We're Going To The Moon

In 1961, JFK announced to the world that the US would send someone to the moon before the decade was out. Shortly after, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (after picking their jaws off the ground and changing their underwear en masse) set to work. With some good old American determination and elbow grease, they came through with flying colors.

At the beginning of this year, the Maestro declared that he was going to be the best music teacher, husband and father that he could possibly be. Checking in at the semester, he seems to be averaging 2 out of 3. Not that he's been a particularly bad music teacher, it's just that he's revisiting some of his promises this year (particularly the bit about making an 'A' grade in band actually mean something) and realizing that he's come up short.

[turns off 3rd person mode]

In my last post I examined the dilemma between career and family. In this one I am beginning the chronicle of my attempt to burn the candle at both ends and survive the process. Will I succeed? Who knows... What I do know is that I'm tired of making promises to myself that I don't keep.

My first step was to inform my classes of my plan to integrate a new weekly schedule devoted to the goals of advancing individual skills, meeting the diverse needs of the student population, and increasing student accountability. Oh, and along the way, I'm going to achieve world peace and restore the global economy. The students seemed to be enthusiastic - but see, this isn't the first time I've promised to bring big change to the NRHS Music Dept. My problem isn't a lack of ideas - oh, I have ideas a-plenty. My problem is turning those ideas into a reality and making them stick. I'm starting to feel a little like DaVinci, a renowned genius plagued by follow-through issues.

My biggest problem is a distinct lack of planning and resource-gathering time. I constantly find myself in class thinking "Oh, I'll do something about ________, all I need is to develop a lesson plan for it." I even have a flash of how the lesson will unfold, and what materials I should have (all self-engineered, of course.) The next thing I know, it's June, and none of the promises / threats have come to pass.

I keep complaining how tired I am of being an academic / artistic flake.

I keep telling myself I will change.

I'm tired of letting myself down.

Well, I'm officially doing something about it. The first thing I had to do was figure out how I was going to find planning time. I have one daily prep - which is usually wasted doing some administrative drivel. I also have a free sixth period, but I'm usually too wiped out to do anything particularly meaningful (although I've been better about that kind of thing lately). The only thing I could come up with was to use class time, and to get the students in on the planning process. I'm going to use a little of my weekend time (which usually goes to home maintenance) and devote it to lesson planning. (This won't take away from family time, since my wife ordinarily takes maestro Jr. to visit the in-laws for most of Saturday and half of Sunday, anyway.)

I'm going to come up with goals that are simple, practical and attainable. I am going to develop a schedule that is easy to follow and maintain. I am going to create materials that are useful, simple to implement and above all else - reusable. I am going to cut out the monthly allotment of participation points in favor of a one-time semester total, assigned at the outset of each semester, from which deductions will be made as we go. I will develop a method of in-class assessment that balances efficiency with effectiveness. I will keep a record of my successes and failures.

I will make some progress towards being a better teacher, however modest it may be.

I start today... I start tonight. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.