To shoot or not to shoot... That is the question...

So here we are again, back after a hiatus. 

And this time I'm really not pleased.

Can we all agree that the question of more/less guns is a symptom?  That the idea of gun control or gun laws or reduction of gun control or reduction of gun laws is more like a band-aid?  We seem to have this problem a lot in this country.  We'll instantly come up with a thousand ways to treat the symptom, but ignore the overall cause.

"Hey doc, my mouth hurts when I go like this!"

"Well, stop doing that!"

Ok, great, but what's causing the pain in the first place?  Is there an underlying condition?  Lack of care?  Lack of proper structure to begin with?  Some foreign object/body?  Lots of questions to clarify what's really going on.

But instead of asking questions, the answer seems to be more along the lines of "Take two of these and we'll bill your insurance in the morning."

School shootings have become a thing that is on our collective conscience more and more of late.  They are becoming regular enough to not be big news until the body count gets high enough.

I find this unacceptable.

I find this offensive.

I find the only thing that makes these worse is the idea that the "Solution" is to bring more guns to the table.

I'm also bothered by the idea that the "Solution" is to vilify and ban guns entirely.

This is a case of reality not fitting neatly with one particular approach/dogma/belief.

Personally, I own no guns.  There are zero guns in my house aside from an airsoft gun that is a throwback to when my stepson and I would goof around in the yard plinking targets.  However, I am not opposed to gun ownership.  I don't own a gun primarily because the cost is high enough that it isn't on the table right now.  Notice this has nothing to do with school shootings directly, or my belief as to whether or not to bring more guns into school settings.

The "Solution" to this problem that we're having, in my opinion, has nothing to do with guns.  In fact, it has so little to do with guns as to be virtually unrelated.

Also, if you're looking for the declaration that God is missing from schools and that's the real problem, you're reading the wrong blog.

The problem, as I see it, is a lack of involvement in daily life.  In all facets.  In all situations.  From all sides.

Parents are disengaged from their kids.  Kids are disengaged from their families.  Schools are disengaged from teaching all of the intangibles that used to be taken for granted as part of the school experience to worship at the altar of the almighty Test.  We, as a society, are always looking for what's next.  When it's over.  Are we there yet. How much longer. 

I say enough is enough.  Focus on the now. Experience life as you're living it, and stop looking at the clock. 

Parents, act like it.  Be a parent.  Be involved.  Be engaged.  Come up with a way to meet your child's needs without forgetting that long term needs and immediate needs may be in conflict.  Yes, your kid may be upset right now.  Maybe even making a scene.  But is it really better to get them to be quiet while simultaneously teaching them that they're the most IMPORTANT BEING IN THE UNIVERSE AND THEIR WANTS/DESIRES/DEMANDS MUST BE MET RIGHT NOW?????  I would like to see parents using effective strategies to teach their children patience, delayed gratification, and a sense of being a part of a community rather than being a wailing monster that has to get what it wants every time and right now.

Kids, live in the moment.  As children we are naturally equipped to have not a care in the world.  But through various forces we have been training kids more and more to watch the clock and look for the escape.  A student in the midst of an activity shouldn't feel compelled to ask when it's over, hopefully they're so engaged and enthralled with the experience that they don't even think to ponder the passage of time.  I would like to see kids being able to experience life to the fullest.  And I'd like to see them do it without relying on screens and technology.  The flashy, hyperactive pace of digital entertainment isn't doing anyone any favors.  Be in the now, and enjoy the now that you're in.

Schools (and by extension, those who make laws concerning schools) should be in the business of helping students become the most well-rounded, interested, interesting, thoughtful, kind, empathetic, passionate, motivated people they can.  We've strayed too far away from the path of treating each child like an individual rather than a number on a testing form.  We need to seek something closer to a path of enlightenment.  Something that helps kids learn to appreciate learning in whatever form it presents itself.  Teach kids that learning is an active process that they are in control of.  Learning isn't something that happens in school.  Learning is literally the entire world around all of us, and if we aren't paying attention we'll miss it and have it pass us by.  Learning is a lifelong process that never ends, and we're doing our level best as a society to make sure people are trying to cram that infinite process into a box that can be packaged and sold at a premium.

Why do we have so many problems with mass shootings? 

Because people are always willing to destroy what they don't value.

Thoughts that run through an elementary music teacher's head during the course of a day

Why does that child have a teddy bear in school?

Please don't put your fingers in your mouth/nose/ears.

Why can't you follow directions?

This meeting has nothing to do with me, can I please leave?

I'd rather be practicing.

Six years of college, two teaching degrees, ten years of experience, and I have to justify my program's existence why?

No really, this meeting could have been an email.

Why am I out of coffee?

I'm out of coffee, someone might die today.

Will I get fired for the faces I make when I haven't had enough coffee?

Please don't put that in your mouth.

Why is that in your mouth?

No, you cannot go to the principal's office to tell her something really important.

Why would you need to leave my class?

Because I said so, that's why.

Will I get fired for telling students my job is harder than their parents' jobs?

No really, reply all is not a good choice.

The Only Y Chromosome.....

This year is different.  In some ways better, in some ways worse, but different nonetheless.

I am the only male teacher in my building.

Let that sink in for a moment -

the only one.

Does it effect my teaching?

Nope.

Should it?

Don't think so.

Do people think it has some kind of significance?

Strangely, yes.

I don't know why, but people seem stuck on that.  Being the only male teacher in an elementary school is apparently newsworthy to some folks.  And I suppose at first that makes sense.  You're the only one of your kind, that is enough to be a big deal in some ways.

But let's back up.

What else am I that makes me the only one?

Music teacher.

I am the only music teacher in my building, and have been the entire time I've been at this school.

I am one of three teachers in my district who have this particular feature.  The interesting thing is that nobody seems to notice or care most of the time.  And let's be honest, this is a WAY bigger challenge than gender.  I'm the only man?  So what?  I can talk to my colleagues about all kinds of things, some school related and some not.

Want to talk music?  No way.  I am the only musician in my building with credentials beyond "I used to play..."  And in discussing things with other teachers, it's easy to spot the look of incomprehensible fear that I'm going to start talking about things they don't know anything about.

Kind of like me sitting in a staff meeting, really.

The biggest challenge as part of this?

I am the only one to fight for my program.

I've been spoiled, most of the time I've had a principal who was a musician herself, so she would go to bat for all kinds of things that I never had to deal with directly.  It was great - I didn't have to explain or justify or beg or demand or deflect.  She took care of me.

Now, I have a principal with absolutely zero arts background, and it's a bit more difficult. I find myself fighting battles over things that she doesn't readily understand due largely to a lack of awareness.  I'm taking it upon myself to educate and explain and garner support every chance that I get.

The interesting thing?  I think it's possible to bring my non-arts principal around to seeing a lot of things from my perspective.

Try doing that with seeing things from my perspective as the only male teacher at my school.

(And yes, I managed to make this entire entry without a joke about leaving the toilet seat up.  Except that one. Darn.)

Don't die on me, d*mmit!

So this past school year (and the second half of the year before) I decided that blogging wasn't really going to be my thing anymore.  Clearly I couldn't keep up with it, and clearly I was lagging in making updates and writing interesting and witty things.

Fast forward to today.

It occurs to me that if nothing else I need a space to explain some things that are available for the greater good.  My Teachers Pay Teachers store needs to be expounded upon, as does some of the ideas I have for my classroom, and if nothing else I'd like to have some sort of space to think out loud and see my ideas from another perspective.  So that's what I'm going to be doing.

In many ways, this is nothing new - I've been somewhat using this blog for those purposes all along.  In other ways, I'll be curious to see what (if any) sparks of inspiration can be gained from what seems to be a blog without readership.

If there's anyone out there, care to leave a comment?

Bueller?



Also, look back here soon to see an explanation of my brand spanking new 2107-2018 Planner of Awesome!

Midyear check in!

Oh, you sad, neglected blog.

At the beginning of this year, I posted my professional goals.  I intended to use that as a springboard to document the various things I did this year to meet those goals.  This implies that I would be posting more frequently.  Sadly, this has not been the case.  Something about working 4 jobs and always having to be somewhere does not lend itself to writing blog posts.  Such is life.

Back to those professional goals, though.  I've actually done some things with them.

First of all, I tackled my file cabinet as intended.  I now have my one functional file drawer organized in a useful manner. The first section is for emergency sub plans and procedures, with a laminated set of class lists, just in case.  The great thing about this is that if something comes up and I am not able to be at school unexpectedly (which means something along the lines of... a bear attack, I suppose?), there are enough plans and activities in that drawer (and in the office) to keep my classes busy for several days (while my limbs are reattached, I suppose).  I also tossed the old paperwork that was serving no purpose. Honestly, I don't know why it took 5 years to scrap the fundraising paperwork from 2009, but apparently it did.  I also organized my IEP/504/Medical Alert folders so they were clear and consistent and easier to access, put my copy masters together, and rearranged a few other categories as well.

Essentially, I feel like I started using a file cabinet like a grown-up.  Now if only I had a hanging frame for more than one drawer....

What you can't see is the frustration caused by trying to file things that have no place to be filed.  Argh.

The two middle drawers still have my pool noodle rhythm pieces, I need to find a time to use those again soon.

The bottom drawer is mostly sound-related stuff - microphones, cables, microphone boxes, etc. Some day I will go back through this and make sure everything in that drawer is organized, too.  But not today.

Second goal - organization of my table/desk space and mailboxes!

I am not going to show a picture of these.  They're currently a big jumbled mess.  This is partly due to just having a concert last night, and partly due to me being a mess when it comes to organization.  In some ways the switch to a smaller table has helped.  It frees up a little space in the room, and limits the surface area that is able to be cluttered.  In other ways, it didn't make a difference.  I still find myself with piles, I still end up perching things precariously next to my laptop, and sometimes that is a recipe for disaster.  However, thanks to the laws of physics, those piles are a bit smaller than they had been.

Yes, please.  But not the chair. It looks uncomfortable.

The mailboxes have worked great so far, especially since I have not done my usual routine with student folders.  I need to get on those folders, since my mailboxes are pretty much filled with student work.  I also have some things stacked on top of those boxes, but not as badly as it has been in the past.  Baby steps, I suppose.

Also, I ended up taking a large shipping label, measuring and marking out the small pieces I needed, and cutting them out and attaching them to the small binder clips to make labels for each class.  I think it looks pretty darn good, especially since my handwriting is a bit suspect at times.

Third - the hot rod music cart!  So having a PVC tube with drum sticks in it has been useful.  The problem I have run into is that zip ties and smooth PVC aren't exactly the most secure means of attachment.  What has happened is that one zip tie has slid off, which caused the whole thing to tilt.  The good news is that makes the opening point toward me when I stand at the cart.  The bad news is it also flops around and sticks out kind of awkwardly.  What I think I will do is drill a couple small holes in the side of the pipe, then lag bolt it to the cart to hold it in position at a slight angle.  Every now and then when I (or a student) move the cart those sticks will catch on something.  Not a huge problem, but fairly annoying.  Also, I don't like my slick cart looking kind of ghetto.

Fourth - greater student independence.  This is definitely a work in progress, but I have in many ways increased the things I have students do on their own exponentially.  Sometimes I still have to spell things out in ridiculously literal terms, but most of the time I can give a direction and set the kids to it.  It usually works out as planned, but not always.  One of the most helpful things in this area is definitely the use of band and strings students as helpers in general music. These are the kids who spend the most time in my room, so they are the most familiar with things.  They're also less likely to do silly things that they shouldn't, so I am able to trust them with more responsibility.  One more reason parents should encourage their kids to learn an instrument.


I have a confession to make.  It's terrible, yet funny all at the same time.

Thankfully, this is not my confession.

Funny.  But not mine.

One of my ongoing goals is to become more organized, to keep ahead of messes, to avoid creating piles, etc.

I had a student a few days ago ask why my room was so messy.

I kind of hung my head and mumbled "...I know..."

The good news is that I had it mostly sorted out with a couple days.  The bad news is that the struggle is very real and continues.  However, for my two remaining professional development credits I plan on taking a course on practical classroom organization strategies.  Hopefully if the course is structured like I understand it to be it will be a better resource than looking at music ed blogs and Pinterest.  If not, I'll at least have two credits out of it and my room won't be any worse organizationally.

If you have a great organization system, would you be so kind as to share it?  I feel that all teachers can benefit from the ideas of others, especially in our own personal area of weakness.

Until next time, keep up that good work, folks!

Professional Goals For This Year

Happy New School Year!

I am currently waiting to begin our open house in a few hours.  We will get to meet new families, see new faces, and see families and students that we have known for years.  I am excited to get a new, fresh start to the year, and there are a lot of things I will try to improve from previous years.

First and foremost, my main goal for this year is to finally be organized for more than the first few weeks of the year.  Sometime this week I will tackle my file cabinet.  I am dreading that, as it hasn't been cleaned out since I started at this school.

Looks so peaceful and inoffensive from the outside....

EEEEEEEEK!  So... much... unnecessary.... junk..........

 Last year I switched from  my teacher desk to a round table in the hopes that I could keep that better organized.  That ended up proving to be hopeless.  This year I have switched from the round table to a trapezoid table that is about half the size.  Less surface area means less clutter, right?  I plan on using my mailbox organizer to better effect throughout the school year, using it to stage copies for each class rather than hold random sets of papers that may or may not ever be needed again.  I've even added binder clips to the front of each slot to use for labels.  Now I just have to find tiny labels that will fit the tiny binder clips.

My hot rod music cart is still in service, and continues to evolve.  This year's evolution involves zip-tying my PVC drumstick caddy on one leg.  I am hopeful that keeping those sticks close will encourage my percussionists to stop losing them.

I have rearranged my word wall, though it still needs some tweaking.  Now everything is visible from anywhere in the room, and I hope to be able to use the various word wall categories to greater effect.  It's bugging me that a couple of them are a  little crooked, so I know what I'll be doing shortly.

So here it is. My classroom in all its almost-organized glory.  You can see where my girlfriend made her mark on the chalkboards, and the old piano waiting to be taken away, you might even be able to see the leak stains on the ceiling if you look closely.

Another of my professional goals for the year is to foster greater student independence.  I have pencils and other writing items set where students can easily get them.  I have placed my classroom rhythm instruments in open bins at the front of the room to make them easier to get to.  I plan on assigning students to be passer-outers for these items to help free me up and foster smoother transitions.  I am hopeful that anything I can do to encourage students to be more procedurally independent will lend itself to them being more independent in other areas as well.  Which as a music teacher really means I'm trying one more sneaky way to encourage kids to practice at home.

We all have our cross to bear.

My third goal for the year is to be more open to spontaneous performance opportunities and to schedule more opportunities for students to perform for each other and for me.  My girlfriend gave me a small lectern and folding chair, so I have them set up in the corner to use as a performance spot. I'm thinking that I will give students the chance at least once a month to perform something for their classmates, whether it is singing, playing an instrument, or some other kind of performance.  I think I may finally be getting past my feeling of not having enough time for that or not wanting kids to get up in front of their classmates and waste our time with a "performance" that is really just a chance to be in the spotlight doing nothing.  I'm still working out the logistics on this, so I would love to hear ideas and suggestions.

So that's it for now!  I am entering my 8th year of teaching this year, and feel like every year gets easier in some ways and more difficult in others.  I plan to be the best music teacher I can be this year, and do the best I can for all of my students.  That's really all we as educators can do, so here we go!

Teacher Appreciation Week and Teachers Pay Teachers Sale!

Today marks the beginning of May.  For some, that means that Spring is in full swing, the birds and bees are out doing their thing, the weather is nice, plants are starting to peek their leaves out, and the pollen is in full force.  For me, it means that I am coming ever closer to the end of the school year and all of the work that brings with it.  I have grades to enter, assessments to give, paperwork to file, certificates to create, 5th grade promotion to run, one more concert to put on, etc. etc. etc.  The end of the school year always becomes a mad dash to the finish to try and squeeze everything in.

One of the best parts, though, is that the beginning of May also brings Teacher Appreciation Week.  This is a fantastic time around my school, as the PTA comes up with a lot of very thoughtful ways to show how much they appreciate the teachers in our building.  Usually we have lunch provided (and sometimes breakfast) most of the week, a few odds and ends that show up in our mailboxes, and the occasional note from a student or several.  These are all fantastic ways to re-energize to the end of the school year.

It's always good to feel appreciated.  Especially at the end of state-mandated testing (which may prove to be the death of me).

On top of the Teacher Appreciation activities at individual schools around the country, TeachersPayTeachers is offering a site-wide sale!  This is always a good thing.  On top of their discount, I will be offering every item in my store at a 20% discount.  That means you can get anything in my store for a combined total of 28% off!

What could be better than that?

Well, in celebration of a milestone for me (I just checked, and I have 40 products available!), I am going to offer an extra day of sale immediately following the TpT sale.  The official site-wide sale will run May 5-6.  My sale will by May 7, and will be a 20% off sale on the entire store.

I highly recommend if you've been looking for Boomwhacker activities that you check out my Boomwhacker Bundle, this will be a fantastic chance to get it at a great price.  Also, if you purchase it now and I update it to include more in the future, you'll get all of the new material for FREE!

I don't know about you, but I like free.

Ok, that's enough of the sales pitch.  I hope you have a fantastic conclusion to your school year, and I'll be back with actual educational writing soon!

It's the little things...

I just spent about 15 minutes making a set of diagrams that I hope will solve one of my most annoying general music problems.  All they are is a layout of the bars for my Orff instruments. One has blank bars, one has all the bars labeled for C major, one is labeled for G major, one is labeled for F major, and the last is set up for C major pentatonic.

I don't know about you, but time lost explaining which bars go where is one of the most annoying aspects of my job.  Never mind that we talk about the musical alphabet.  Never mind that the bars are obviously sized to go in order largest to smallest.  Never mind that the layout of the bars is logical and visually obvious.

Asking students to use their powers of observation and problem-solve is sometimes just too much.

And I sigh heavily.

I don't know why it has taken me so long to think of providing a clear visual of each particular Orff bar set up that we use.



Thankfully, they are in my TeacherspayTeachers store now and ready to use.

 

Tada!

My first thought is the obvious - post this on the Interactive Whiteboard when having students change the bar configuration.  No surprise there.  My second thought is to use them to discuss scales and key signatures.  Also no surprise.  Third, these might come in handy for a class that is too big to have everyone on an instrument.  The third grade at my school is definitely the largest, and to get them all on an instrument would be a challenge (except we're almost exclusively doing recorders now). Having kids use their fingers to find the bars on a printout of the instrument is almost as good as playing if it comes to that.

Another thought is to have students fill in the blank bars as an assessment.  Can they remember what every bar is?  Can they label just the bars that are needed in a one-octave C Major scale?  Can they remember what bars to remove to do a C Major Pentatonic scale?  Can they remember what bar changes to make a G or F Major Scale, and what note/bar becomes do?  There are quite a few assessment possibilities here.  I plan on using many of them, particularly with my fourth and fifth grade students.

The most amazing thing about these diagrams?  They're such a little thing - such an insignificant effort - but I think they will make a big difference in my classroom.  At least I hope they will help alleviate one of the most annoying things that happens in my room.

Hopefully you'll find these useful!  Good luck, and we're in the home stretch of the school year!

Why I don't agree with standardized testing as THE TOOL for evaluation.

Today was a first for me.

Not that I did anything different in my morning routine, or that I did anything out of the ordinary when I got to my classroom.  The first was much more subtle and surprising.

I agreed with a news article from Texas regarding education.

What?  Is that possible?  How can it be?

No, really.  I have never before read an article about education out of Texas without feeling like it held a deeply flawed view, or perhaps was promoting some sort of twisted version of how school should be.

But today I read an article about Pearson and their stranglehold on the current educational climate in the US.  Not only that, but how they have gone out of their way to discredit those who find fault with their standardized testing products.  In particular, the article is about the efforts of Dr. Walter Stroup, and his testimony before the Texas State Legislature.

Here's the link to the article: http://www.texasobserver.org/walter-stroup-standardized-testing-pearson/.

If you'd like the summary, essentially it goes like this:  Pearson's tests are highly accurate, but not at measuring student learning or student growth.  Instead, the tests are highly accurate at measuring a student's ability to take a test.  And for this finding, Pearson has largely discredited a tenured UT professor and seems to be doing what they can to end his career.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, in that the current educational climate reflects a belief that what schools need is more testing, not more instruction of higher caliber.  I teach in a school system that had to conduct a system-wide infrastructure test that lasted roughly two weeks in January just to see if the computer resources in the county could handle the load from state testing.  In short, it worked, but just barely.  Students were kicked out of test sessions because of computer issues left and right.  Teachers had to scramble to keep things running.  Essentially the system only worked if enough people could frantically keep the plates spinning to avoid everything crashing down on them.

This took two weeks.  State testing will last another 3-4 weeks starting next month.  This means that the collective time spent just administering this test is growing.  To top it all off, this doesn't even touch the issue that many of the standards are flawed, or developmentally inappropriate, or just outright unrealistic.  Tell me why Kindergarteners are expected to know what had previously been taught in 1st grade.  Tell me why the term "Rigor" has come to mean "Difficult for the sake of difficulty."  Tell me at what point do teachers get to teach what they are supposed to teach.

In many ways, I count myself lucky.  I teach elementary music, which means that I do not have a standardized test to administer for my subject area.  In previous years this has led to an entirely ridiculous notion that in order to be taken seriously the arts must come up with some kind of test for ourselves.  Thankfully this year we have been allowed to use performance assessments based on rubrics and student performance of actual age-appropriate skills.

Hallelujah.

Is it too much to ask that educators be allowed to make educational policy?  And is it too much to ask that educators make that policy based on what is BEST for our students?  Best as in a truly appropriate educational decision is one that helps students learn, think, and grow?  I, for one, do not care what kind of money is in it for testing companies like Pearson.  Instead, I care for my students.  I care for my fellow educators.  I care for the families that see their children stressed out by high stakes testing at the ripe old age of eight.  Why should an eight year old child have to worry about performance on a standardized test?  How about instead they worry about learning the best approach to solving a math problem, or the type of reading they like best, or what instruments they want to learn to play, or how best to paint or draw, or what physical fitness really means.  How about they learn what happened at important moments in history, or where in Europe they can find Austria, or what kind of chemical mixture might cause an interesting reaction?

Who cares about standardized tests?

The companies that write them.

And the politicians who enforce them.

Hopefully those politicians can be shown the way of true education and meaningful learning and assessment before it's too late.

In the meantime, anybody want to make some music?

TeachersPayTeachers Sale Extended!

Good snowy morning!

Ok, I'll admit it, I am NOT thrilled about the snow that is currently falling outside.  Partly because I need clear part of my roof to avoid making the leak worse that I discovered during the last snow melt.  But mostly because we were just getting back to having everyone back into the routines of school.  Things were finally getting back to normal, projects were underway, learning was happening.... And now... more snow.

Sigh.

But there is a bright side to today.  TeachersPayTeachers has extended their Teachers Are Heroes sale another day.  They are offering up to 28% off sitewide for an extra day!

Thankfully, teachers are the kind of hero that doesn't wear tights.  Well, mostly.

For me, that means that you can snag absolutely everything in my store for 28% off using the discount code HEROES at checkout.  Want to save almost $3 on music education resources?  Try the Great Big Boomwhacker and Orff Collection!  Looking for some beginning band arrangments?  How about Chameleon or Kookaburra?  You could also go straight to my storefront and browse the items that are on sale for less than a dollar! 

So hopefully this TpT sale will help keep you warm on a snowy Winter's day.  And fingers are crossed that the snow stops soon and melts this afternoon and we're back on track tomorrow. (A teacher can hope, right?)

Teachers Pay Teachers Sale!

Greetings!  I just wanted to make sure anyone and everyone knows about the upcoming TeachersPayTeachers sale - Teachers are Heroes!

On Wednesday, February 25th, everything sitewide is going to be 10% off using promo code HEROES, and many stores will be an additional discount up to 20%.  My store is going to be 20% every item, so by combining the two discounts you can save 28% on anything I have listed.  This is a great opportunity if you're looking at possibly purchasing any of my Boomwhacker resources or beginning band or orchestra arrangements.  Those are the most expensive items in my store, so this is a great chance to scoop them up at a discount.  Here are direct links to each item:

Boomwhackers Introduction Powerpoint

Mary Had a Little Lamb Boomwhacker

Boomwhacker Song Collection #1

Boomwhacker Song Collection #1 with Heart Beats

Boomwhacker Song Collection #1 with Notation

Boomwhacker Song Collection #2 (Pentatonic Songs)

Great Big Boomwhacker Collection

Orff Instrument Bar Labels with Boomwhacker Colors

Big Rock Candy Mountain for Violin

Chameleon for Elementary Band

Kookaburra for Elementary Band


Alternately, you can click the link below to go directly to my storefront:

Have a great week, everyone!

Composition! Or, The Colors, Man, The Colors!

Greetings, internet!

I really am trying to be better about regularly posting, but it is a struggle.  It's funny how working three jobs gets in the way of writing blog posts.  And by funny I mean causes ridiculous amounts of angst.  I was reminded recently of just how much I'm not at home when I looked around the house and counted the number of projects that still need finishing.  I spent most of my Sunday afternoon cleaning up our rabbit cage because it had gotten nasty, a direct result of me not being home enough to keep up with it.

But I digress.

I assume you're here for a post about music education, right?  After all, this is The Mobile Music Mansion, not Mr. Earley's Dysfunctional Rabbit Farm.

AWEEEEEEOWEEOOWEOMUMBAWAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY......

So here we go.

I have gotten back into using a resource that I had created last year - the Boomwhackers Song Collections.  There are currently two available on my Teachers Pay Teachers store

(Collection 1 and Collection 2), and I am working on some new ones.  If you haven't clicked over to see what those activities are about, I'll give you a brief rundown.  Essentially I started using squares and rectangles that were color coded to match the Boomwhacker colors as a means of introducing notation to my youngest students.  I am not a fan of using the little pictograph representations of notes, since I've never seen music notated with smiling bees or anthropomorphic suns and hearts and stars.  Instead, I wanted to use something that would make a logical sequence of reading left to right, grouping by beat, and applying what is read to the instruments at hand.  This works great with Boomwhackers, and even better when scaffolded into Orff instruments.  All of my barred instruments have color coded labels to match the Boomwhackers as well, and students can make a logical transition to playing those instruments after a little time spent practicing on the Boomwhackers.  This can then lead to using traditional notation with colored note heads, and then purely traditional notation.  I am still in the development stages of this plan, so there is a long way to go with implementing this and seeing/measuring the results, but I have high hopes.

Some day I hope to have matching mallets for each instrument

I'm starting to think that maybe I need to spend some more time with Kindergarten and first grade earlier on in the school year to develop the sense of steady beat and tracking the beat while listening.  This is something that my students frequently struggle with, and is at least partly (stereotype warning!) a result of having middle-class Caucasian students forming the bulk of the student body.  These are kids who don't grow up experiencing music as something that they do, but instead as something that exists beyond them, perhaps on a shelf only to be taken out on days they have music class.  I want to move my students to a place where music is part of their everyday life and expression, something that they do without thinking, without hesitating, and without fear of whether it is "good enough."  (I think of this as the "American Idol Phenomenon" - what if we grew up thinking that we weren't good enough because some celebrity judge said we weren't any good?  What  complex to create in young people. But that is another rant for another time,)

Simon says that was the worst improvised ostinato he's ever heard paired with Mary Had a Little Lamb.  You should just stop.

The more students are experiencing music in a hands-on, applied, real sense, the more it becomes a part of who they are.  My goal is to foster that as much as I can in as many students as I can.  It kills me to hear students talk about music like it's some mystery.  Music is all around us, music is a part of what makes us human.

If I can use a bunch of colored rectangles and squares to help reinforce that integral musical part of all of us, I am 100% in.

So then what's next?

Well, in my view that would be composition.  But gone are the days when I would just hand out staff paper to my oldest students and have them write meaningless combinations of notes.  I have been working with students creating ostinatos, which has been nice, but let's go several steps further.  What if students were creating something that had meaning to them, as well as its own musical meaning?  By all means, let's do it!

So I give you color coded composition.  Also, alliteration.  :)

What I am trying now is to have students use construction paper cut to the same relative sizes as the squares and rectangles in the Boomwhacker Song Collections.  I spent a little time working out the measurements I could use, then cut them out of red, orange, yellow, dark green, and purple paper, thus making a C pentatonic scale.  At first I am planning to introduce the concept by giving students a few pieces to work with and having them see what they can come up with.  No rules - anarchy in the music room!  We will arrange the pieces and then perform them for the class, discussing what we hear.  Then, I plan to given a worksheet/template to each student giving some guidelines - mostly beat groupings (hello, time signatures!), but also reinforcing Do as the tonic note.

With my youngest students, it will just be practice to get used to the idea of organizing notes by how they sound, reinforcing Do, and getting to use the Boomwhackers and Orff instruments to create music.

For my second graders, I hope to have them really apply their knowledge of staff notation and transfer what they have done by color onto the treble staff, thus creating true compositions that they can give to anyone and have it played.

Long term, I hope to never again have a student look at a piece of music then look at me and say "I can't read this."

Fingers are crossed.

I'll keep you posted!

Merry Happy ChristmaHanuKwanzicaa! And a Teachers Pay Teachers sale. Hooray!

Last night I had the second of my two December concerts.  I say December because they are not generally holiday concerts as I do them, though I have been known to do the odd Chrstimas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa performance.  This was my 2nd and 3rd grade performance.  The kids did great, though things got a bit hairy a few times, as they are wont to do.  The best part was my third grade student with Autism, who had a fantastic time.  He spent a fair amount of time dancing around while we sang, but stayed within the realm of what was fine with me, and clearly enjoyed his experience very much.  That really made my night, seeing the joy on his face.

The downside of the night was definitely the parent who cornered me and wanted to know (because her son asked, or so she said - way to use your kid as an excuse) why we sang a Hanukkah song and no Christmas songs.  I explained to her (just as I had announced to the audience during the performance) that with yesterday being the beginning of Hanukkah (or maybe the 2nd day, I had conflicting dates on that one), it seemed very fitting to perform a Hanukkah song.  In addition, I talked about the cultural piece of the music curriculum and the other holidays that I incorporated into this time of year to give the students a broader view of holiday practices from around the world.  She didn't seem impressed, and pretty much implied that it made her angry.  It took a lot of self-control to not tell her where she could go with her Christmas-centric view of a December performance.  Now, don't get me wrong, I celebrate Christmas, and like to view it as intended, with it being a celebration of the birth of Christ, a focus on family time, and being together and enjoying the company of both family and friends.  I do not, however, for one moment believe that a concert in December has to be Christmas related.  Beyond that, I also reject the expectation that I do a concert based on a parent's view of what music I should do.  But that's another topic altogether.

So I am extremely thankful that my two December concerts are finished, I am pleased with how well the kids performed, and I am very much looking forward to Winter Break.  Those happen to be two of my three favorite words in all of the English language (the third being Summer).


Now the other purpose of this post - a sale!  I am going to be throwing a sale in my TeachersPayTeachers store from now until Christmas.  If you are a music teacher and want to buy yourself a little something, or know a music teacher who could use a little something, or are just interested in a little music education sort of activity, everything in my store is 20% off!  My store can be found at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Nathan-Earley.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and a Happy New Year!

Product Review - Sherman's Bass Rosin

Wow, back so soon?  It's almost like a regular blog or something!

Today is a product review day - maybe some day if I get truly organized I can have a regular product review day of the week.  Wacky Wednesdays?  Weekly Wednesdays of Wonder?  Wow.  I'll have to work on that.  If anyone has a better suggestion I am all ears.

Enough with the word play, on to the review!  Today we're talking about Sherman's Bass Rosin.

This is something I bought just out of a need (more like desperation, really) as I had zero rosin for my school's double bass.  This became especially important when I had a student who was interested in playing said double bass - the first time since the instrument came to the school that someone other than me would be using it.

All of my experience with bass rosin prior to purchasing the Sherman's was with Pop's Bass Rosin - the stuff that comes in the little red plastic tub with the attached lid; you open it up and there is the rosin cake sitting in a little paper cup.

This stuff.  Notice the paper medicine cup.

I always had the feeling that this was someone's solution to dealing with the mess of making rosin who cared more about their post-production cleanup than the actual end user's experience.  The paper cup is good in theory, but as you use the rosin you have to peel the sides down, which inevitably (for me, anyway) led to sticky fingers, the awful sensation of the bow scraping the paper, and a lot more mess than I felt was truly necessary.  And heaven help you if you ever leave the rosin somewhere warm.  Good luck prying it out of that cup.  It's like trying to chip off an ice block without the aid of melting.

Enter the Sherman's rosin.

This stuff.  In case you forgot.

It comes in a regular wooden tray just like any other student rosin - almost like bass players are considered to be the same as the violinists, violists, and cellists!  I know, crazy town.  The nice thing about these trays is that they allow for true shadow bowing while you rosin.  This is how I have students practice their bow technique - hold the rosin about where your bridge would be and bow, whether you're bowing a song or just back and forth.  The idea is to reinforce the muscle memory on straight bowing, which is so wonderfully facilitated by the sides of the wooden (sometimes plastic) trays.  The downside to the trays is also one of their strengths.  The ends of the tray are open, so there is nothing holding the edges of the rosin back.  This means that if you have a student who drops their rosin like one of mine did last week, it will not only chip and crack, but also start to fall out.  So perhaps this isn't the best solution from a durability standpoint.

As far as performance of the actual rosin, I have not noticed any difference between the Sherman's and the Pop's rosin.  I will be completely honest in that I have not really paid attention to the sound quality of the rosin in particular, but I have not noticed students having more or less issues using either rosin.  At the very least I can say it does not cause any more issues that the Pop's rosin.

And now my favorite part of my Sherman's Bass Rosin experience: the price.  Sherman's rosin costs $3.95 over at Johnson String Instrument (they also sell through Amazon), while the Pop's rosin is listed at $8.95.  Now, I am all for paying extra for higher quality when necessary, but if you're in a situation like mine where students have far more important things to worry about than their particular grade of rosin, I'll take a major cost savings where possible.  Like I tell my students - get to where you can play all of your notes and rhythms 100% correct 100% of the time and we'll worry about the tiny details then.  Now that is not to say that I wouldn't attribute any kind of benefit to improving the quality of your rosin.  Quite the opposite.  If it helps you play better I am all for it.  The thing is, I'm tired of hearing students talk about their playing difficulties like there is some magical accessory out there that will make up for their lack of consistent practice.

"No, really, Mr. Earley, if I get this $200 rosin that was pressed from old growth Douglas Fir trees in virgin forest land in the Pacific Northwest I'll totally be able to play everything perfectly.  My fifteen minutes of practice a week might even be able to be reduced to ten!"

Not me.  I am not an Asian woman.  Just to be clear.

Right.  More like if you practiced five minutes a week it would be a 500% improvement over the current time spent with the instrument.

But that's the cynical music teacher in me that gets tired of being "fibbed" to on a weekly basis.

And I digress.



So my overall impression and recommendation?

Sherman's Bass Rosin is an excellent value for the money, especially for a student who doesn't have issues with dropping things.  I would love to have a student who progressed far enough that I could hear a limitation of this rosin, but I teach 3-5 strings.  Maybe if it was high school I'd have someone at that point, but not at the elementary level.

Also, as a side note - I am giving very serious thought to an experiment.  I'd like to see if I could re-melt the rosin to get rid of the cracks from it being dropped.  I watched a video of a guy making rosin, and have heard of folks who make their own regularly, so it looks to me like it's a question of getting to the right temperature, holding it long enough, then allowing the rosin to cool properly.

If any of you read a news story about a music teacher from Maryland getting killed by his girlfriend for messing up her oven, you'll know that's me.

Also not me.  But the beard is at least heading in the right direction.

But more on that later.

Wow, that's a bit of a break....

Let me start off by apologizing to my followers - all both of you.  I did not intend to take such a long break from my blog, it just kind of happened.  So with that said, here's a quick summary of what I've had going on this school year:

- I started the year with a student intern named Grace, and she had some of the most original ideas for elementary music I've ever seen.  We did an activity with a loop pedal for her second observation and had the students create a loop-based composition using improvised body percussion and vocal sounds.

- I have students who are struggling like never before to play brass instruments.  Two trombones and a trumpet, all three who started at the same time; one of the trombones plays everything too low, the other trombone and trumpet play everything too high.  It's making for a bit of a beginning band struggle.

- I was observed by my principal doing concert prep.  Very strange.  We dissected the form of one of their concert pieces which made for a very useful lesson, but I'm a little concerned it cost me some valuable time that could have been spent on performing and rehearsing.  The neat thing is that I  think I did the best lesson on form that I have ever done, and I will absolutely use it as a touchstone throughout the year.  (Also pretty awesome is that the write-up for my observation was overwhelmingly positive - we'll see how that comes up in the post-observation conference.)

- I have second grade students working on rhythmic fluency using pool noodle notes as well as a worksheet I created.  They are using the noodles to work out rhythms in three dimensions and getting used to drawing notes on the paper, which is a pairing of ideas I got from Tracy King over at Mrs. King Rocks.  If you haven't already, go check out her blog and then her Teachers Pay Teachers store, they're both pretty fantastic.

- First grade and Kindergarten have been working on found sounds, body percussion, and enhancing stories with sound effects and music.  This is especially great around this time of year as I have found many great Halloween-related activities.  As a side note, I have no students at my school with any kind of religious or cultural barriers to celebrating the various holidays throughout the year; I cannot begin to tell you how much easier that makes my job.

My beginning band and strings groups are making progress, painful though it is to listen to at times.  My choir is off to a good start, though I suspect I could be pushing them a little harder.  We have honor chorus starting this week, which I am really looking forward to (aside from fighting traffic to make it to the rehearsals on time).  In about 2 1/2 weeks we have our fourth and fifth grade concert, which should be interesting.  Here's to hoping we pull it off in time!

So that's what's going on in my world, how about yours?

And now for something completely different...

Good morning, internet!

So usually I tend to write about things like classroom setup, goofy things kids have done, projects in the classroom, ideas I've had, and things I am working on.

Today we're going to talk about something that is just a little outside of that norm.

Food.

Yes, food.

I promise this is teaching related.

No, really - it's teaching related.

On April 21st, my girlfriend and I decided to start a program called Whole 30.  Recently the creators of the Whole 30 program have been on TV and radio, as well as featured on blogs and on their own website, as well as in several books.

This came from a suggestion from my girlfriend who sent me a text message to research the program.  Of course, being the obliging boyfriend that I am, I immediately Googled what this was all about.  And promptly dismissed it as ridiculous, too hard, too exclusive, and reeking of some Hippie/Vegan/Earth Child nonsense (and that, dear readers, is how to alienate and irritate multiple groups of people all at once!).

A week later, she brought it up again, and said that a coworker of hers was actually about halfway through and couldn't believe how well it was going.  I essentially decided that I could do it, but would have to do the reading and studying and preparing necessary first, so I promptly bought a Kindle edition of "It Starts With Food."  Before the end of the first chapter or two I was sold.


The entire idea behind the program is that you are eating too much of everything that is bad for you, and that includes some things that you think are healthy.  The bulk of the program revolves around a simple idea: eat nothing but whole food - lean protein, vegetables, fruits, and good fats - for thirty days.  You must exclude all added sweeteners (including honey and agave, especially including artificial sweeteners like aspartame), all grains and pseudo-grains (sorry, no quinoa!), all dairy with the exception of clarified butter and ghee (they give you instructions on how to make your own), white potatoes, alcohol, soy, and legumes.

Now just hold on there one cotton pickin' minute.  Soy?  That's what the health nuts eat!  Legumes??? Those have important nutrients!  No grains at all?  Meh... Dairy?  Isn't milk supposed to do a body good?  Just what kind of tree-hugger crap is this?

Where's the tofu, man?

Actually, those are just about the exact thoughts that went through my mind upon reading the basic tenets of the program.  The funny thing is, after 3 weeks of doing this program, I don't really miss those food items.  Sure, there are a lot of things I can't have right now, and lots of things I may never really eat again (especially in any kind of quantity), but it's absolutely worth it.  There is nothing nutrition-wise in any of those things that you can't get from eating the right food.  Even better, if you are careful about selecting produce that has been grown without the use of chemicals and meat that has been pastured/free-ranged/grass-fed, you're eating far cleaner anyway.  I had started to buy into the idea that maybe pesticides and fertilizers and herbicides and whatnot weren't really something I wanted in my food stream, but hadn't done much of anything about it.  It's expensive.  But since I've begun doing research (some through the internet, some just using the old taste bud approach), I'm coming to find that it is frequently worth it.

As a side note, one of the guiding rules is not to step on the scale for the entire 30 days.

I'll tell you right now that I've broken that rule.  In my defense, my girlfriend started it.

But what's more - in three weeks I've lost 11 pounds without doing a darn thing outside of my normal routine (aside from cooking more).

I have more energy, I don't usually find myself sagging mid-afternoon, I feel better overall, and the 11 pounds I lost came straight off my stomach where I was carrying around all of the adult beverages I have consumed directly or indirectly as a result of being a teacher.  Even better, I've found myself to be less irritable and more patient in general, which was becoming a real problem.  I've always been one of the most patient, laid-back people I knew.  Until about a year ago.  I suddenly realized that I was getting irked or frustrated or downright angry about stupid things that never bothered me in the past.  Having changed my diet, I have definitely noticed a return to how things were.  I know that the folks around me had to have noticed as well.

Now here is the connection to teaching:

I TEACH BETTER WHEN I AM NOT FEELING CRAPPY!

I have had more energy to do things in the classroom this past three weeks. I have had more good ideas flowing this past three weeks.  I have felt more like I am being a positive influence.  I have had more patience.  I am better able to deal with student behaviors and troubles.  Overall I am a much better, more effective teacher, all because I am not fighting with myself to get through the day so I can go crash at home.

I look around the building and see teachers eating leftover pizza, frozen meals that are full of sodium and preservatives, tons of bread and cookies and muffins, and all kinds of things that I'm not allowing myself to have.  And to be honest, I think I can say without a doubt that I feel physically better than anyone else in my building.  And for once, that's not just because I am 15 years younger than the average!  One of the other specialists in my building has been complaining of digestive tract distress for a year now.  Go figure, it all seems to have started when she moved out of her parents house, had no one else to cook for her, and started eating prepackaged everything.  Essentially she has salt-cured herself and loaded herself down with every preservative used in today's prepared meal industry.  I (and another teacher) have tried to show her how much better she could feel with a change in diet, but she is determined it's too much work.

Yes, it is a lot of work to cook for yourself.

But are you an adult or a helpless baby?

I know for a fact that I spend an extra 4-5 hours per week in the kitchen compared to what I did a month ago.  Some weeks it's more like an extra 10 hours.  And this is on top of working 3 jobs.  It's a lot of work.  But since I don't have ridiculous exercise requirements on top of all that cooking, I'm okay with it.

The best part is that I get to eat literally as much as I want.

Let me repeat that:

I GET TO EAT AS MUCH AS I WANT!

Now, that doesn't mean I get to gorge on whatever I'm eating and go until I can't possibly take another bite.  Instead, it means that if I want a few more sweet potato fries, I have no reason not to.  If I want a big plate of leafy vegetables, peppers, carrots, and pork chops I can have it.  I'm even encouraged to cook with lard and tallow!  I haven't yet - still trying to win the girlfriend over on that one - but if I had it, I could use it!  I've been making sweet potato hash and fried eggs frequently for breakfast, and eating an entire plate full.  And in case you've forgotten, I've LOST WEIGHT doing it!

Pictured: Deliciousness.  Also, weight loss.

Another side note - I actually really like another one of the guiding principles behind this program.  There are no cheat days.  In their book, Dallas and Melissa Hartwig actually specifically say that the only "slip" is if you were to physically fall face first into an open box of donuts with your mouth open.  And no, that doesn't mean you can add open boxes of donuts to your home decor hoping to improve your chances.  For three weeks the only to "slips" I've had were for two (I think) good reasons.  First, the guy at Chipotle misunderstood and put hot salsa on my salad - it is made with chipotle Tabasco, which has sugar in minute quantities. No big deal, the rest of the meal was delicious, and I didn't feel any ill effects.  Second, I ran the Warrior Dash last weekend with my girlfriend, her son, and a friend of ours.  At the end I indulged myself with my celebratory free beer that was included in the cost of the race.  I felt like crap for about 24 hours.  No guilt, just consequences - I consumed something that had negative effects on my body, I dealt with those negative effects, and now I am back on track. (I'll admit, I am very disappointed - I love good beer.  I especially love semi-free celebratory beer after achieving something.  Sigh.)

So if you are looking for that next thing to improve your teaching, this is it.  If you find yourself reaching for another can of Diet Coke (what is it with teachers and Diet Coke???), this is better.

Pictured: the enemy

If you have an unhealthy relationship with food, this is the solution.  Overall, I don't think there is anything I could have done for professional development this year that would have had as significant an impact on my teaching as this has.  It's truly amazing what my change in diet has done for me personally and professionally.

Just as a reminder, I want to leave you with this thought - I refused to do this when I first read about it.  I'm a meat and potatoes and barbecue and beer guy.  Hardcore.  Ron Swanson is my spirit animal.  Even though I am coming from that sort of angle, I am completely sold on Whole 30 and have no intention of going back to my terrible food habits, even after my 30 days are up.  Will I reintroduce things that I haven't had for this whole time?  Yes.  I plan to indulge myself in some delicious ice cream the first day I'm done with the program.  However, I will eat it in a small quantity, and won't be surprised if I find it to be disgustingly sweet.

Sometimes them's the breaks.