The Beginning

Well, it's official... my students have tweeted about me. I know this not because I follow them on Twitter (because I don't), but because other students tell me about what they said (no worries, it's all good.... at least the tweets that they tell me about are good). I take this as the surest possible sign of success :)

 In reality, I live for those four periods a day where I can stand in front of my girls and discuss with them what my expectations are, both musically and behaviorally. I love building my little communities of dedicated musicians and watching them begin to invest in this group and music overall. I love hearing their voices and being inspired by their enthusiasm, already getting ideas of where to go next. I love when they talk to me after class about whatever is going on in their lives because after two days, we've already begun to trust each other.

Today, after outlining my classroom goals (as stated in "Getting Oriented") and rules (Do what's RIGHT!) I asked them to do two things: 1) write a note to themselves about their choir goals and put it in a sealed envelope to open at the end of the year; and 2) write to me what we need to be successful in choir (expectations/rules) and what they hope to get out of choir this year (personal goals). I plan to print out key words and post them around my posters. Here are my favorite things they said (in their words):

Expectations: Complement people as much as we can, be more strict on myself, include everyone, emotionally be ready to sing, to be able to go out of our comfort zone to sing, give others chances, be a leader, no snide comments about classmates!, listen to other students, to not interrupt to go to the bathroom, don't give up if you don't sing well or make a mistake, don't laugh at other people singing, give 110%, save gum for after choir, don't stop when it gets difficult or when I mess up, laughter is always good, try your best even if your day hasn't gone well, try to grow as a choir family, include others in small groups, invest

Goals: AMAZING concerts!, I want to become a better singer and not be shy about singing alone in front of people, be better counter, master handsigns, overcome stage fright, get to know Ms. Purscell better, Sing Loud Be Proud, have fun! :], have a good sound as a whole, try out and maybe get into Opus, sing as a community, to improve my voice even though I am really good now, sing more smoothly and with more vibrato, to be comfortable singing in front of peers and Ms. P., have a better head voice, make looooooong vowels, do the scale do re mi fa sol, be myself, make my voice better and be a leader

And my personal favorites--Side notes to Ms. Purscell: Ps. I like your shoes; PS: I am very scared to sing by myself in front of everyone, but I will do it if you ask, p.s. You seem really nice

6th grade at Creek has been a completely different beast. The first day was a little rough and felt really slow, like we didn't accomplish anything. However, after looking at my plans for that day, I realized we got through everything I planned to do... it just felt like it took forever. 103 side conversations add up quickly....

...which is what I kept reminding them today whenever noise got out of hand! They got quicker at focusing front each time I said it. I don't know if it was the fact that I was more prepared/organized today or if it was because it was a different group, but today's group felt much easier to teach. I'm determined to make sixth grade choir my favorite.

Anyway, it's a good thing I like my job... because so far I'm not so in love with living in Cedar Rapids. I keep reminding myself some wise words I was once told: "It takes time to make new best friends." Oh well, all will be better once I get my cat :)

Getting Oriented

I love teaching.

Sometimes I forget that... like when I have to sit in whole days of meetings for things that may or may not actually apply to what I teach and how I teach it. What I keep reminding myself is that it will all be worth it when I am finally in front of a class leading rehearsals inspired by the music and the students. It feels like I have been waiting for years to finally have my own classroom, and now I have two.

6th Grade

My sixth grade room is a little on the old (read: gross) side.... we're working on the mildew smell. I snazzed it up a bit with some posters, borders, a word wall, and decorations from West Music (woot!). There are two (non-musical) challenges that I have set for myself in this room: 1) Making the logistics of dealing with 100 sixth graders (and their backpacks...) slick as butter, and 2) Making the building leadership realize that choir is a legit class with legit learning goals and deserves to have room to grow with the growing district. Simple, right?

Wrong. So here are my plans. 1) As far a logistics, I am going to be the queen of structure. We don't have chairs in the room, so I'm making the best of it. The kids will be color-coded by neighborhood (a nickname for homeroom) and given individual name cards placed in their assigned spot. Each neighborhood will be assigned a place to put backpacks, either in the empty storage room or in the back of the room where there used to be closets. I'm hoping to use some booster money to get an individual voice-amplification device to use so I won't have to wear out my vocal mechanism instructing one hundred kids, but that will probably come later. I am determined to never yell--partially because it hurts my instrument, partially because it's mean and useless, and partially because it's simply out of character. Instead, I will non-verbally use my "Noise Level Thermometer" marked with dynamics (See what I did there? Eh, eh? Practical use of vocab!) and verbally use "If you can hear my voice clap twice..." Of course I will give them opportunities to shake their sillies out, but I'm hoping to give them a taste of what choir really is so they will have the skills to be successful choral singers in middle school and beyond.

2) *Raising right hand in the air* I promise not to let my fiery passion for music education get me worked up in situations where I have to advocate for it. I promise to, instead, be a clear communicator about its importance for our students' educations. I also swear I will be a good listener about the needs of the school and district.

I was warned about this in the ivory tower--not everyone will understand how important music is to a well-rounded education. I just wasn't prepared for how it would feel to have it aimed at me personally..... twice. No gory details needed, but I've thought a lot about how I handled it each time (polar opposites--once I complied a little too much, the other I lost my cool) and have started to create a plan for the future. First of all, I am going to be as visible as humanly possible. I am going to be in and out of the office, sending invitations to concerts, showing up for sporting events (the horror!), and whatever else I imagine up. Next, I'm going to make my learning goals as visible as humanly possible. Some are already posted inside my classroom (The students will... 1. Sing healthfully and artistically, 2. Read music notation using handsign solfege, 3. Understand different styles, eras, and genres of music, and 4. Grow as a community of musicians). I am also going to put the nine national standards (maybe how they connect to various songs?) in concert programs. Finally, I will never, never, not ever poorly handle the questioning of the importance of my profession again. I will calmly and respectfully inform the various people in question that choir is indeed curricular for a reason and deserves to be treated as such....

I love teaching.
I love teaching.
I love teaching.

(More on my other room/building later)