Aaaaand . . . we're back!

And just like that, another year has blown by and here I am posting my (not-so-intentionally) annual post. Haha! One of these days I will get the hang of juggling being a mom, and a wife, and a teacher (all FULL time jobs, if done right!) and be able to post about it to my blog.

This last year was a tough year.  I changed schools and left many dear friends and very dear students and families in McKinney.  I felt like a first year teacher all over again with a new team, new students (750+), new curriculum, new expectations, etc. I had to learn to divide my time between being the dedicated "always there" teacher I am used to being and the "my arms ache to hold my baby" mommy that my heart cried out to be (still learning that lesson, btw).  Add to that being faced with situations and conflicts that I've never had to deal with before and I'd say last year could have easily been my last had I had any other options.

That's not to say that there weren't wonderful things about the year.  I think I learned more and grew more as a teacher and a person than any time of my life.  We had some amazing musical experiences.  My choir received the highest marks at a contest (the first time I've ever taken an elementary choir to be judged!) and glowing notes from our judges!  I had a few glorious break-throughs with some of our tougher students (though there are still some that I fear I will struggle with again this year).  I have established some good relationships with my students and their parents that I look forward to continuing this next year.  And I made some wonderful friends who helped me along the way.

Even still, it has taken a full summer, those wonderful friends, a couple of dear mentors, some excellent professional development (God bless my Orff friends!), leaning heavily on my faith, and the sweet support of my family to convince myself that I'm not just ok with going back, but I'm actually excited about it!  Granted I may be a little more guarded than the stary-eyed young teacher I used to be, but I'm excited none-the-less.  So here I am, beating the odds (did you know that as of 2011, 46% of teachers left the profession before their 5th year? Wowzers!), and going back for year 6!

A few of my Orff friends

Our PCE Tech Team presenting in Ardmore, OK

Our PCE Tech Team presenting at the Lonestar TIA conference

I truly am excited for what this year will hold.  I'm OH SO HAPPY to be in my 2nd year at this school and already know my kiddos and how things run!  I'm excited about our new technology team and the awesome things we have done together this summer (and the things we have planned for this next year!).  I'm excited about getting my choir up and running again - we have a concert on September 26!  Am I crazy?  Probably.  I'm excited about the research I have planned to do in my music class and what it will mean for my students now and in the future. I've got big plans!!

So here's to a new and better year - one full of positive, uplifting experiences, great friends, engaged learning (for me and my kiddos), and beautiful music!  2013-2014, here we go!

Whew! What a Year!

Well, that was a crazy 12 months!  I'm happy to finally back from a long hiatus from this blog.  Let me catch you up on a few big things that have happened in the last 12 months.  Right after school started last year Mr. Stewart and I found out that we would be having a baby!  My due date was set for May 9, 2012 - so I spent the entirety of the last school year pregnant.  After about the third week of school fatigue set in and I went into survival mode.  My grand plans for the year were altered (for example, it's hard to have a full on 3rd grade production when you're 8 months pregnant) and my priorities began to shift from my precious students (who, up to this point, always took the spot just behind my husband on my priority list) to the precious baby that we would soon see.  Needless to say, keeping track of this teaching blog didn't just get put on the back burner - it fell off the stove entirely!

Fast forward 12 months.

Ella Elizabeth, 3 Months

I'm the proud mommy of the most beautiful 3 month old baby girl, Ella Elizabeth and after spending the entire summer with her (her whole life to this point), I am now preparing to go back to work and send her to a wonderful home daycare program here in our neighborhood.  I never thought anything could make me not want to teach, but oh what I'd give if I could stay home and take care of her every day!

With that thought in mind, we come to another important change in my life.  After much prayer, debate and, I admit, quite a few tears, I resigned from my dream job in McKinney, Texas and will be teaching at a great school that is much closer to home (3.8 miles, to be exact).  I'm still sad about leaving my friends, my students, (my instruments!), and the place I've come to call home for the last three years, but I know this change is for the best - for me and especially for my family.  No more 40+ minute commutes means nearly an hour and a half of extra time with Ella every day!  That alone is worth it.

I am starting to get excited about the start of the school year (nothing can make that giddy teacher-excitement totally disappear), and about getting set up in my new school.  I have one week left of summer break before teacher inservices start and I will probably spend quite a bit of it in my classroom (with Ella, of course) getting things set up and finding my way around.  Hopefully I will have a chance to post some classroom pics once I get everything squared away.

It will be a different year for me as I learn a new school and discover how to balance my family life and my school life all over again.  I'm up for the challenge though!  Here's to a new year!

Classroom Pictures!

Welcome to our music room!  Before we get to the class pics, I have to show you my new toy!  As part of an Apple pilot program with several Title 1 schools in our district, our teachers were given MacBooks and some were even given iPads/iPod Touches!  How great is that!  No iPad for this music teacher (at least, not yet!), but I'm thrilled with my MacBook!  I can't begin to tell you how much easier it is to get work done on this compared to the ancient desktop in my room!

I have to say, though, it has been a very long time since I've seen this logo in a classroom.  Isn't it pretty!

Now for the class pics.  Forgive the unfinished-looking bulletin boards.  They are awaiting kids' work and class names (part of my reward system).

Instrument Alley (channeling my inner JK Rowling . . .)  Thanks, Leigh!

Word Wall

My "I Will . . ." statements posted just outside my door.

 Some fun 2nd Grade compositions from the first week of school.  I am so proud of them for remembering their 1st Grade concepts!!  This next week we'll add body percussion and eventually perform it as an instrumental piece!

(yes, it's crooked.  yes, I had to fix it.  #OCD)

Check out some other great classroom ideas at Teaching Blog Addict's Classroom Photos Party!

Pinterest Linky Party!

Hi, I'm Melanie, and I'm addicted to Pinterest!  Especially now that so many teachers have joined and are contributing!  Talk about an amazing learning community!  If you're already on Pinterest, click my "Follow Me" button (and pay special attention to the "Teacher-y Things" page).  If you're not hooked yet, check out the Pinterest Linky Party over at Michelle's Math in the Middle blog.  I'm sure we'll have you convinced in no time with all of these great ideas!!

As my friend Tina says, "Sharing is caring!"

Enjoy!

Ready or Not, Here They Come!

My lessons are done and reviewed, my classroom is the cleanest it will be all year, my brain is full of new ideas and strategies from a full week of PD, my clothes are ready for tomorrow, my hair is freshly cut (oooohhhh menthol scalp massage at Tangerine Salon . . . .), my cutest lunch box has been rescued from the pantry floor, and my teacher materials are packed in my bag by the door.

Yep!  I'm ready!  Bring on the kids!!




PS - Check out this GREAT free clipart from Discover Education!  (Isn't that the cutest little backpack?!)

I Will . . .

We had a wonderful staff development day at Burks - maybe one of the best I have been to yet.  Our brilliant principals started off the day tugging on our heart-strings (and especially mine) by showing a couple of clips from Mr. Holland's Opus.  It's only my favorite inspirational movie of all time (runners up include Sister Act 1 and 2, The Sound of Music, and Mary Poppins).  I have never watched that movie without crying, and now that I'm in my fourth year of teaching music and have watched dear friends get cut due to budgets it just hits me even harder.  Thanks for the sob fest, Pam and Garry!  You definitely know how to get my attention!  :)

Gets me every time.

We also revisited and reaffirmed our belief statements and mission statement that we wrote for our school two years ago.   It is very nice to see that those statements are still true and speak to what we believe as a staff, and what I personally believe as a teacher.  Afterwards, we discussed what it looks like to live out those beliefs in our classrooms with our students.  We were challenged to create our own set of "I will . . ." statements and post them outside our doors.  These will serve as reminders to us and allow students, parents, and staff to hold us accountable.  I wanted to share mine here.  

Why I Teach Music

Taken from the the Do-Re-Mi Blog.


Why Teach Music


Music is mathematical.
It is rhythmically based of the subdivisions of time into fractions which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper.


Music is a foreign language.
Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French; and the notation is certainly not English, but a highly developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas.  
The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language.


Music is history.
Music usually reflects the environment and times of its creation, often even the country and/or racial feeling.


Music is physical education.
It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lip, cheek and facial muscles, in addition to extraordinary control of diaphragmatic, back, stomach, and chest muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.


Music is all of these things, but most of all, music is art.
It allows a human being to take all of these dry, technically boring (but difficult) techniques and use them to create emotion.  That is one thing science cannot duplicate; humanism, feeling, emotion, call it what you will.


That is why we teach music.
Not because we expect our students to major in music,
Not because we expect them to play or sing all their life,
Not so they can relax,
Not so they can have fun,
But so they will be human,
So they will recognize beauty,
So they will be sensitive,
So they will be closer to an infinite beyond this world,
So they will have something to cling to,
So they will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness, more good, in short, more life.
Of what value will it be to make a prosperous living unless you know how to live?
That is why we teach music.


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