Getting your first teaching job is so exciting! If you’re anything like me you had 1,001 thoughts running in your head about all the things you needed and you didn’t know where to start. Pause, take a breath and breathe deeply. If you’ve finished a degree program then there really isn’t a whole lot that… Continue reading What I Wish I Had as a First Year Teacher
Author: displacedpedagogy
Summer Break Plans for Teachers
I’m officially on summer break and I’ll be honest, I am relieved. As a music teacher, I have concerts to plan and parents to contact about ensembles and all the other end of the year craziness that is part of teaching to begin with. I am also a crazy person and like to have big… Continue reading Summer Break Plans for Teachers
Summer Self Care for Teachers
That time of year is finally here! Yes, it’s summer! Well, it is for me anyway. If it isn’t summer when you’re reading this then I hope it becomes summer break very soon for you. Summer break can be a magical time. Teachers can finally take some much needed down time to relax and unwind… Continue reading Summer Self Care for Teachers
The Ultimate Recruitment and Retention Formula for Your Music Program
Every year it almost feels like a rat race to get a new wave of students interested in joining band, choir, or orchestra. It feels like all the stress is on impressing the young elementary students on your recruitment concert tour. Or maybe you’re a high school director and you’re stressed about making the pep music and the concert band music sound good to get those middle schoolers to become freshmen in your program.
How to Generate Hype for your Program During Recruitment Season
'Tis the season! Between spring concerts, adjudicated performances, graduation concerts and everything else, you may have forgotten about recruitment. Or maybe you haven't forgotten about recruitment, but this is one of your first recruitment events that you've put on and you're stressed out. I've got you! This is only my 2nd rodeo, but I learned a lot from my first.
Write the Room for Music Classes
A write the room activity is, at its simplest, where you place a bunch of flashcards, task cards, or something else all around your classroom. Students will take their recording sheet and a clipboard all around the classroom and record their answers for each question. This is supposed to be an easy way for you to asses things like vocabulary or basic reading skills.
How to Drill Fingerings in Beginning Band
Teaching our beginners new notes is so important, but also so challenging. If they're brand new then they might still be learning to read a fingering chart and maybe they're still learning which colored in circles mean which finger get pressed down. It's hard. So keep reading and I'm going to tell you my no frills tips for making sure students know their notes and fingerings.
Advice for Beginning Ensemble Directors
There's so much that you need to know as a beginning ensemble director and if you're a brand new teacher it can also seem very overwhelming. I'm going to give you three tips that I wish I had learned faster as a new teacher and that have honestly helped me stay sane. These three tips… Continue reading Advice for Beginning Ensemble Directors
How to Organize Band Equipment
There’s a whole lot of stuff that goes into being a band director. And the problem with having a whole lot of stuff is knowing what to do with it! My old classroom didn’t have any built-in storage and was quite literally a big box with four crooked walls, so I had to get very creative when it came to storage.
Student Recognition in the Music Room
Student recognition is quite literally what it sounds like. It’s praising a student for doing the right thing and making an effort to go above and beyond. I’m not saying to praise students for doing exactly what is expected of them, because I disagree with that too, but I am saying to look for students going the extra mile and make sure that they know you see them and value that.
Displaced Pedagogy 