Adapting the Learnings from Year One: Assessing My Knowledge

One of my college roommates wrote a lot of academic papers during undergrad and grad school and it seemed like his profound and insightful writing always had a title with a colon in it.  I figured it might add credibility to my blog if I tried it too.

anyway...

My district has a comprehensive induction (new teacher) program that takes us through our first 4 years in the district - aka until we get tenure.  We attend monthly meetings about best practices, technology, the new evaluation model, etc.  The program started with 2 days of meetings for the 25 newly hired teachers - a lot for a little district! During these meetings, I went between feeling lucky that I knew a lot of the information already and feeling lost and overwhelmed.  I've been reflecting on that as I prepare for the students to come to school tomorrow and I think it's revealed interesting things worth sharing.  Hopefully you, my loyal readers, can get something from this post as well.  

While we were hearing an overview of the new observation and evaluation model (which hasn't been used in the district yet so the administrators have questions about it too), I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on it and wasn't stressed out like some of my colleagues.  Maybe it's because I already heard all of the freaking out in my last district? But when it was time to discuss curriculum, that's when my anxiety started to come into play.  I have no set curriculum for any of my classes which is definitely a blessing and a curse.  Blessing - I get to pick what I do every step of the way in my general music class and in ensembles.  Curse - I have to figure out everything for my general music class soon! This mixture of questioning and confidence (actually "Questioning and Confidence" would have made a good blog title...) kind of makes me feel good.  As a musician, I am inherently critical of myself because I've had to be for my entire musical life - always pushing myself to be better.  That striving for excellence can sometimes make me feel like I'm not succeeding as a teacher/performer...but that feeling lets me know in my heart that I am working and I do care, regardless of how my head perceives it.  When you worry about something it shows you care, so always worry about teaching.

In my first year I learned practical things, like how to use Genesis (an online database where we submit grades, attendance, and starting in January will also host our lesson plans), but I still need to work on figuring out grading schemes.  Being that I don't know exactly what my general music class will look like until I do a start of year assessment with the kids, I can't tell what the grading breakdown will be.  Grading is something that is always challenging, from what I'm gathering.  There are always rubrics to be written (which I actually think is fun) and always new methods of assessment to try out that will shape how grading is done and calculated. I only had to figure out a couple of my own assignments in my last position, but that was basically deciding what category of the already-in-place grading scheme to put them.  So I guess nothing in undergrad can really fully prepare you for the first year of having to hash that all out yourself from stratch.  

And now I will shortly sum up some of the other things I learned versus what still has a floating question mark above my head.

:) - confidence with kids

:/ - confindence when presenting and defending my pullout lesson schedule (more on this later, as it will be a pervasive issue in my first month)

:) - confidence planning

:/ - what am I teaching them?!

:) - picking pieces for band

:/ - picking pieces for a band I know nothing about

:) - teaching chorus

:/ - the changing male voice!!

:) - I know I have resources in my parents, friends, and colleagues

:/ - There's nothing that will make me question that fact - I just have to swallow my pride and not be afraid to ask!

I've been "inside my head" about these things so much lately that I'm excited to jump in with kids.  Soon I won't be able to stress about finding out what the kids know and I'll get into the real nitty gritty planning stages.  I'm excited to meet my students and work on a relationship with the staff because I'm not sure I got off on a good foot with my colleagues today. Let me just say as a cautionary phrase to anyone in any job - be cognizant of being "that guy" who is super resistant to change. In schools, we collaborate for greater student learning and with collaboration comes compromise.  Keep your mind open when someone pitches an idea and remember that not every new thing is scary, not every new thing is permanent, and not every new thing is going to mess up your good old thing. 

Here's to a new school year with new students and new problems (but good problems!) Keep on worrying, teacher friends.  

This and That

Smart Board!

So my Smart Board classroom management strategy is working really well! Since it aligns with the strategies that the students are used to in their classrooms the kids picked up on it right away.  It was nice for me to be able to collaborate with the classroom teachers, steal a few ideas here and there, and come up with something beneficial for all students.  Also, anything that's on a Smart Board is fascinating to them! With the compliment jar on the screen for them to see, it keeps them focused on getting that "prize at the end of the tunnel".  I like that way more than the constant sticker giving.  

I guess my initial excitement and happiness with technology had to wear off eventually and that happened this week.  Our district has half-days this week for parent teacher conferences so I wanted to plan a short but rewarding Halloween-ish lesson. I have the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" clip from "Fantasia" on my flash drive as an mp4.  In this lesson, we can discuss the job of a conductor in an orchestra, the way the music tells a story, how music can be inspired by stories and art, etc. I got to the first school I was going to teach this lesson at early to test that I would be able to show the video on a school computer.  It played perfectly through Quicktime, so then I made the critical error of assuming that if Quicktime was on one school computer, it would be on all of them. Whompwhomp. It was incredibly frustrating to show up in a kindergarten room, tell them that we'd be watching a video clip and then having that clip not play because this particular computer didn't have Quicktime. Luckily, I lesson planned for a Plan B and had a recording of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" ready.  We instead did an activity where the students listened to it, drew what story they thought the music told, and then I shared the actual story.  It worked well and accomplished similar SWBATs, but still, it stinks when you have a cool lesson planned but there is a problem. 

Teacher's First Sick Day

I don't really get sick. I mean a seasonal allergy here, a sniffle there, but on the whole I'm not a sicky person. This weekend I was really busy and on Saturday night I thought I was just cold from being out all night, but ended up having the chills from a fever. I was still feverish on Sunday so my mom wouldn't let me go to school; she has a one day fever free before going back to school rule. That was awesome when I was a kid, but I felt so bad not going to school on Monday. I mean I teach a half-day every day from noon-3:15 which would make me fine to teach with some acetaminophen..but my mom said I shouldn't risk getting the kids sick which is valid...although I blame them for the random fever! Anyway, it was weird worrying about if the sub showed up, if they went to the right school, the right room, if the kids were behaving, if the plans made sense, yaddayaddayadda. But then I started watching a Frasier marathon and took a nap and it was fine. 

Control and Scheduling

I've probably mentioned this before but I like to make lists, be organized, and in general be in control of my situations to the best of my abilities.  I compulsively check my schedule to make sure I'm in the right building at the right time even though I have my schedule memorized.  This week of half-days for the students made for some interesting scheduling conundrums.  Every building has different schedules - one of my schools has 40 minute specials and the other three have half hour specials.  It was difficult not knowing until a few days beforehand what my schedule would be.  One thing I've had to do my best at is remembering to not sweat the small stuff. Okay, so I might not have been 100% sure about which rooms I was teaching in or if my schedule worked quite right, but the important thing was to just go with the flow. It is pretty much opposite of what my normal organized self would have wanted, but in a school setting it's hard to be really in control of anything. I have 4 building principals who made the schedules who gave them to my supervisor and above him there are even more decision-makers.  The nice thing about not being in control, however, is it doesn't put a ton of pressure on me as a teacher to do much besides teach. 

Life.

We started our wedding registry, I got two credit cards, I'm going shopping for a wedding dress soon, we booked the photographer, and are getting engagement pictures taken sometime next week after this tropical storm passes!

Ta Ta Ti Ti Ta

Hello again, world! So. A lot has happened since my last post.  I'll try to break it down.

You Bettah Werk.

I've always been goal-oriented and have accomplished almost everything I've set my mind to.  I worked incredibly hard during my undergrad to prepare myself to be the best music teacher I could be when I was let into the real world.  Also, in general, I like to be in control (or at least feel like I'm in control) of my situations.  So I thought that I was setting myself up for success and putting myself somewhat in control of my job search with my hard work. Nope.  By the time September rolled around, I still had no job.  I kept not getting jobs for reasons I never really considered - I wasn't a percussionist, I wasn't a vocalist, I wasn't a brass player, I didn't have experience.  I have always considered myself a well-rounded musician - I have decent piano chops (although I'm not as good as I was when I was 14...), I have a pretty extensive choral music performance background having sung in choirs since I was in 4th grade, I have solo singing experience as a cantor, I'm a good doubler, and I'm really modest.  I'm a good young teacher and, minus the phase in my life when I wanted to be a comedian, teaching is all I've wanted to do.  So when I had no job for legitimate but hard to swallow reasons, it was crushing and made me question pretty much all of my musical life.  It was horrible and I felt really down and out. I know I know, I've heard it a million times and I really do believe it, but when you're in a bad place, it's hard to keep your mind on the idea that everything happens for a reason. 

A New Job (or is it pronounced yob...maybe it's a soft J), A New Identity.

One of the districts where I interviewed had a maternity leave position and since the supervisor was impressed with my teaching and interview the first time, he interviewed me for this position.  It's a part-time (noon - 3:15 every day!) kindergarten and first grade general music job across 4 elementary schools.  I was hired on Tuesday, went to a department-wide in-service day on Wednesday, and taught on Thursday.  It was a really fast turn-around which meant I missed the new teacher orientation day. I didn't know in which rooms I was teaching until I got to each school the day of my classes because I didn't have time in the preceding days to visit each building. I still don't have access to my school email, the online district resources, the class lists, the grading system, haven't signed my contract, or been board approved.

All things considered, the first two days are all I've done so far and I think I'm doing okay! I like the little ones, but I've never taught them music, having not student taught with that age group.  You can't bargain with them; saying "Boys and girls, we have to be able to accomplish this task and listen to our directions or else we can't have fun with the next music game" doesn't go over as well with them as it does with middle/high school kids.  But laying down the rules - using ta ta ti ti ta to get attention, being quiet before entering the room, using a quiet raised hand, etc. seems to have worked so far.  Things that are making me feel better when I start to worry that college has not prepared me for this? Remembering that this is the first year this district is having full day kindergarten means that NONE of my students (K or 1st) have had any in-school music class.  It makes for easier lesson planning thus far because the K and 1st have the same objectives.  One thing that is less in my control is my teaching space.  I was unaware, because of the aforementioned reasons, that I was teaching some kindergartens in their rooms, some in the instrumental music room, some in the general music room. However, I made sure to cover my bases and I planned for the whole first lesson to be a cappella so that I could accomplish my objectives regardless of a CD player, piano, board, or Orff instruments.  I'm looking forward to collaborating more with my mentor teacher and the other K and 1 teachers in the schools I'm at.  I know that even though I only had my one general music methods course, my musical sense will guide me through this phase of my teaching life.  I feel like I'm going to learn more about general music and teaching in general from doing it even part-time then I would have from student teaching for 7 weeks.  I'll check back in with you, my adoring public, after my first full week.  

As for my identity, a funny anecdote.  My fiance and I joined the church choir at the parish we now belong to and Thursday was our first rehearsal.  I asked the choir director what he wanted me to sing because I could do church soprano (aka not super high) or alto (or honestly church tenor because it's not super low and practically alto II range but I didn't mention that because this choir actually has men).  He said soprano because this group has a lot of altos. Thursday was also the first day of school, so in one day, I became 2 things that I pretty much didn't think I'd be at this point in my life - a general music teacher and a soprano.