I am about 1/3 of the way into my first year as an elementary music-chorus-band teacher and I thought it would be a good time to get some thoughts down on paper.
1. So far the time commitment is significantly less than my old job at the high school. I have not adjusted to this yet. There are virtually no evenings and no weekends required. This is a big shift.
2. I have not adjusted to the later starting time. I usually get here at 7am for an 8:40am start. Twice a week I have morning band at 745am (band is not scheduled in school day). Even today I came in "late" but I am still an hour early. On the flip side I never have to stay after the bell. I am trying hard to run/exercise in the morning now that it is dark when I get home.
3. The school day is challenging. I usually get 2 minutes between classes and this can be challenging for my brain. My schedule is generally Prep until 10:05, 5th grade, lunch, then classes straight through from 11:30am to 3:30pm.
4. I do the same listening and reading segment for K-5. You can see my listening playlist on youTube. I then generally have a lesson for K-2 and a 4-5 lesson. 3rd grade is in the gap. 4th-5th are focussing on ukulele and K-2 are focussing on First Steps (at least portions of it).
5. I see Chorus very infrequently. 3rd grade is once per month and 4th/5th grade twice per month. I see everyone in 3rd/4th and 5th is select. All choruses are working on following large group rules. I do have to bleed some "chorus" time into general music.
6. I am realizing as well that students do not do Google Classroom work unless they are in front of you. Since I only see them about 120 minutes per month this is challenging to get any sort of listening or writing done. I have to figure out how to leverage that.
7. I am realizing that learning names may be a lost cause.
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