The author of this article, Kevin Tuck is a former teacher and editor for the Fun Music Company, who create ready made and easy to use Music Lesson Plans for music teachers everywhere.
Music Teachers have a very busy schedule. Possibly music teachers have the busiest life of all teachers. Here are a few ideas to help Music Teachers be more productive.
Music Teachers however have to do a lot of extra duties that other teachers don’t have to – like running marching band and orchestra programs, preparing student concerts, managing instrumental music lessons and talking with parents about rehearsals and raising funds for instruments.
WIth all these duties consuming the teachers time, it is vital that they be extremely well prepared to make sure that their music sessions are both fun for children and stress free for themselves.
Here are a few solutions that can help music teachers every day
A diary. This simple thing can save you all sorts of problems from double scheduling events if it is well managed. It is so easy to double schedule school events with personal events, as most teachers would well understand! You can use a modern personal digital assistant or Mobile Phone, or use the old fashioned paper diary for just a few dollars.
A location plan for all the school equipment. Even if your school has one well used xylophone and a broken guitar with three of the strings missing it is important that those two instruments have a specific home, and that children come to appreciate that when in the music classroom. When you are seeing lots of children every week and sometimes thousands of dollars worth of instruments it is vital that it is put away with respect. Draw a diagram, write it down and put it up near the equipment. Vigilance over this for a few weeks will make your teaching a lot easier in the long run!
A personal blog – What if you could have a website where you place information for band members, music parts for practice and assessments so they can get it done without you even being there? Its as simple as setting up a personal blog on blogger or word press, and getting started. Just consider – if you put resources there that you ask children to download for additional work… once its completed this year you will never have to do it again!
Computer and Technology tools. The latest software for music often has built in test and worksheet building tools, so you can write your own teaching materials in minutes.
Prepared Lesson plans accessing instant print worksheets and lesson plans from the world wide web can save you many hours preparation, and there are many brilliant sources of material available now.
Music teaching can be such a rewarding career path, as it is sharing the love of music and teaching – and it should be enjoyable for all!
