ICAN Statements, Blooms, and my Teachers Pay Teachers addiction

I was excited to create Can Statements inspired by my district's instrumental music curriculum. Feel free to borrow and use!

Now if you have not discovered Teachers Pay Teachers you are missing out. Teachers who are much artier, craftier and generally more creative them me post their cool bulletin board and other ideas. For very little and sometimes even free.

My favorite find so far is this Musical version of Bloom's Taxonomy.

I dare you to not eat up your plan time/weekend time with this site. Most of all there are great ideas for integrating Common Core and vocabulary. Now most lesson ideas are general music focused, but a lot can be altered to be used in an instrumental classroom. 

Having students make real life music connections

Getting the chance to share where being a part of band can lead is always a great moment for a teacher. When teaching the younger students we are more focused on teaching fundamentals and the music itself, every now and then we get the opportunity to show them more. For instance how does this wonderful music we play get created?

I had one of those moments today. Concert Band composer William Owens was generous enough to do a phone interview with my 6th grade band students this morning. He talked to them about what inspires his writing, his favorite piece he's written (always the one he's working on-love that answer), how he structures and names his pieces and more. It was a great opportunity to learn the behind the scenes work that goes into creating the music they play.

I highly encourage my fellow band directors to reach out to the composition world to have them connect with your students. In the past Timothy Loest was also generous with his time and I hope to make this a tradition with my second year students to interview a composer of a piece we are working on.

Also, in this day and age of Danielson Framework evaluation and Common Core, this kind of project is student driven and very much appreciated by administrators!

I Love My Job

I once had a respected teacher in my graduate program make an offhand comment about starting one's career in beginning band then later on "moving up" to jr. high or high school. This broke my heart a little. For as much emphasis there is put on starting students with a strong foundation, there sometimes seems to be less respect for those who teach the little guys.

I did not let this comment or others I have heard get to me, because most days I absolutely love my job. Here's why:

1. Every single day I make many students appreciate music on a higher level.

2. I do teach those foundations, but I also help students fall in love with playing an instrument a little more each day. If I don't do my job well, those jr. high and high school programs would never have any students!

3. I get to TEACH. So much of the teaching older students (especially high school) is more directing rather than traditional teaching. Now before any feathers are ruffled, I know some phenomenal high school directors who do teach, but the job includes so much management and performance expectation that sometimes the in depth knowledge goals can be lost. I believe a strong elementary band teacher tends to slant more towards the comprehensive/general music philosophy when teaching.

4. I teach a subject students choose to participate in. Yes the glow can sometimes fade, especially for students who do not follow through with practice or effort. Overall though, students are so enthusiastic to come to my classroom.

5. I get to play everyday. I play with all my students, I play instruments all day long. How cool is that?

Of course in any teaching we have our challenges and frustrations, but overall in teaching beginners there is a least a little portion of pure joy every day.

Fellow band directors, what are some of your moments of joy?

Practice records vs. Assignment sheets

Oh practice records! They really are the bane of a band director's existence. I necessary evil you might say. Having kids watch a clock and count the minutes to try to accomplish an arbitrary minute goal is proven not to work. Not only do kids tend to fudge the numbers, but they aren't necessarily practicing efficiently or effectively.

I made a change a change five years ago after a session at The Midwest Clinic. The presenter proposed giving more specific detail oriented Assignments vs. the traditional practice record. I developed my own version, it's gone through many versions but it has been far more successful in student progress and growth.

Even the students who are not so great at turning in those assignments still have guidance for their home practice. If you want to check out my version of the band assignment sheet go to this link here.

Welcome to Joyful Noise! I'm hoping to share the joy that is teaching beginning band. The start being squeaks, squawks and other occasional unpleasant sounds but also pure joy in children exploring the wonderful world of music. I hope to share some strategies that I have found successful in my 16 years of teaching beginning band.