0:00
You're almost at the end of the year and you're trying to figure out what to do to keep your students engaged when things start to get a little squirrely in the rest of the school year. I got you covered today.
0:09
You're listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tarbet, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher at the elementary music Summit. Each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher, and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve. Show Notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at that music teacher.com.
0:44
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to that music Podcast. Today, we're going to be talking about how we can make it through the end of the year while keeping our students engaged. Because let's be honest, the end of the year, that's when we tend to have a lot of field trips, we have state testing, we have graduations and visits and move up ceremonies and things start to get a little weird. So how can we make sure that our students are still getting the level of education that they deserve in our classrooms, while also understanding that things are a little wild this time of year, and making the best of everything we have. That's what we're gonna be diving in today, because I know that the elementary music classroom can be a little crazy to begin with. And I know at the end of the year, things start to get a little bit wild. I know that I'm gonna get some grief on this first one. But I want to encourage you to take some time, it doesn't need to be this long drawn out process. But I want you to think before the year ends, I want you to take some time and reflect on the school year, both personally and professionally. What were some things that happened this year that you're really proud of? What are some things this year that you want to change the way that they've done in the past year? What are some things that you were surprised about or areas that you know that you've grown a lot in? I think so often we focus on our students making goals and checking in with their progress. But sometimes we forget to do that ourselves. And this is a good time of year because likely, when you're listening to this, you probably have less than a quarter of the year left and you're ready to you know, a lot of times it can be easy for us to kind of get to that survival mode. But I really think that we should treat the last quarter of the year kind of as this extra experiment to see what we could possibly implement at the beginning of next year, we have students that kind of understand us, we've been able to put those expectations into play. So what are some things that maybe we were curious about trying that we never got around to doing it and you know, give it a shot and see what happens. One thing I always like to reflect on is the goals that I made at the beginning of the year. So I talk a lot about setting goals, personally and professionally as a teacher at the beginning of the year. But I like to go and kind of check against them at this time of year and see where I'm at, you know, are there some goals that I completely forgot about? Are there some things that I kind of got away from and that I want to get back to? Or are there some goals that I've just grown out of, and they don't really apply to the situation? And they you know, there's so many other things that I could be worrying about, and we can let that one go. I think it's okay, sometimes to let things go. But I also want us to go back check on your goals, even if you never formally wrote them down, you know, what are some things that you wanted to get done by the end of the year? And how can we make that happen? When I'm preparing for the end of the year, I typically have a few things in mind, I want to make sure that I'm wrapping up the curriculum that I want my students to know, by the end of the year they're in now, but also trying to set them up for success for the beginning of the next year. So what are some things? Let's be honest, we always get behind in our curriculum. So ideally, we would teach them everything, but that's just not what happened. So what are some things that we're like, alright, we really need to I really need my first graders to understand this before we get into the kindergarten before the end of kindergarten, so that they can know when in first grade so what how can I make that happen. And really kind of take a peek at where you are in your curriculum and how you you know really what you want next year to look like and how you can get from point A to point B in the amount of time you have left in the school year. So sometimes that comes down to letting some things in your curriculum go and realizing I'll probably have to catch those up in the next year. But sometimes there are things like if you know, if we didn't get my second graders to a ticket to get like we're going to be fine. But if I didn't get my second second graders to do for whatever reason, I would really want that to get in there to happen because I I wouldn't want to have to fit so many melodic things into third grade. So just trying to get that in there so that more you just kind of setting them up for success. Depending on your schedule, you might have more or less time to do that and be aware that it's gonna look different for everyone and every situation I also think it's really important for us to celebrate our students celebrate the achievements celebrate how far they've come, make it make it known how you that you've noticed how far they've grown, if there are students that you know, have never been able to show their match match their singing voices, and now all of a sudden they're doing it make that known to them be like hey, I'm so proud of you for
5:00
Keep trying for, you know, persevering and keep on trying because you made it, we finally got to what you needed to do like great job. Thinking about the performances, you know, maybe take a moment and rewatch your performances with your kids and be like, Hey, do you remember how far you've come from this? Like, do you remember how much fun this was? Wow, this is back in in November. But look how much bigger we are now. And look how many different things that we were able to do then and how many things we can do. Now. I think it's important sometimes for us to have a little little bit of a holistic mindset. And understand that our students likely don't remember everything that we taught them and every experience they've had. So sometimes it's important to kind of bring it up and say, hey, you know, what, were your thoughts on this? What did you What did you like about it? What didn't you like about it, because all of those things are things that we can use when we're making plans for the next year, or years to come or even from between then to the end of the year. The biggest tip I have for you as you begin to get to the end of the year is set August you up for success. I am notorious for setting Auguste Bryson up for failure, because I just throw things in cabinets and agar in, in May, because I'm like, Alright, I'm done. I'm out of here. And then in August, I have no idea where everything is, I can't find anything. I'll be honest, there are still things in my classroom this year, as I record this in March, where I have no idea where anything is I lost it, it's just gone. I know it's somewhere in my room in a cabinet somewhere, but I've just not been able to find it. So what can you do in March, May, April, whenever you're starting to like put things away, even if it's like, oh, well, I'm using a parachute, I probably use the parachute for the rest of the year, I'm going to put it in like it's kind of summer home. What can we do to make sure that we know where they are, and we can find them the next year. The big thing that I am going to try this year that I've let's be honest, I've tried to doing it in the past years, and I just never got around to it is making sure that I'm storing everything with it's like objects. So like if I'm sharing if I'm putting my parachute somewhere, I'm gonna put it with my elastic band, I'm gonna put it with my scarves, I'm gonna put with other movement things. If I'm looking for my,
7:09
the jump rope, I'm going to put that with some of my other mullet manipulatives that I use for singing games and things like that. That way, it's not just random things scattered around my room. And you know, I might have a mini build up in the shelf, and then you put it on the shelf MIDI blip in that cabinet, I might have something just thrown in the desk drawer.
7:24
And I'm trying to be a little bit more millimeter cord curious of where I'm putting things. Because when it comes back in August, I know that I have two classrooms to setup. And that's part of the reason why it always is an issue is because I also have two classrooms to shut down. So what can I do now to allow myself to still be able to set up both of my classrooms without having to put in a bunch of extra work outside of my contracted hours. So a lot of that comes down to when I'm done with something and I'm like, Alright, I'm not going to use this for the rest of the year, I'm going to put it into place where I know that I'm going to be able to find it in August. Because let's be honest, nobody likes being mad at their, their past selves for just throwing something in a cabinet. And I promise I'll be honest, there's at least something that's going to get lost. And I'll be mad at myself in August. But I'm going to try to do better this year because no one wants to start the school year feeling stressed out because they can't find anything. Another thing I want you to be really aware of is that this is a wild time. This is time when we tend to have a lot of concerts, a lot of after school activities, things start to get a little bit wild in the school day, we might have field trips, they are part of you might have things for your kids, the actual, you know, children that you have to go to that add up to it. And I think it's really important now, especially to take care of yourself as a teacher, it can be really easy to burn out towards the end of the year. And that's tends to be when you get into those issues of when you throw things in a cabinet. I know my you know the year of COVID. When I just was so burned out i There are still things that I've never found because when I shut down my classroom, I just shoved things places because I was so burnt out. I was just wanting to be done. And I just really wanted. I wanted to be done. So what can we do towards the end of the year to take care of ourselves as teachers? First of all, I want to remind you that it is really important to take care of ourselves during the busy time of year. I know that we hear it. I know that we say well, let's take self care and things like that. But even at the end of the year, if you're sick, take a sick day, if you are asked to do something extra and that's not something that you can realistically add your plate say no. You know, there are things that we can do to make sure that we're setting ourselves up for success because the reality is is we're burnout at the end of the year. We're going to be grumpy. Our lessons are going to stink our kids are going to be are not going to be engaged. The classroom management issues are going to start spiraling and that's not fun for anyone nobody wants that. So take some time and relax, take some time and try to not take it so seriously and just real
10:00
The focus on creating a high quality music education environment for your students for the end of the year, but also realizing that there's a lot of things that are outside of your control and kind of go with the flow a little bit. However, you survived the end of the school year, I want you to remember what you were feeling when you started the school year, especially over the last couple of years. And those emotions might be very different from where you are now. I you know, as I go through more and more years of teaching, I realized that so much happens within a school year, you know, lives can change your, your, your personality, your your priorities can drastically change within a year. And I think it's important for us to check in where we are now at the end of the year. Remember where we were at the end of last year? And kind of think ahead and say, All right, what is the next year look like for me? What changes should I make to make my life more fulfilled? What things do I need to change? Do I need to add do I need to remove to make my classroom a place where I find more joy where the students find more joy? Above everything else? Take a moment, reflect on the year, try to go with the flow and then try to set yourself up for success in August so you're not going through your cabinets trying to find everything
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
