A quote from one of my favorite musicals, Sound of Music, and one that I feel fits perfectly with my current situtation. It is the end of the school year and I had the luxury of closing out the year in a way that made me feel confident and excited for the future.

I spent the majority of the year scrambling to get through lessons that I felt I was slapping together to fulfill the administrative needs and not necessarily the students’ needs. It wasn’t until the end of year trips that I realized the impact that I was having on my students and that the change in myself that happened mid-year was not only positive for me, but for my students.

While traveling through Washington D.C., I received a video from my colleagues who had taken the 6th grade to a camp somewhere in the woods. Honestly, I was happy that I was on the D.C. trip and got to sleep in a hotel room and not a cabin in the woods. Needless to say, the video filled my heart with joy and a sense of a job well done. To make this story make sense, I have to give some back story details.

I had decided to try and stage a musical, Lion King, to be exact. It was met with a lot of positive and negative feelings by the student population. Some were excited about the possibility, while others wanted nothing to do with it. I pushed forward and began plunking out notes on the piano and trying to get the students to sing. Few were the voices that rang through with excitement – I just kept moving forward. As the year raced to an end the schedule became more hectic and issues started to arise with the facility, making the production more and more difficult to stage.

Fast forward to the week after the students’ final day and the first day of the end of year trips. The 6th grade had arrived to the camp after setback after setback. The opening assembly was a sing off between the groups that were there. There were different categories and our kids did really well. The final category was “Disney” and I was told that the energy among our students was palpable. The girl who was supposed to play Rafiki, took center stage and started to belt the opening to Circle of Life. The students joined in with their respective parts. The energy that the students had was magical. The teachers that were there joined in and encouraged the students along the way, some even sang along!

They rocked the performance and won the sing off! The other schools were blown away and erupted in a roar when the students finished. The video brought tears to my eyes as I watched some of the students who fought the hardest not to sing, belting out the lyrics and swaying to the beat. It was in that moment, when the video stopped, with the deafning cheers erupting from the unseen audience, that my future seemed bright. I had made a lasting impact on a group of students. They will always look back at the moment and remember winning the sing off with a song they learned in music class. I hope that the memory sticks with them for a long time and that their musical futures will continue to be influenced by that simple victory because I know that my future has been greatly impacted. #MFLearn19 #thefutureisbright #singlikenooneisaround

This week marks the last FULL week of school and the sense of accomplishment is palpable. The teachers and the students are all ready for the break; but as we wind down for the summer, I am already thinking about next year. With the thoughts of more student-led learning in the future, what is best? Do you limit the number of students? Do students get to pick and work with their friends?

This is the point where your teacher instincts should take over. One, you should be having numerous performances throughout the year as to ensure that students get as many chances as possible to perform in as many configurations as possible. What we have to realize as teachers is that sometimes allowing the students to “fail” allows them to learn the most. We should allow them to work with their friends. We should allow them to experience the unequal work load in order to express the importance of sharing the workload and working to better the team.

There are still so many aspects to allowing students to choose their path that provides them with a multitude of learning opportunities. Of course, this is just the beginning of a conversation and we are each allowed to carry our own opinions.

So, this week the question was posed about aural learning in music and if it is in fact, musical. I didn’t think about it at first, but I have been struggling with this question all year. I entered a music class where the previous teacher did almost everything by rote and aural training. A method that was completely different from my “tried and true” classical upbringing. You learn the notes, their values and how to play them on your instrument. Simple. Or so I thought, when I tried to begin to teach the students how to read music. It was a much harder hurdle to overcome than I thought and I began to think, am I wrong? Is learning aurally just as musical? Does not knowing how to read music make someone less of a musician?

I don’t know if I have an answer to that question at the moment. I actually don’t know if I will ever have an answer to that question. The classical musician in me wants to turn my nose up to the thought of not being able to read or write music. I think to myself, “What kind of teacher would I be if I did not teach my students how to truly communicate through music?” Though, on the other hand, I think, “Am I doing them a disservice for forcing notation down their throat and not just playing music?” It’s an internal debate that has been raging on and on. I think of the 8th graders getting ready to go to high school and think about those that want to continue with band. What is it going to be like for them when the teacher pulls out a score and says, “Let’s take it from bar 25.” I can feel the student’s instant panic when they realize that they have no idea what is happening. But is this a reason to focus on reading and writing notation? I don’t know! The internal struggle continues. #MFlearn19 #Iteach

So, this is it. This is the beginning of a new chapter. The great Nina Simone sang, “Everything must change, nothing remains the same…” and that is exactly where I find myself – CHANGE. I am so excited for this new chapter and the opportunity to write the continuation of my story. Life is what you make of it and I will not sit back and let it pass me by. So, this is it, this is me and this is my story. #MFlearn19 #Iteach

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton