Music Teachers have a hectic life. Of all teachers probably music teachers have the most work to do on a regular week by week basis.
Of course, many would disagree with that supposition. Maths, Chemistry and English teachers of course work very hard and no-one would say they don’t work extremely hard to bring brilliant lessons to our children.
Music Teachers however have to do a lot of extra activities that other teachers don‚Äôt have to – like running choir and musicianship programs, preparing student concerts, organizing instrumental music lessons and communicating with parents about rehearsals and raising funds for equipment.
With all these duties consuming the teachers time, it is vital that they be extremely organized to make sure that their music sessions are both enjoyable for students and trouble free for themselves.
Here are a few solutions that can help music teachers every day
A planner. 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 music teachers would well understand! You can use a modern PDA or Mobile Organizer, or use the traditional bound diary for just a few dollars.
A location plan for all the school equipment. Even if your school has one battered old Recorder and a broken guitar with half the strings missing it is vital that those two instruments have a specific home, and that children come to learn and respect that when in your classroom. When you are teaching lots of children every week and sometimes many hundreds of dollars worth of equipment it is important that it is put away with respect. Make a plan, write it down and stick it on all the walls near the equipment. Being careful about this for a few weeks will make your life a lot less stressful in the long term!
Your very own blog – What if you could have a website where you place news 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 and getting going. Just think – if you put resources there that you ask students to download for homework… once its completed this teaching year you will never have to do it again!
Software tools. The latest music software often has inbuilt assessment and worksheet creation tools, so you can write your own resources in minutes.