Rejuvinating During the Summer

If you are like me, my school just let out for the summer! YAY! 8 weeks of being on my own schedule. My to do list includes creating new blog posts - yes, I know I need to do these more often. I am also gearing up to start an online class for beginning and new to the profession elementary music teachers. More to come on that later.

This summer, I am focusing on getting healthy, finishing projects, maybe some deep decluttering of my storage space in my basement (doesn't that sound like fun??). However all that is well and good, but I also spend some time organizing my materials for next year for my classroom. My google files are jumbled and need cleaning out. My classroom pictures and videos need to be edited and added to my back to school powerpoint/google slide presentation. And at some point, I need to start thinking about retiring and getting all that information put together.

When I started teaching at the ripe old age of 21, I really didn't think about retiring. Or saving money for the future. My first yearly starting wage was only $18,000 for the year, barely enough to pay for rent, food and other expenses. That was back in 1984 in a little school district in Montana. Who would have thought I would spend all of my adult working career teaching music - and mostly teaching elementary general music?! As of this writing I have completed 38 years. Has it been fun? Yes. Challenging? Yep. Frustrating? Hell yeah. Rewarding? Of course. All I can think of is how I can share my combined experience and knowledge with those of you who are just starting out as teachers. So, that's my intention for this blog going forth. To share my wisdom about how to engage students and have some fun doing it. I am dramatically musical in my classroom. I like to make my students laugh and have fun making music and experimenting with the process of creating music and movement.

How about you? If you are just starting out - what's your overall goal for the little humans that will be in your classrooms very soon? If you are changing levels, how will you interact with these wonderful youngsters that you are going to meet? Firm but fun loving? Strict and stiff? Interesting and awe-inspiring? We shall see.