Transcript Portable Classroom Purple - portableteacher

The Portable
Classroom,
Or is it
The Portable
Teacher . . .
On a Cart
or
At Multiple Schools
About me:
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I am a graduate of Catawba Valley Community College and Lenoir-Rhyne
University (I went back as an adult, married with 2 extremely active
daughters in middle and high school!)
I have taught in 3 schools at one time with 2800 students, all of whom
were named Fred. (I never saw most of them long enough to learn
their names, however, they always knew which students I meant when I
called out Fred.)
I have taught in a theater, stairwell, moved from classroom to
classroom without a cart, taught in a basement, hallway and almost
anywhere there has been space.
Now, I am a general music teacher, Pre-K through 5 at George
Hildebrand Elementary School and Mull Elementary. Both are socioeconomically similar, and are both full Title 1 schools.
I am also now a widow with 2 amazing and beautiful daughters who are
both grown and married both who moved far, far away from home to
wonderful young men that I love! My oldest now has the most beautiful
son you have ever seen that is the most blessed thing in my life.
My Schools
• My main school, George Hildebrand, I have been at for 11 years
and I have built up the program as much as I can with little
money.
• This is my first year at my other school, I share with another
music specialist, Mrs. Wendy Cooper. She is an amazing
musician and specialist. We see different children. She is there
one day a week, while I am there 2 days.
• I have a mobile at my main school and I have a nice large room
at my other school. However, I must set up and completely tear
down each week.
• Both schools are very rural and have little cultural
opportunities for the students.
Itinerant Teachers
• Keep communication open with your administration. Know that
you are the only music teacher they have so they often view
you as a full-time faculty member.
• Keep a master calendar of events and make arrangements with
your administrators when conflicts arise.
• Make sure you find out what they expect of you.
• Communicate concerns with them ASAP.
• Pick your battles. Get a feel for your circumstances and go with
your instinct. Not all battles are worth fighting.
• Ask questions, ask for equipment, money for your programsthe worst they can say is no. If you don’t ask and promote your
programs, then no one will do it for you!
• Become a member of a group of others, being alone is not
good, join other music teachers, in fact, join our wiki!!!
My Salvation – Organization!!
• I have created notebooks for each month including
holidays, season, special lessons, composers, general
music theory, etc., all of which are still a work in order.
Each notebook has playlists, cds, overheads in
transparencies, lists of books and videos for the
themes, lesson plans both current and previous years
that I liked, sub plans with instructions and cds,
worksheets.
• All overheads go into notebooks into sheet protectors
with the name of the song and where it comes from.
My entire collection of MK8 Magazines have
transparencies of each song in notebooks. Again, they
are in sheet protectors with the name of the song &
the volume they come from. I just pull out the ones I
need for a lesson and attach them to the lesson plan
materials. I know exactly where to return them when
I am finished.
• I have everything color-coded with different paper and
colors for each school.
• I organize my iPod the way my notebooks are organized.
• I have lists of everything including lists of lists and keep
records of what is where and which school or my car! I
put them in the monthly notebooks so I can find them
easily. I do have a general music notebook.
• I have my room organized by crates, so I can just grab
and go with them.
• Label everything!!!!! I use return address labels and run
several sheets of them. I keep them on my clipboard to
keep them handy!
• Now that technology is available, I am having to
switch things from my transparencies to pdf
files. This is a daunting task.
• I always have a plan B!!!
Day to Day Organization
• My lesson plans, cds in sleeves, playlists, transparencies,
worksheet copies to show students, etc are in sheet
protectors and I use “o” rings to hook them together for
that lesson plan.
• I have lots of stackable baskets that I organize my lesson
materials in by grade levels or group by grade ranges.
• Accordion pleated file folders are great for day to day
organization. I have them color-coded for each day with
the schedule taped to the front and the teacher’s names
on the file labels inside. I put all student work in them. I
just grab the day I need and everything is in there for
each class.
• Seating charts, color-coded of course, are a must with
places for learning names, keeping attendance, whether
they have their recorder and any other notes and any
information about the students, such as emergency action
plans; if you go into the classrooms, keep info like where
outlets are, whether they have overheads; teachers info
such as preferences about their rooms, etc.
• BE CONSISTENT & PERSISTENT!! You have the children at the
school for the length from Pre-K to 5th or whatever grade levels
you teach. You will make your life easier for each year you teach
them if you set the standards early. Plus you will only have to
teach your new students each year.
• Teach them how you want anything distributed, picked up or put
up like books, papers, lapboards, crayons, instruments, etc.
• Teach them how to move desks, chairs, etc. and put them back.
You might even make up a song or play music that gives them
about the proper time.
• Play an instrument, sing a little jig or have sound cues for when
to do certain things.
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Entering, exiting and emergency drill procedures are a must!!
Practice making a circle, moving to the right and to the left as well as
clockwise & counter-clockwise for the older ones. I promise you can
teach so many more dances quickly and enjoy them more!
Teach Procedures &
Rules!!
Keep It Simple!!!
• Utilize whatever resources you need for 1 grade level in as many
other grade levels as possible. If you are using any instrument
for any lesson, then utilize it in as many others as possible!!
• Give yourself permission to do only lessons you think are fun. It
is ok if you have fun and enjoy your lesson!!! If not, you will
definitely burn out quickly.
• Keep simple things with you for lesson extensions if you need
them at your reach. I use Denise Gagne’s Singing Games often.
I have rhythm charts bound for them to use to play, clap, chant
or dictate.
• Composing and notating can be done on cut-outs. I make a bunch
up at the beginning of the year so I don’t have to rush to make
anything. If I do the wrong amount, I only have a few to make
quickly!
• Make copies during the workdays that you know you will use
during the year. It will save time in the long run!!
• Don’t ever be afraid to revisit a lesson!!! You can assess your
students abilities easily! And you can give yourself a break!
Be kind to yourself!!
• You really don’t have to reinvent the wheel to do this. I
tried and there is NOT one better that can be made, at
least by me.
• Dress comfortably for your day. It’s never good to be in a
dress when you are in the floor with Pre-K!
• Keep extra water with you and a snack or 2. You need to
stay hydrated!!! And a sweater for those changing
temperatures between schools or rooms.
• Have something the students can do without formal
direction for the opening of your lesson. Listen to classical
music, a new song, echo songs, or body percussion routine
for example. This gives you a chance to change gears
between grade levels, finish preparation, take roll or
assess if you need to alter your lesson plans if you have
unexpected changes in your environment, new seating
arrangement, etc.
• Give yourself permission to make your lessons easy every
now and again so you can recharge or catch up.
• Be flexible. If you can’t change the circumstances and you have
no choice, your attitude and how you deal with it may be the
only things in your control. Believe me, sometimes it isn’t worth
it to make yourself miserable!! I don’t want to have bad days, so
I try not to!!
• Have fun and never forget your reason for teaching music. Your
students will benefit from a positive attitude and you will be
able to enjoy your job.
• I also keep a few small pictures of things that make me happy
like my precious grandson, me and my daughters, me and my
fella and the beach. When I am not feeling the best, they
always make me smile and provide me a moment of solitude that
can sometimes give me enough reprieve to get my focus back!
• I also have my own iPod with my own music on it. I can escape
between classes with my headphones and my choice of music!!!
Your Bag of Tricks
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I always have several books to either read or sing. The younger
students I sing to while the older students, I read composer
biographies like the young musician series. I only read part of
them each lesson, review and listen to the music of the
composer. (I also use Themes to Remember books and cd’s to
reinforce the classical music.)
I have different rhythm charts for them to read, play, echo,
chant or clap as rounds.
I keep a tackle box of items like paper clips close at hand.
I also have Get Kids Singing Old Favorites and More Old
Favorites on transparencies as well as patriotic songs children
should know for fillers as well. Let’s face it, we can never sing
“The Star Spangled Banner” or I Met A Bear too many times!
I pick a song each year that every grade level learns.
Last but not least pick anything you love to sing, play or do that
will make your lessons enjoyable for you and life easier!
Know you are not alone!!!!!
• Sign up with an email group. I love the MK8 list.
There is always wonderful ideas from amazing
teachers who inspire me and do often make me
jealous of what I could have. They also provide
help with questions and problems that we have.
• Reach out to other teachers who are in similar
circumstances. We may be the only ones in our
schools who have a schedule like ours. But there
are other music teachers in our area that have a
will gladly listen and help any way we can so
contact us!
• I have created a wiki for the Portable
Classroom. It is a place to share and
communicate with others in this situation.
http://portableteacher.wikispaces.com And
please note that all the information from this
presentation will be available, so join us there.
Books to Sing or Read:
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Shake Dem Halloween Bones by W. Kikola-Lisa
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a . . . By Lucille Colandro
Marsupial Sue by John Litghow
The Lost Music Published by Child’s Play
The Musical Life of Gustav Mole Published by Child’s Play
The Remarkable Farkle McBride by John Lithgow
The Bat Boy & His Violin by Gavin Curtis
Berlioz The Bear by Jan Brett
How Sweet The Sound: African American Songs For Children by Selected by Wade
And Cheryl Hudson
Ella Sets The Stage by Carmela & Steven D’Amico
The Berenstain Bears Get Stage Fright by Stan Berenstain
I See A Song by Eric Carle
The Wheels on The Bus by Iza Trapani
The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star by Iza Trapani
There Was An Old Monster by Adrian Rebecca and Ed Emberley
Moses Goes To A Concert by Isaac Millman
Animal Boogie by Debbie Harter
Cows In the Kitchen by Jane Crebbin
If You're Happy And You Know It (Jungle Edition) by James Warnola
Any composer biographies like the Young Musician Series that can be read to older students.
Wonderful Web
Resources
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http://www.musick8.com
http://www.musicbulletinboards.net
http://www.musiceducationmadness.com/
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/Music.htm
http://teachers.net/cgi-bin/lessons/sort.cgi?searchterm=Music
http://www.instructorweb.com/music.asp
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/lesson-plans/music/index.htm
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/music.html
http://www.pitt.edu/~poole/eledMusic.html
http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/edmusic.htm
http://www.dsokids.com/
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http://www.musicplay.ca
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/
http://mrskingrocks.blogspot.com/
http://www.classicsforkids.com/activitysheets/October2009.
pdf
My Contact Information:
Dee Yoder
George Hildebrand Elementary School
828-879-9595, ext 217
Monday, Thursday & Friday
Mull Elementary School
828-437-5785, Tuesday & Wednesday
[email protected]
[email protected]