Seven Tips for New Music Teachers

It's that time of year... you walk into Wal-Mart with your grocery list, perfectly relaxed with your summer tan, thinking about how much you love having no schedule for the day.... and you see it. Something that makes you stop dead in your tracks. Something that makes you cringe but also intrigues you. School supplies! Back to School signs! Everywhere! At first you think "Ah, it burns!" like a vampire.

But then... you don't really want to, but you can't resist taking a quick stroll through the aisles. Suddenly your empty basket is full of Flair pens, SHARPENED Ticonderogas (yeah, that's a thing now!) and all the cute notebooks and folders and pencil pouches. You sigh. Yep, it's that time of year. Back to school. Oh well, at least you can buy all the cute school supplies! Next stop: Target dollar spot.

Confession: I dread this time of year. I love my job, but it's hard to transition from sleeping in, Netflix & the pool back to alarm clocks, schedules and sack lunches. I would be perfectly content if we could skip all the hard transition stuff at the beginning of the year and get right to learning content. But that nitty gritty transition back-to-school is SO important. Still painful, though. Eddie B gets it right in his latest video. (I laughed so hard, ya'll.)

Video credit: https://www.facebook.com/eddiebcomedy

With that in mind, I wanted to post some tips for new music teachers. I have met a lot of new (or fairly new: 1-2 years invested) music teachers lately, so I have been thinking a lot about what I would want to tell my first-year teacher self. Then this blog post was born!

I remember what it was like seven years ago being a starry-eyed brand-new music teacher, a year out of graduate school after a year of teaching adjunct at college. Yes, that's right! I went from teaching college music education majors to Kindergarten! WHOA. My student teaching semester and first year of teaching K-5 were three years apart, so I had a lot of adjustments. My first year I worked at a very small K-5 school (less than 400 kids... class sizes were a dream!) that was closing. My second year I worked at a brand-new school. Like, they were still painting as we moved in! So in two years I closed and opened a school! Talk about an experience! This second school (where I still teach today) has around 600-680 kids depending on the year. We have had a lot of transitions in our district with new boundary lines and different programs moving in and out of our school. So, seven years out, I have a lot to learn, but I'm feeling pretty seasoned!

So.... here are my seven tips for new music teachers! (With memes, because that makes life more fun!) And they all start with the letter C because that appeals to my slightly OCD brain. If you're not a newbie, pour your summer drink of choice, kick up your feet and nod your head and laugh as you reminisce about your first year with me.

1. Check out your room!

More than likely you were hired without seeing your actual room. (Pro tip: if you are ever in an interview and they want to show you the classroom, there is a 99% chance you have the job!) Once you can get into your building, check out what you have. Brace yourself: you're going to be a little overwhelmed looking at ALL the things. The previous teacher may have left the room immaculate or chaotic- you just never know. Take a deep breath, and dive in. Here's a short checklist of things to keep your sanity:

-What textbook resources do I have? Student books? Teacher books? CDs?

-What other resources do I have? Kodály, Orff, Dalcroze books? 101 Singing Games? The Music Effect? (the Bible for Kindergarten music!) Feierabend books? Mallet Madness?

(Stay tuned for a blogpost coming soon about my can't-live-without resources!)

-What kind of choir library or musical resources do you have? If you want to do "canned" programs, do you have any?

-What instruments do you have? Specifically: Orff instruments, drums, small handheld percussion (rhythm sticks, hand drums, triangles, tambourines, egg shakers, etc.)

-Take pictures! It will be tricky to remember everything when you go home.

-Measure! Measure the windows (if you can have curtains), measure white boards/chalk boards, measure the bulletin boards. Make sure you write it down (or add it to a note in your phone, for you tech-y Millennials.)

-What kind of desk do you have? Do you have bookshelves? Any other furniture?

-Do you have any children's literature? Take pictures of what you have.

-Seating: do you have chairs or will they sit on the floor? (I highly recommend a seating chart, I'll get into that later!) Will you do flexible seating?

As you are working, think about how you will best split up the space. My first classroom was a long rectangle and not very conducive to movement and instruments. My second classroom is much larger with enough room for movement while instruments can be set up all the time. Is that possible for you? If not, figure out a way where you can store instruments where they can be easily moved for playing.

Make your set up feasible and practical! There's nothing like teaching and being really into a lesson... and almost tripping over a xylophone (been there, done that!) Make it easy for students and for you to move around!

Think of an exit plan- it's nice to have a room with an entrance and exit door, since more than likely, one class will be entering as another is exiting. If you don't have two doors, decide where one class will line up as another enters.

2. Content > Cutesy

Anyone else a type A, first born perfectionist that is also afraid of failing? Anyone else have that fun combo?! It can't just be me! I learned a valuable lesson a few years ago: done is better than perfect. You may want to have the cutest, most adorable Pinterest-y room in your building. But what you really need to focus on is content. I love cute classrooms and there are a few cute things in my room. But my classroom my first year is vastly different than my classroom today. It was a work in progress!

This is where I really want to caution new teachers. Teacher Pay Teachers (TPT) is AMAZING. When I first started teaching, it was just starting to gain speed. Now I can't even fathom all the resources available there. I am a TPT junkie, and this year I opened a store. I obviously love it! But... content is more important than cutesy. You will want to buy all the things & create all the things. Make sure your content is first and foremost in your mind. It's okay to make your room looks good! There are many classroom decor sets on TPT that have amazing visual appeal and great quality content. Lindsay Jervis, David Row, Amy Abbott and Aileen Miracle are just a few that have fabulous stuff.

Your room should definitely be clean and organized. But also think about what you want your students to know. Don't clutter your walls with fluffy stuff (it will just distract your students anyway). Don't spend all your time making that fantastically lettered welcome sign if you don't have an educational bulletin board. Remember, done is better than perfect! It's a work in progress, and that's okay!

David Row at Make Moments Matter has a great post on what to put on your walls- do you really need EVERYTHING?! This is full of practical, valuable information, check it out!

3. Consistency = Classroom Management

“Work until your classroom runs the way you want it to." -Bev Anyan

If you fall into the trap of spending all your time making your room cutesy, you may also miss out on the most important key to successful teaching: classroom management. This entails so many things, including how you run your room, your classroom culture, the feeling your students have while they are in your room, etc. Classroom management is across the board the most common problem new teachers have. I mean, how do you get kids to listen to you and take you seriously?

First of all, if you haven't read Harry & Rosemary Wong's The First Days of School- get a copy now and read it. You will want to reread it in the coming years, too. It's the Bible of classroom management and it works!

Second: SEATING.CHARTS. More than likely you will have hundreds of students and multiple classes. Learning names can be a real challenge. It will take a lot of time, but creating seating charts will help you learn names, and establish some boundaries in your classroom. Since you will not know your students' personalities yet, just start putting names down on your seating chart. Use pencil because you WILL need to move some kids around, either due to behaviors or height. You will very quickly be able to tell who doesn't need to sit by who, or who needs to be in the front where you can keep your eye on them. A great seating chart is a work of art!

Third: classroom culture. one thing to remember about music is that it requires vulnerability. As musicians, we sometimes forget that since we usually reach a level of comfort when it comes to performing. We are used to singing, playing, dancing in front of others. For kids, especially with a brand-new teacher and a brand-new class, singing in front of others can be a scary thing! You must create a culture where students feel comfortable, safe and valued. How do you do that? Be yourself! Introduce yourself to your students on the first day of music, describe your expectations or rules, practice procedures and play a fun singing game. That is literally my first day of school lesson plan for every grade (plus the seating chart.) Allow your students to get to know you as a person. Don't try to be perfect- you won't be. Be real and they will be real with you. Make a mistake and own up to it. When you're not feeling well, let them know. 95% of the time they will forgive you when you mess up and act pretty angelic when you are feeling sick. I would also write into your lesson plans a lot of opportunities for students to get to know each other, get to know you, and sing as a group before you start doing any sort of solo singing.

Fourth: be consistent. Students can completely tell if you won't follow through with something. Establish your expectations at the beginning of the year, tell your students those expectations OFTEN, practice procedures for the first few weeks and follow through. What does this look like practically? If my students walk in loudly and run to their seats, I have the whole class line up at the door and enter again. And we keep practicing until it's right. You may think "But what about learning about music?" If there is no control in the classroom, no learning is happening. When I am passing out instruments and someone plays before I have asked them to, they have to put their instrument down or put it back. They have the opportunity to earn it back, of course, and usually they do. But it's the follow-through that is important. It's much easier to start out firm at the beginning of the year and ease up than the reverse. My students know I love and care about them, and they also know the expectations and what happens when they don't follow those. 98% of my students want to participate in whatever we are doing, so usually a warning or sitting out away from the class for a few minutes is enough for students to change their behavior and join us again. Sometimes I have older students write our school creed, which is fairly short, and that gives them enough time to re-focus, make a new decision and join the class.

Fifth: even with all of these expectations and procedures in place, things will go wrong. Some days you WILL feel like you are herding cats! (Like the day before Halloween & Christmas break....) Kids are people. People are messy. Some of our kids have big feelings. Some of our kids are dealing with big problems they should never have to deal with. Some of our kids come from a home that we cannot even fathom. For some of our kids, school is the only place they feel safe. Your smile may be the only smile they see that day. Remember to cut yourself some slack and cut your kids some slack. Show them you care and create a classroom culture that is stable and safe, and you are off to a great start!

Bev Anyan, one of my Kodály pedagogy instructors, said "Work until your classroom runs the way you want it to." This is completely true! If something isn't working, don't look at the kids. Look at yourself and see how you can improve the situation.

4. Communicate!

Most problems in any job stem from miscommunication. Communication is so important as a music teacher! Communicate with your administration, your team and your grade level teachers. Make sure you know what is on the calendar so you don't schedule a program the same day as a field trip. I would recommend scheduling a meeting early in the year with your administration about programs. Are there certain traditions at the school? Do they want to keep those? Would they rather do something new? (Sometimes that's the case, too!) This will give you a good feel for what is expected at your school and what you need to plan for the rest of the year.

Speaking of programs... communicate with your team. A good team is the most valuable thing in the world! If you've ever had a bad team member or been on a bad team, you know what I mean. You will more than likely need to use some of their class time during concert week to rehearse for your concert or program. They will need to use your music class time sometimes too, during Jump Rope for Heart, the book fair, or the art show, so be flexible! Your job requires a lot of flexibility! Make sure you communicate with your grade level teachers as well, especially about field trips and programs. Make sure they know the expectations for these events.

(Also, in case you didn't know, the best friends you can make at the school are the secretary and the custodian. Bring them a coffee or a small gift once in a while... they know everything that goes on in the school!)

5. Care for yourself!

You WILL:

-be exhausted.

-get sick.

-be exhausted.

-get sick.

-have the best time of your life sharing what you love with students.

-be exhausted.

-get sick.

Load up on your rest & Vitamin C, because...

(Any Arrested Development fans?) This is me every year on the first day!

Take care of yourself. You will want to spend all your free time working. You will need to spend a lot of time working. But not ALL of it. Give yourself a break from school. Find something you love to do outside of school and do that! Spend time with friends and family, read, exercise, paint, whatever it is. You will need a break. It's okay to stay one week ahead of your students if it means you get to rest more. (Eventually you will want to plan long-term...) Your first year of teaching is probably the hardest year you will have. But you can do this!

Your students need you to take care of yourself so you can put forth your best effort everyday. And when you do get sick, REST. Nothing cures whatever plague you have like rest. Really rest- not Netflix and write lesson plans. Turn off the screens and go to sleep.

6. Comparison trap

Remember I'm a type A, first born perfectionist that's afraid of failing? This was something I really had to remind myself my first few years of teaching.

“The grass is greener where you water it."

Often, that teacher you are comparing yourself to has 15 years under their belt. You'll get there! But don't lose the value of where you are now. Your chapter is your own chapter and no one else's. A principal told me once, "The grass is greener where you water it." I have never forgotten that. And we veteran teachers need you! New teachers bring fresh energy to the school- sometimes those of us who have been around for a while get a little worn down and jaded. We need you to remind us of the good reasons we teach!

7. Celebrate!

What you do is valuable. What you do is incredible! Really! Think about it! You get unruly eight-year-olds to sing beautifully? You teach ten-year-olds to play instruments? You teach students to folk dance and they LIKE it?! Everyday you have the opportunity to change the world for the better. Everyday, what you do is important. No one in the building can do what YOU do. YOU are important. YOU are absolutely essential to the culture and success of your building. Celebrate! Have fun with your students! In what other occupation do you get paid to play instruments, sing, play games, dance and create with kids? You are getting to teach them about what you love! Even if your year is rough, look for those little victories. One of my teacher friends (an absolutely BRILLIANT math teacher) has a blog where every day she posts something good from the day. I love her tagline: "Every day may not be good, but there is one good thing in every day."Cut yourself some slack and remember:

That one single experience of playing an instrument, singing a song, playing a game in your classroom can give a lifetime of joy to your students. What an amazing opportunity! Have a wonderful first year!

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