Each Monday evening at 8PM EST, music teachers get together and share ideas about important topics within music education. It’s a great chance to interact directly with educators from all over the world and to get new tips and tricks to help you succeed in the classroom. The entire #musedchat discussion is organized and moderated by Joe Guarr.
It's time for #musedchat! Our topic tonight: your professional goals for 2018-19. Be sure to introduce yourself!
And post a gif that describes how your first couple weeks of school have gone.
Burton Hable, formerly 6-12 band director from Ankeny, IA. Currently, DMA Candidate in Music Ed through @BUOnline in Charlottesville, VA! My first week of class was last week and was lots of... https://t.co/B5cGQXJkuC#musedchat
Hi, I'm Susie from near Sacramento. I teach 4th and 5th grade band AND K through 7th grade general music!! My first few weeks were exhausting and rewarding! #musedchat
Thanks, Joe. It is definitely a change in reading material. That's for sure! Playing the sub game out here while looking for jobs and doing coursework. #musedchat
Hi! Emily from Jersey. I teach pre-K through 8th grade literally everything. General, choral, band, and a k-2 violin ensemble. And I codirect the musical. #musedchat
Hey #musedchat! Kari from Illinois, ISU licensure candidate, current middle school teacher at a small private school. Finishing my license THIS SPRING but am trying to keep my students prepped for my semester of leave.
A 1: two things: I'm in my second year at this grade level so I'm excited to build on last year & we are going 1:1 so I'm excited about the technology #musedchat
A1: My old building is studying Tier I Instruction of MTSS. What are the best practices we can be doing to ensure the most students are learning? I'm definitely interested in that as a research topic, so I'm joining in remotely. #musedchat
Site 1: The excitement in beginners eyes when they get their first sound out of their instrument.
Site 2: This is both scary and exciting: How wide open my lessons can be. Gen music to k-7 with no curriculum has my head spinning. #musedchat
That’s the crazy part. We don’t have an orchestra. The person who worked there before me bought all these tiny violins and when i interviews they wanted me to keep it going. 🤷♀️#musedchat
Hello folks. I'm David from Northern California. I teach HS concert/jazz band as well as men's & women's chorus, vocal jazz, and show choir (with stage band). Glad to be here tonight. :)
#MusEdChat
A1: I'm slightly obsessed with my classroom this year. It's hard to do flexible seating with choir, so I have a separate area in which Ss can do general music work. SO excited to direct my second musical, #Seussical, too. :) #musedchat
A1: For the first time, I’m not switching buildings due to a new field assignment. It’s nice to know that I get to work with the same group of kids and be more present in the school. #musedchat
A1: SO much! First full time student teacher (@ericaelumsden), room updates including new sound system, district restarted the orchestra program, trip to Cleveland w/ 8th graders (hopefully!), plus ALL the everyday awesome of MS band! #musedchat
A1 I'm excited that we get to embrace the largeness of our "space" this year. I don't feel confined to only using the smallest corner of a rather large community room and my kids seem to be embracing it. #musedchat
A1: I'm excited for this sign on my door because it means I'm trying to incorporate creative movement into my lessons this year! #musedchat#noflossingallowed
It’s actually been a dream so far. Keynote slides that I can change with my phone as the remote...bell work...quality YouTube video viewing. I use it every day!! #musedchat
A1: Something super special this year is that we are moving into a new building (January 2019) with what is going to be an amazing new band room! #musedchat
We've got a spot like this too. Old couch, coffee table, small lamp, some extra cushions and pillows. Kids love hanging out there before/after class or during group work. #musedchat
Oh! A1.2 I LOVE these magnetic name tags and so do my kids. They make my organizationally-minded self happy. Retweeting myself in case anyone wants the etsy link. #musedchat
LOVE how well these magnetic name tags worked as a solution to my seating chart/no permanent classroom woes from last year. Sit or stand at your name and sing! #musiceducation
A1: the kids don't know it yet, but each band is going to collaboratively compose a piece to perform on their final concert. Used to do it with our jazz bands, finally getting back to it. #musedchat
With the jazz groups, it was basically transcribing ideas we liked from improv sessions. Don't know what I'm going to do yet with larger concert bands. #musedchat
No clue yet! I've got some smaller composition activities to start the process, and I plan to just see how they respond to each one and go from there. #musedchat
Erica's been great so far. Having another musician in the room with our beginners has been HUGE. Cleveland will be new for me. Using Bob Rogers travel. Doing a clinic in Toledo, a few spots in Cleveland, and a show there that night. #musedchat
A2: One thing for sure is that I want to be less conservative when it comes to my presence in the room. Sometimes I’m a little too over professional with Ss. Need to fix that. #musedchat
A2-for ten years and all of my career until last year I taught 6-12th grade. Last year i changed districts and age groups. So my biggest growth is going to still be adjusting to little kids and figuring out what to do with them!!!! #musedchat
A2: Since I’m back in the classroom after 2 years out, I’m hoping to see growth in my own musicianship, as well as transferring that to my students. Also, I’ve lost a lot of conducting ability somehow, which was strong before I left! #musedchat
A2. I am using a new method book this year (Habits series by Scott Rush) and I want to use it to get my groups better at articulation, phrasing, attacks/releases, etc. I want a “cleaner” ensemble sound this year #musedchat
A2: Working to be more positive/patient in my interactions, especially w/ beginners. My impatience to want to play and do the fun stuff can come off as abrupt and be intimidating for Ss who don't know me yet. #musedchat
A2: Our band department 5-8 agreed to take on Video Peer Observation Project using a slightly modified Critical Friends Protocol for Feedback. It is going to be great because we never get to really see each other teach. So I am looking forward to the growth & feedback! #musedchat
A2: I hope to get better at long-term planning and having more consistency/repetition from week to week. An extra hour of planning time on Wednesday or Thursday would be great so I can realistically plan for the next week based on how the current week went. #musedchat
A2: Classroom management and lesson planning for upper grades. (Never taught gen music to Gr 6/7) Also organization! being at 2 sites this is critical. #musedchat
A2: January marks two years at Palisades, and I am still developing my curriculum and how/what I want to teach vs. how the teacher before me did so. Resources include my colleagues, past teachers, and of course, my network. :) #musedchat
A2: I want to spend a lot more time reinforcing fundamentals, so I'd like to get better at presenting those in an engaging way. Always looking for new exercises and approaches there #musedchat
Love those books! My cooperating teacher wrote the choir one. :) It’s a game changer. Scott Rush is great! My husband worked in his district. I used to teach in Charleston. #musedchat
Really like it. It’s got some unique exercises in it that I really like. His whole tone scale studies are great and the intonation stuff is great. Just started digging into the rhythm, and articulation section today. #musedchat
A2: I want to continue the shift to a learner-centered environment. I want Ss to take more control of the process & understand the goals along the way. Resources = my PLN for support! #musedchat
Allo Allo Allo Allo Antoine Buttigieg here from Woodbridge Ontario Canada HS instrumental music teacher MB and drumline director of the @FrBressaniBands#MusEdChat
A3: Making a conscious effort to program more women and composers of color this year. Purchased some music for it last year w/ grant and will fill in gaps with some additional buys and borrowing. Want to display composer pics with #whowereplaying tag. #musedchat
A3: I want my Ss to OWN being in choir. My most select group is going to look into outside-of-school performances this year, and we'll be doing more social activities with my other groups to hopefully bond them to one another. #musedchat
A1 I always look forward for my 9s and the potential they may have. This year both my 9 classes are at capacity, which is a first (FTR our region doesn't have instrumental music until gr 9, they teach them the recorder which turns off a ton of kids from music) #MusEdChat
A3. I really want to do some more small ensemble work this year. I am adding a couple chamber groups, a flute choir, etc. I have focused a lot on full band stuff for the past few years. I think some small groups will add a new wrinkle. #musedchat
A3-prior to this year all students grades k-8 were required to sing in the concert. this was making even the older kids who liked singing hate it so I’m piloting a chorus program at the school and making the concert optional for grades 6-8 #MusEdChat
A3: My “mantra” for the year is “On the map.” I want to get students involved in all state, honors choir, state festival, and anything else they can experience. I want our program to be a part of the great SC choir community. #MusEdChat
Have a few in mind I want to try, but still getting to know how the groups play together. Really want to do Giroux's Silent Night in Gotham for Silent Night anniversary. Maybe some Winter Milky Way in Dec too. #musedchat
A3: I would also love to see more kiddos continue with choir after their time with me in the middle school. Hopefully, some of these activities and experiences will inspire them to keep on keeping on at the high school. #musedchat
A3: Building in a better formative assessment process for learning. I am going to use #Plickers to gauge where the students feel they are and what they are struggling with and then adjust my teaching accordingly since the data will be captured in the program. #musedchat
A3 #musedchat I want to have my students do more solo singing. Still thinking on that one. I have two or three that like to sing solo and tend to be my leadership, but others definitely have potential and a lot to offer their classmates.
A2 I also want to focus more on technique and tone this year. I've created a handbook that has a bunch of studies and techniques that I've accumulated over time.
#musedchat
How involved with your program is your HS director? We've had a lot of success with retention with some combined performances, family events, job swap days, etc #musedchat
A3: This year, I want my students to create more. I'm using my #Orff resources to help make this happen. I also need to say "yes" to students more often #musedchat
Participation with diff racial groups and their music. I would appreciate teaching healthy singing and then let the students come into to their own. Diverse rep is a start and a rationale about the “why” for the technique. #musedchat
A3: I want Ss to find more purpose in playing their instruments. In my school band/orchestra are required, so many just see it as another class. I want all Ss to find their own WHY #musedchat
Really hoping for both in Dec, but trying not to get too set on something until we've done some more reading together. Got a Brittin-Chambers march for Festival too. #musedchat
Totally not related to the chat but...my husband is sitting next to me playing Destiny and out of nowhere keeps randomly humming the duck song. He out of nowhere just goes “got any grapes” only you guys will appreciate that...
#musedchat
A4: I want to look (as a lead teacher this year) how each program works, the rep they play, and how are they demonstrating S backgrounds in their classes. #musedchat
A4 I'd love to learn what everyone does for
A. distributing and 'collecting' music back from kids
B. what you do to work on tone balance and blend in your ensembles
C. What you do to teach composing etc.
#musedchat
A4: Primarily, I want to learn more about my students. Knowing them makes me a stronger T. Secondly, myself. I am still figuring out my identity in the classroom. Finally, how to better mix my classroom rehearsals with general music curriculum learning. #musedchat
A4 #musedchat pt 1 – I want to learn more about putting together a contemporary music ensemble. My kids have SO MUCH interest and I'd like to formalize it. And I need to refine my kit skills for that.
A4: Not related to my other answers, but I want to learn how to incorporate the Coversational Solfege techniques my vocal music colleagues use into my beginning instrumental music classes. #musedchat
A4. I want to learn more about managing people. I want to get my band members taking more of a leadership bonding role. We are off to a band retreat camp with weekend for so coaching and bonding. I am hoping this will start the ball rolling #musedchat
