modification for a traditional classroom with desks:  rather than locomotor movement - the students can still respond to sound cues with non-locomotor movements or body percussion. 

2. The less set-up time, the better

   I don't want to deprive my students the opportunity to play larger instruments like xylophones, and drums... but I try to only involve one or two instruments to eliminate set up time. I often get into the room minutes before the class starts, and I don't have the opportunity to set up beforehand. With only 30 minute classes... I have to maximize on giving the students as much time to play and learn as I possibly can. So one day, I thought to myself - what's an instrument that provides a variety of sounds, is portable, and won't drive the teacher insane? Two answers. The first is body percussion. It requires nothing but students. I know that I often forget that body percussion is a viable option for things other than attention grabbing. The second is rhythm sticks. I keep mine in a basket that I can easily take back and forth between schools. It's wide enough that several kids can quickly grab sticks at the same time, and easy enough to carry that students can be the ones to pass them out. Both of these options offer a variety of sounds, without needing a closet full of diverse instruments.

3. How to travel

    There are an endless number of ways that supplies can be transferred from space to space. Just like with flying, each teacher will have to find the one piece of "luggage" that works for them. Do you prefer something with wheels? Would you rather have one bag with a ton of pockets? Do you need something with firm sides so that you can keep your instruments from moving around? Here are some of the options that I use depending on my need for that day.

Buckets. There were 4 buckets left in my room from a previous teacher, and I have used them all year to tote instruments back and forth. What I like MOST about the buckets is that they are sturdy, which means that as I'm driving, the things inside of my bucket do not shift around. I'm not a crazy driver... but the bucket sits on the floor behind the front seats, it doesn't fall over, and my tetris - locked instruments stay exactly as I placed them. Bonus! If you have a papers that need to come too, they can sit along the sides, and won't get crumpled in a bag!

Reusable grocery bags/laundry bags. Easier if you have things that can roll around or be squished, and you need to carry a lot of things on your arms.  This is ideal for boomwhackers, (the laundry bags are the right size for those!!) scarves, books, rhythm sticks, and other small percussion instruments that are not easily damaged.

Rolling carts. I often borrow one from our front office whenever I need instruments or larger items moved from my room to another locations. If I needed to travel between rooms regularly, I would choose the Mac Sports Collapsible Folding Utility wagon. It is collapsible (and can be easily stored,) has wheels, and is wide instead of tall, which could be perfect for xylophones. 

Plastic Tubs. I am a major proponent of the "sub tub." I have a plastic bin where I keep file folders organized by grade. This is a great way to carry papers, worksheets, movies, books, pencils, crayons, etc. ALL AT THE SAME TIME! When I travel on Mondays, I see several different grades, so if I need to carry different materials, I don't want them to get mixed together. Keeping them separated by tabs helps to keep myself organized

4. Assessment.

    Yuck. I have not met a music teacher who doesn't roll their eyes when they hear this word. We may see hundreds of students a week, and when you give an assessment to one class... you typically give it to all of the classes in that grade. If anyone else is like me... sometimes the grading can stack up, the papers can pile up, and the daunting task of getting them all graded and passed back can be an unfortunate process. Here are two options that are great for traveling and stationary teachers alike to minimize papers, time for grading, and stress on the kids.

• Dry Erase Boards.  We just got these beautiful boards that are blank on one side, and have 3 sets of staves on the back. Students can write an answer, "chin your board" (or hold up your board,) erase, and move on. They are great for individual answers, group answers, and partner work. I love the activity hand up, stand up, quiz, quiz trade - and it's SO easy with dry erase boards! Save the planet while you are assessing by eliminating the need for tons of copies.
• Plickers. If you have not yet experienced the brilliance that is plickers... head over to www.plickers.com and check it out.  Pluckers are like QR codes, or unique images that an iPad or tablet can recognize and read.  Students read questions on the smart board or from a projector, then they choose the correct answer in multiple choice form, or true false. They turn their plicker image to the side labeled with the correct letter, A,B,C, or D, and then the teacher can scan the room with his or her tablet, which will pull all of the students' answers in. Major plus? it will do the grading for you. 

Are you a traveling teacher? What does your week of wandering look like? Do you have any go-to lessons or activities that make the wandering a little less burdensome? Thanks for sharing your common times!

Memoirs of a First Year Teacher

     The countdown in my planner tells me that there are 37 days of teaching left until my first year as a teacher has been completed. In some ways, I feel as if this year has flown by. In other ways, it has felt like an eternity. I feel like I've really reached the point in the year where I'm facing the consequences for things I could have done better at the beginning of the year. My recent mantra has been "being a first year teacher is all about learning what to do, and what not to do again next year." Its much easier to recognize things that will go in the latter category, and harder to see the good procedures and habits that have become part of every day routines. Here are some of the major things that fall into both categories for me:

What to do:

• Learn names, and actually be brave enough to call a student by name. There's nothing that will engrain their actual name in your mind than by calling them by the wrong one...
• Write a lesson plan. Every. single. time. I need to see things written on paper. Every time I tried to "wing" a lesson, or go with a plan that I didn't write down, I was faced with one of the following issues: too much time left over, not enough time, poor transitions between activities, forgotten components of lessons.
• Enforce the rules that you put in place. Are kindergarteners cute? yes. Does that mean that the excuse "I don't know... my foot just got there," is an acceptable answer for kicking an instrument? no. 
• Laugh! Enjoy being with your students. Let them know that you are a real person, and not some automated cyborg intended for delivering curriculum.
• Keep your classroom organized. I thought that I had a hard time finding out remote for the Tv... that's NOTHING compared to trying to find the smart board remote. 
• Assess as you go. Document what's going on as you observe an activity. Through the use of the program iDoceo , I have easy access to monitoring a student's progress. Assessments should not always (or often...) be a written test. You will get a better understanding of a student's ability in a candid, and low-stress setting. For me the documentation isn't so much for my record book as it is for me to better understand myself as a teacher. What am I doing well? what do I need to teach more thoroughly? who can I help that may be slipping through the cracks quietly, and unnoticed?
• Be the boss (for lack of a better word) in the classroom... but cultivate positive relationships outside of the students' specials time. One of the things that I feel has been my biggest success this year was developing a relationship with some particularly challenging students. In my classroom, there is no acceptable time to break a rule. Therefore, I enforce my rules as often as I can through the use of strikes. As a new teacher, I understand that I'm being tested. My school has gone through music teachers like some people go through socks. Music hasn't been a priority for these kids, and since the music teachers always leave... why bother paying attention to them? Although students have to face consequences in my classroom... that doesn't mean that I ignore them, or bring any frustration into my casual interactions with them in the hall or before and after school. I was intentional about helping with parent pick-up in the afternoons (even though it's not my assigned duty) so that I could talk to kids while they waited. It was through conversations about the students' interests that we could come to a better understanding and that I could develop a rapport with the students. Showing concern for a student waiting for the nurse, or praising a student for a project displayed in the hallway showed that I noticed the student for who they are outside of my classroom.

What NOT to do:

• Leave behavior undocumented. I have a three-strikes-you're-out policy in my room. First semester, I would casually throw out strikes like I was tossing candy... but I wouldn't do anything about them except enforce my procedure of 1. warning, 2. sit out, 3. call for backup. I found that there were some circumstances that called for more than 1 strike... but didn't really need backup. When I went to put in grades at the end of the semester... I was at a loss! I had no way of justifying why I gave students a lower behavior grade because I had not documented the strikes to watch the trend of when things had become a problem or a habit for a student. Second semester, I kept a strike book where I kept dates and tally marks next to a student's name. I can visually see the trends and make adjustments for a happier classroom.
• Offer frequent class rewards for good behavior. At this point, the students can earn points during class. Every 10 points they have a reward.This was GREAT at first... but now, I'm out of ideas for rewards AND the rewards happen too frequently. I'm not as consistent with giving points (or taking them away) as I should be, because I don't have an idea for their next reward. Newt year, I will spread it out so that there's more to look forward to, and I don't run out of my stash of ideas as quickly.
• Talk so much during choir rehearsal. I tend to ramble and repeat myself. Some weeks, I spend more time on announcements and questions than I do on rehearsing... which is NOT productive. 
• Wear heals on concert day. My feet hurt after a normal day of teaching when I wear heels... why would I think that it would be any different on an even longer day???
• Make assumptions about substitute teacher's ability in music,  or familiarity with my classroom. There was a day when I was expecting one sub, and last minute had a different one. Sub plans need to be thorough, as if it's a new sub who has never been in your room before. 
• Teach standard-by-standard. This is where I'm really facing consequences for this year. At the beginning of the year, I started with a pacing guide, but I struggled to implement my ideas, program repertoire, and personal song/activity choices. I had a hard time substituting things in and out while knowing what standards or focuses I needed to have. Then i started focusing on one standard at a time. Now, I'm stuck with the leftover standards, which all seem to be things that I could have easily tied into a different activity. Next year I will structure different things around themes (genres, composers, time periods, etc.) and pull in specific standards that can be incorporated into a theme. I think that things will flow more smoothly, and allow more opportunity for me to incorporate other songs and games without seeming like such a break from the norm. 

All in all, there are probably more lessons that I will toss to the side than there are lessons that I'm itching to teach again. This has been an incredible year, and I'm not wishing for time to fly by any faster... but I am ready to start a year over. To implement procedures and routines in a more constructive way so that I can maximize on the 30 minutes that I get to see my students. I feel so proud of all of the things that I've accomplished this year, and I'm amazed at how well my first year of teaching has gone.

Common Time: What are some things that you have kept from your very first year of teaching? What are some things that you knew right away you would never use again?