New Teacher Lessons

While this isn't my first year of teaching, it is my first year of teaching music. After five and a half years of college, a year and a half of subbing, three years of teaching social sciences, 67 applications, and 22 interviews, I finally received what I was looking for: one offer to teach band. While I'm not a new teacher, I am relatively new to the band director community of southwest Missouri. I picked up a lot of the fundamentals of classroom teaching from my three years at Pleasant Hope, but I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that the demands of directing a band program are far beyond what I encountered in the core classroom. Fortunately, I (as do we all) have an incredible network of support from fellow directors in the area to help me navigate this rewarding profession. Here is what I have learned in the first couple months.

When I first began teaching, I quickly learned the value of keeping to-do lists. I've carried that with me for the past few years, and it has kept my head above water thus far. However, in the band world, there hasn't been a single day that I've completed my list. There simply isn't enough time. To cope, I've had to restructure the way I prioritize. Having a plan for what needs to be done in the week by Sunday night makes it all the easier for me. Then, as the daily tasks start to pour in on top of that, I am able to keep a flow in my classes while juggling administrative tasks in the background.

I've often found myself in the trap of doing "just one more thing" before going home or going to bed and letting time get away from me. I've benefitted far more from going to bed an hour early than staying up an hour to do one more thing. You've got to take care of yourself because nobody else will.

Probably the most exhausting lesson I've learned in my first few months as a band director is that 90% of the work happens outside the classroom. I have found myself utterly overwhelmed at times and full of self-doubt, unsure if I was doing a good job or if everyone around me was too nice to tell me otherwise. I've learned to ignore that voice of doubt and stay focused on doing what I know needs to be done: fill out that purchase order, call my road-rep for those drumheads, prep a trip sheet for our competition next weekend, file a transportation request, etc. That's what they pay me for, right? The rest is just fun.

After all, we are the makers of music; to this our life belongs.