Planning with Post-Its

I enjoy lesson planning in the abstract, thing-about-it, daydreaming kind of way, but I've never had a way that I can really write down my plans that I love. Thankfully I'm not required to turn in plans or write full-blown,  multi-page formal lesson plans like I did when student teaching... but I still like to have things planned in a way that I can use them and also have space to write down what I actually accomplished with each class in my plan book. I like both a pre-written plan and a reminder of what we got done. This becomes extra tricky because I use the same plan for multiple classes of the same grade level, but might get to different points in the lesson with each class. Enter my new plan book and post its!

I decided to treat myself to a new planner at Michael's this year rather than going crazy trying to make my own sheets. I chose The Big Happy Planner: Teacher Edition.

First, I have to say it: this planner is so cute! It's also really functional, I promise. Before I started going crazy with post its it looked like this:

The weekly view is where I'm planning to use post-its to plan lessons. I cut a bunch of post-its to the size of the boxes. I used the August pages as placeholders for the post-its since I won't teach in August. Each color will be one week's lessons, I made enough for each grade level in each week:

My plan is to use each week of post-its to write my plans on for each class for that week. I labelled them so they don't get mixed up, writing the grade level and the lesson number.

My plan is to stick the post-it on the first time I have to teach that lesson. For example, here's the first week:

What's super nice about this set-up is that I can just move the post-it when I'm done teaching the lesson and write what we actually did in the box so I can refer back to it later. I'll be moving the post-its forward to the next time I need to teach the lesson. What's really handy about this is that sometimes when we have days off of school I don't see a class and have to use a previous lesson with them - now I'll have the post-it on their spot in my planner to remind me. Believe it or not, I'll still be using my first week lessons on September 17th thanks to 2 Monday holidays in a row, so there will be a lot of lessons to keep straight the first month of school. I plan to keep the post-its after I'm done using them so I can refer to them in the future (past plan books help me keep my sanity and improve my pacing).

That's how I'm planning with post-its this year! Hopefully it works well, I'll try to remember to write an update once I've used it a little bit. So far I love the Happy Planner! 

Teacher Summer Reading: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

I've been doing a lot of lazy reading on the couch this summer and figured I would write about some of those books (in addition to picture books to use with students). To be clear, I don't *expect* teachers to do summer reading... we work hard enough during the year! But for those of us who enjoy reading over break, here we go!

This week's book was The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. I was able to borrow the e-book for free via my local library in the Libby app, so it's worth checking there if you'd like to save money and support your library! 

This book was about how our unconscious habits impact every part of our lives, often in unexpected ways. Most people can appreciate that actions have consequences, but the consequences of our habits often span far beyond what we might predict. Because teachers especially have to make a lot of decisions in the course of our work, I think we likely rely heavily on habits to avoid decision paralysis and fatigue. 

The book doesn't aim to eliminate habits, or even label them as "bad" the way so many Pinterest articles seem to. Instead, it looks at the possibility of changing habits to make them better fit with goals and desires. By tweaking what we already do without thinking, we are able to come closer to our ideal selves without the need for extreme willpower or constant conscious decision making. 

Considering habits, especially cognitive habits, made me think about the things I do without thinking at school, from coming into my classroom the same way every school day to planning lessons following a certain routine. It also made me consider my habits outside of school, like binge-watching TV when I want to avoid cleaning or some other dreaded task. Just thinking about these habits, making the unconscious routines conscious, was eye-opening for me and helpful to consider.

The real power of habit is in leveraging them to work towards a goal. I started thinking about what habits I could change in my own life. So far, I've come up with adjusting my typical before-school habit of setting up the room, then making copies or checking email. Though I am very set in this habit, I know that I would be more productive if I changed it so that I wasn't trying to copy when many other teachers were also trying to copy, and I could work on plans or other tiring tasks while I had energy from my morning coffee.

I think this book will help me with getting students into certain habits as well. The book points out repeatedly that other people general can't force a habit change, though they can help develop them. For one, I hope to get my band kids into the habit of practicing frequently. Because they're new to playing an instrument, it's likely not something they'll know how to make a habit of, but as a semi-successful practice-er of 17 years I can help coach them towards building their practice stamina and making playing their instruments part of their daily routine. Additionally, I want to build classroom rehearsal habits with my students - not just the typical routines and procedures - in order to address the way we think, act, and make music in our classes.  

I found The Power of Habit to be an easy read, and an enjoyable one. It does sometimes seem to state the obvious, but never for more than a skimable paragraph. It's worth reading if you'd like to think about the things you don't think about doing! 

The perils of requirements

Teachers, can you think of how many times you've had to do something only because it's required? Whether a governmental regulation, administrator, parent, or other stakeholder requires something, the brunt of requirements often falls into the classroom and onto the shoulders of teachers. Except when it doesn't. Sometimes it falls right onto students.

I'm currently living the teacher and student double life - teacher by day (when it's not summer break) and graduate student by night - and finding many frustrations in being required to do something as a student. Yes, requirements as a teacher are exhausting, frustrating, and tiresome, but as a student it directly impacts learning and can entirely deplete motivation.

I decided to do my masters degree now for a few different reasons. For one, it's required for me to keep teaching in my state. I also hoped to improve my pedagogy and learn new ideas I could use with my students. Both of those were great motivations, until now.

I'm taking a dreaded, required class. It's a subject I actively dislike, and one that I know I'm terrible at. I also know that it's required for the program not because it's critical material for everyone with the degree to know (it isn't) but because one group lobbied the accrediting body to make it a requirement for their own self-interest (employment of professors in large numbers) rather than because it's good for students.

Knowing this class is a requirement for no good reason has made me want to scream almost as many times as actually doing the work for the class has. With an unhelpful TA, lots of busywork, and absolutely no attempt to be culturally relevant, this course has become an absolute nightmare for me. I'm not even a little engaged. I have no desire to put in effort, and only do work for the grade. And yet I have to take it. Because it's required. Because I'm supposed to. Because it's "right". No, studying music exclusively of dead white guys and boiling every meaningful piece of auditory art down to numbers and words isn't right. It isn't good for me. It isn't helping me be a better teacher, a better human, or a better musician. Music isn't about reducing sound to numbers (both Roman and Arabic numerals  to be extra pretentious) or writing paragraphs about why some guy picked a certain note 350 years ago. Music is about thinking, feeling, doing, and being artistically.

So here I am, trudging through a requirement that's burning me out and breaking me down. Taking a class that's stuck in the past in a supposedly progressive degree program. Dealing with bad pedagogy because I'm required to. It's sad, and it feels like a waste of my summer. Yet I do it, all for an overpriced piece of paper that says I met requirements decided by someone without my best interest in mind.

How many times do our students have to do something because it's required?

To be clear, I'm not advocating for the absence of rules or only coming to school when they feel like it or anything that dramatic. Sometimes, requirements are necessary and are actually for the good of students. School is required so that students can learn skills that will help them function in society. Rules are required to be followed to keep students safe. But there are some requirements that are for teacher convenience or due to regulations more than for the good of students. The excessive amount of standardized testing, for example, is not required because testing is good for kids.

I'll be reflecting on what I required for students, both formally and informally, and why or why not that's a good choice. For example, does it always make sense to require students to be sitting/standing in certain spots during direct instruction? Does it always make sense to require students to do an assessment on the day that it's in my plan book? Does it always make sense to require a student to play a particular song if they dislike it? The answer to all of these questions, I think, should be sometimes. There might be a certain portion of a lesson's direct instruction that can't accomplish its goal without students in a specific position. But other times, a choice of position and the flexibility to move between positions might be fine. Sometimes, an assessment needs to be done on a certain day so that I can complete report cards or move on to new material, but other times flexibility to account for testing in other subjects, emotional state, and practice time can be best. In some cases, I want to or need to have students play a particular song for an assessment or to do a cooperative activities, but other times I can let them choose from a selection of songs or even decide on a song independently.

Like most things in education, there aren't easy answers or always-right platitudes that cover the depth and breadth of what goes on in a classroom, but it's worth thinking about what is required, what should be required, and why.

Progress in Mediocrity

I managed to snag a great deal on a clarinet this summer to complete my basic woodwind trifecta. I haven't played much in several years, but I know it's easier for my students to learn an instrument through hearing a model. So here I am, practicing my clarinet fundamentals again. It's certainly easier this time than when I first picked up the instrument during my undergrad. But I sound mediocre. Actually, mediocre might be generous. I sound pretty bad, a mix of Squidward and some kind of very angry bird. I know that's normal, I've had a clarinet in my possession for two days and learning an instrument takes time. The basics are coming back to me pretty quickly, and I've been able to play through most first and second year band music without too much trouble. My sound is getting better. I'm noticing and changing some weird embouchure tendencies that will help me play more advanced music. My fingers are starting to know where to go and when in familiar tunes.

Even as a mediocre clarinetist, progress is possible. In fact, I think progress is easier to see in mediocrity. Going from playing a tune with three squeaks to zero is a very clear measure of improvement. Being able to play a song ten clicks faster than I could yesterday is a clear measure of progress. There's something to be said for remembering how it feels to wield an instrument that isn't quite comfortable yet, to feel the discomfort of muscle fatigue and unfamiliar sensation. Clarinet isn't foreign, it's very similar to flute and saxophone, both of which I play at a better-than-mediocre level. But it's different enough to force me to remember what it's like to be mediocre.

Mediocrity is hard! It's frustrating to see so much clarinet music that I can't play yet. To have to stop to look up fingerings when less common notes happen. To have to play slower-than-slow on a piece I could play at lightning speed on another instrument. And solving major musical problems (squeaks, incorrect notes, etc.) is much more exhausting than fine-tuning the details as I would on flute. No wonder my students get frustrated with the process.

Playing an instrument takes practice. There's no changing that. Looking beyond mediocrity is not that easy when you're in the thick of it, trying to remember the fingering for G-sharp for the third time and keep your teeth on top of the mouthpiece. But progress is possible, progress is rewarding, and progress will happen. Instrument fundamentals are an exercise in patience just as much as a physical exercise.

Begin Again

18 days into summer break, and I received the all-clear email that I can go set up my room whenever now that the floors in my wing are done. While I probably won't head into school for a couple more weeks, I always feel like that email saying we can access our rooms marks the beginning of another year. I'm staying in the same school with the same basic teaching assignment this year (thank goodness!) but so much around me will be changing that it feels like a big transition.

I did an end-of-year pack-up of questionable quality, throwing some things into drawers simply because I didn't want to have to make a decision about them. I did manage to clear out some materials well past their prime, including scratched records and an autoharp that will be re-purposed for games for our district music festival. I probably could have done more but my June teacher brain was so tired that I just didn't.

There is always more to do. So when I get back to my classroom, it will be how I left it (thankfully my awesome custodians make sure instruments aren't damaged as they clean) and I will do what I can to get everything how I want it to start the year. Nothing will explode if I don't have everything just so and there's a few post-it pads or pens out of their usual place. I'll do what is really important for my students and do the best I can with the rest. And it will be enough.

When deciding what is most important for me to do for students, I think about what is necessary, especially for the beginning of the year. I was able to leave my staff reading bulletin board in place, as well as my schedule board, so those will be easy to freshen up. There's a few important posters I need to get back up on the walls (some rhythm and instrument anchor charts, plus a Harry Potter poster that I just enjoy). I also want to get instruments set up, since that impacts traffic flow through the room and I like for kids to walk in and see the music room in its "real" setup on the very first day so that we can do procedures in a way that works with everything set up from day 1. Of course, planning lessons is key too! I try to do a lot of copying in August since there's less teachers waiting to use the copiers. Since I make booklets to use a multi-class sub plan, I'll copy and assemble those before the year starts so I'm ready just in case I need to be out.

Most of what I'm setting up isn't going to change a lot from how I had things last year. My room last year worked well for me and my students. Yes, I have some fresh lesson ideas and some fantastic new books, including the ones I've blogged about, but the physical setup of my room will be largely the same.

So I will begin again, much in the same way I do every year, despite changes all around me. I will choose to be stability and consistency, and to provide the best possible environment for my students. But first, a few more weeks of relaxation.

Teacher DIY: Re-purposing old white boards

Visual art is not my strong suit, but I still tried to take one a couple DIY projects for school this summer. Right now, I'm working on re-purposing some old student white boards in very rough shape. The white boards from my classroom are at least 12 years old, and I was lucky enough to be able to buy new ones with budget money last year. I could have just tossed the old ones, but since I don't have clipboards, I have used them as a hard surface for kids to use under their paper when doing written work. My students often do written work when there's a substitute, and telling the substitute to have students get white boards led to a lot of confusion, so I decided to take away the white board surfaces and call them "clipboards" to make everyone's life a little easier.

Knowing that these boards would get quite a bit of use, and that my students don't always stay on the paper when coloring, I decided that basic black would be the best color for durability and aesthetic purposes. I grabbed some glossy spray paint from Home Depot, making sure it said that it could be used on plastic.

Now here's one of those times this teacher didn't do what she always tells the students to do: I didn't follow the directions. The directions said to sand glossy surfaces, and I read them, but ain't nobody got time for that. I decided to try out just spraying them and seeing what happened. It still worked! They aren't perfect, but the boards look a lot better than they did and not sanding saved me a lot of time.

I put down newspaper in the garage, laid out the boards, and started spraying away! Here's some "before" pictures:

And "after":

They're not "Pinterest perfect" but they will help my students by giving them a durable hard surface to serve the purpose of a clipboard (without the annoying clips that pinch fingers and break) without costing a lot of money. 

Taking things slowly

I started a really long rambling post without a clear topic, but it's not ready for public consumption yet (maybe not ever). Posting it wouldn't be productive, and I don't even think typing it out at warp speed was cathartic. This post was my reaction to writing that ramble-post for no reason. Recent events and what I've been reading have made me do a lot of thinking and arguing with myself and debating some new ideas in the last week or so. I've realized that this is going to be a summer of transition for me in a lot of ways, and that means time to process is even more important than it usually is.

Transitions are hard. They're hard for students (half of Pinterest seems to be transition procedures for the classroom), and they're hard for adults. I can handle going from reading to going outside a little easier than your average elementary school student (most of the time), but big changes are still challenging. Change means facing something new, something unknown and maybe uncomfortable. Doing things the same way isn't hard, humans build habits and can auto-pilot a lot of tasks. I don't have to think about walking across a room to do it, but crab crawling across the room would take a lot more planning and thinking (and arm strength!). It isn't comfortable because it isn't a routine.

And routines are good, to a point. I'm not advocating for classroom or personal life chaos even a little bit. Routine is what lets the magic happen. You can't play a difficult piece of music without having a routine for how your hold the instrument, and a routine for how you start the first sound. But the routine should a starting point. More launch pad than jail cell. Sure, I always go through getting ready in the same order each morning, but that's just to get out the door to more exciting things. Doing the same thing the same exact way every day would eventually become boring and stifling. Nothing new happens when things are fully routine. But a lot of my routines are being upended in the next few months for different reasons. It's necessary. Yet it's scary. I know it's going to take time for me to be okay with all the changes and routine interruptions that are about to happen. I need to process what's coming to prepare as best I can.

It feels impossible to take time to process for me right now. My teacher brain gets trained during the school year to be always on, always anticipating what could happen, imagining possibilities and responses each of them. I'm use to running, running, running, and then making lists of things to run to do later. Summer is a much different pace for me, but I know I still tend towards snap decision making and overreactions because of the habits I've built.

It's actually really hard to do things slowly. To think over something for longer than is comfortable. To play a scale accurately at 50 beats per minute. To reflect on what has been without looking towards what will be. Many times this year I would beg students to go slowly, to take their time, to think deeper, but I don't think I good about actually doing this myself.

So I will be aiming to take things slow... when I can and when it feels right. Changes take time to sink in, and I need to give thoughts and feelings some time to percolate before throwing them all over or reacting.

Here are my "slow goals" for now:

1. Be patient with myself in coping with change.
2. Do at least 5 minutes of focused instrument practice at half or 3/4 speed at least 4 times per week.
3. Re-read something short that I need to think more about at least three times a week, and take time to think or write about the topic immediate after reading.
4. Do PT exercises slowly but smoothly at a dedicated time rather than when rushing to take care of something else
5. Spend less time on email and more time enjoying summer
6. Break down grad school assignments into less overwhelming chunks.
7. Have at least three slow, meaningful offline conversations per week

Our society, and teaching especially, tends to encourage speed over depth, urgency over importance. I'm trying to break that cycle for the sake of my physical and mental health. Rushing through everything might temporarily avoid anxiety and feel "productive", but it's not healthy or sustainable for me. I'm trying to do better.

Books in the Elementary Music Room: I'm Here by Peter H. Reynolds

When I went to shop at Blue Bunny Books recently, I figured I'd go home with at least one book by the shop's owner, Peter H. Reynolds. I had read The Dot before and students at my school do art projects relating to it, so I wanted a different book to use in the music room. I found exactly what I was looking for in I'm Here.

With simple language and evocative imagery, the book is a first-person narrative of a child trying to find their place in the world. The imaginative illustrations and straightforward text, this book tells a story that will touch hearts and minds.

I plan on using this book as the basis for a student-created soundscape. In a soundscape, students make musical sounds and movements that match a story or idea. For example, the book's phrase "gentle wind" might be represented by wind chimes, or a student making a blowing sound or moving gently across the room. Because the story is short, and the sounds needed range from very literal to more abstract and challenging, there is an opportunity to allow students to choose their own challenge by picking which part of the book they want to soundscape. I haven't decided which grade to use this book with yet, but my process will look a bit like this:

1. Read the story to students
2. Have the class come up with a "scope of work" by listing the sounds/ideas that should be represented by music or movement
3. Read the book again, have students revise the scope as needed
4. Have each student/partnership pick a part of the book to soundscape and plan how to represent their part 
5. Students share their idea with another student/partnership, giving feedback to each other and revising their ideas as needed
6. Student practice/revision time, I check in with them to guide as needed
7. Read the book with soundscape as a culminating in-class performance

I highly recommend this book! While it will be interesting to look at in a musical context, this book has a lot of lessons beyond the music room. 

Teacher Field Trip: Blue Bunny Books, Dedham, Massachusetts

Field trips with students are stressful. Keeping track of kids, their lunches, and chaperones is a lot to handle. But teacher "field trips" in the summer are fun!

I recently headed to Dedham, Massachusetts, to Blue Bunny Bookstore.

I love local bookstores, and was ready to start browsing for books to use with my students next school year. Blue Bunny didn't disappoint in that respect! Though the store is a fairly small space, a well-curated selection fo children's books flowed throughout the space. 

Owned by children's book author Peter H. Reynolds, the shop includes a coffee bar and places to sit in addition to plenty of books. I actually got to meet Peter and have him sign a book while I was there, as he was in the shop with his family at the time. The shop has a local, friendly feel without being overwhelming. It's a great place to browse or search with a broad theme in mind, as the books were organized and easy to access.

There are plenty of events at the Blue Bunny, including author visits and activities for children. I'll be visiting again for sure, and writing about some of the books I bought there in an upcoming post! This would be a great place for kids to explore as well. 

Teacher Summer Reading: Play It From the Heart by J. Steven Moore

I've been doing a lot of lazy reading on the couch this summer and figured I would write about some of those books (in addition to picture books to use with students). To be clear, I don't *expect* teachers to do summer reading... we work hard enough during the year! But for those of us who enjoy reading over break, here we go!

One of the first books I read this summer break was Play It From the Heart: What You Learn from Music about Success in Life by J. Steven Moore.

The book contains a number of anecdotes about the extra-musical values and skills learned through music education, weaving together anecdotes about student attention, engagement, and perseverance with tales about ensembles truly coming together to support one another. It's a refreshing read for me, as it's so drastically different from the dryly academic grad school readings I've been doing the past few months, full of statistics and footnotes more than passion. This is a book that is truly from the heart, and contains many poignant reminders of why we teach, why we are musicians, and why we teach music. While it didn't tell my story, exactly, it was easy to connect to the students discussed in the book just as much as the teachers. I remember that feeling of pride after a long rehearsal, the steadfast determination to play a show in pouring rain, the desire to take care of one another as a family even when things were difficult. 

The book never preaches, though it does include a few philosophical tangents about how music education inherently includes real-world skills that apply far outside the band room. Lessons such as promptness, determination, pride, and cooperation are a nice reminder for teachers who can get very caught up in the music during the school year. The book never strays into discounting the musical benefits of music education, which I really appreciate after hearings years of "music makes you smarter" demusicalized music advocacy.

For those who believe we teach students in addition to teaching music, this book is a quick, inspiring, honest read. It left me hopeful and eager to get back into the classroom with my students. Also awesome (for those of us with a library database subscription) is that I was able to read it for free online via my university library (shoutout to BU!). So read this, then play from the heart! 

Teacher Summers

A lot has already been said about teachers and summer - by teachers and non-teachers alike - and it's largely very polarized. Opinions range from the dismissive you're so lucky to have summers off to all good teachers will do lots of work over the summer. Doug, an actual teacher, wrote a great blog post about summer PD, with one key sentence:

"The best summer PD is whatever works best for you."

 It's a simple premise, but one that's all too easy for teachers to miss in a sea of extreme opinions. Balance is okay. Different teachers having different summer plans is okay. And for those of us who will think about teaching this summer, it isn't about contract hours or Pinterest perfection or being "better" than other teachers. It's about choice.

Sometimes teachers' choices bridges that artificial divide between "work" and "play". I got dinner with a colleague who's also a good friend when I was in Boston this week, and we talked about both edu and non-edu things. Does that me credit for teaching-related? not-teaching-related? both? neither? And who's really keeping score?

The whole teacher summer "debate" strikes me as one of those situations in which it's better for all of us if we can mind our own business and worry about ourselves. Yes, it's important to make sure new teachers know they don't have to work all summer. And yes, it's important to share  opportunities to learn over the summer with colleagues. But ultimately it's up to each of us. You design your summer, I'll design mine, and hopefully we'll both come back refreshed, relaxed, and ready to take on a new school year. To each their own.

As for me, I'll be watching NCIS reruns, thumbing through children's books at the local bookstore, sipping Frappuccinos, re-learning the clarinet, and taking naps. And I hope that my summer choices won't be scrutinized, politicized, or criticized.

What are you doing this summer?