The downside to working in a small district is that sometimes I can feel like an island. Our district has two elementary schools, and each school has its own music teacher. I teach band, chorus, and general music for our entire school. I love that this means that I am in control of all of the students' learning from day one, and the flexibility it gives me in scheduling and teaching when necessary. However, the other elementary teacher's school ends an hour earlier than mine, so it makes it very difficult to meet. Additionally, within my building, the music room is located in the basement. I share the floor with the library and the resource room, and most of the time we aren't free at the same times.
I have always been very active online, but this year especially, I have found that this has been a wonderful addition to my professional learning network. I especially have enjoyed twitter chats on Tuesday nights under #elmused. I've also become active in several facebook communities, including "Feierabend Fundamentals" and several music teacher groups.
My favorite new professional learning opportunity has been podcasts. I love listening to them on my way to and from my community choir on Monday nights, and sometimes on my way home from work or when out on errands. I find that these podcasts give me tons of ideas for my room! I also enjoy hearing from other teachers about the daily ins and outs of their classroom and teaching.
The first podcast I started listening to is called "After Sectionals." This is run by three middle school band teachers from Texas. They teach beginning band to their sixth graders, as well as ensembles and sectionals. Each podcast episode talks about various strategies for teaching. Sometimes, they actually record a lesson with their students so you can hear the strategies being used firsthand. I love listening to them because they are funny, engaging, and very knowledgable! I have found that my beginning band teaching is improving each week as I start to use the strategies within their podcast. You can subscribe to them through a podcast listening service like iTunes, or you can find them here: Podcast: click here for the iTunes page Website: aftersectionals.com Twitter: @aftersectionals Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aftersectionals/ |
The next podcast I've been listening to is "Make Moments Matter" by blogger David Row. He has one of my favorite blogs, and I love his Teachers Pay Teachers store! His podcast is fairly new, but there is usually a new episode every 1-2 weeks! David talks about the elementary general music classroom. Each podcast follows a similar format. First he discusses a tip for ways to run your classroom, from supplies to classroom management. The next portion is about a specific folk song and ways to use it during teaching. There are ten episodes up, and I love listening to him because i feel like I am talking with someone who knows exactly what I am experiencing in my general music room, and his tips and teaching ideas are presented in such a funny and engaging way that the time flies by! Podcast: Click here for the iTunes page You can find his blog here: makemomentsmatter.org Twitter: @makemomentsmatt Facebook: facebook.com/makemomentsmattermusiced/ |
podcast: Click here for the iTunes page Blog: www.mrsmiraclesmusicroom.com Twitter: @aileenmiracle facebook: facebook.com/MrsMiraclesMusicRoom/ | podcast: Click here for the iTunes page You can find this blog here: www.anacrusic.com Twitter: @annemileski facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anacrusic/ |
The final podcast I've been loving is the "Music Tech Teacher Podcast" by Katie Wardrobe. This is another fairly new podcast, with twelve episodes since January. In this podcast, Katie talks about using technology in the music room. Each episode is themed around one task, and she discusses several options of ways to do it! Katie is clearly very knowledgable about the tech, and offers ides for all teaching levels. I find her accent and voice very calming to listen to. I also love how she ends each episode with a task or action step to try before the next podcast! Katie also hosts the Midnight Music Community, which is a place for music teachers to find online technology professional development. Podcast: Click here for the iTunes page Webpage: midnightmusic.com.au/start-here/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/midnightmusic/ |