Journal of a Jongleur – Year 2+

Recap

I’ve started my third year of teaching and I’m pleasantly surprised by how much easier it gets. Just a quick recap of what I’m doing: twice weekly teaching 4th graders violin and 5th graders violin, viola, cello and bass while also teaching daily middle school orchestra classes. I am now only teaching at three schools instead of four.

How I’ve Changed as a Teacher

1. I wash my hands a LOT more

2. I am internally calmer

3. I’m even more organized

4. I’m more positive

5. I’m more assertive

What I’ve Learned since my First Year

1. I don’t ever have to yell in order to have good behavior in my classes

2. It just isn’t my style

3. I don’t have the vocal capacity to be teaching and singing all day AND to raise my voice at a student

4. Some students have trauma and I don’t want to make it worse

5. Always allow myself more time when promising students anything.

6. Fixing a broken string? I *could* do it in two days, but I learned I am usually too busy to get to it for about a week.

7. Finding and printing Star Wars or Carol of the Bells or whatever random request? Yes, it *does* only take 10 minutes of my time, but it will take me days to find 10 spare minutes.

8. I need real lunch breaks and a decent amount of travel time

9. My first and second years I arranged my schedule in a way that I’d combine lunch and travel and not have enough time so I’d be eating in my car. Thus, food spills all over my clothes and car.

10. I’ve also learned that I need about 5-10 minutes to set up at each school, especially when I’m always walking into surprises like my room being rearranged, my furniture missing, things from the office I need to grab, etc.

11. I need to be having fun

12. Lessons that I enjoy teaching tend to be the same lessons my students enjoy learning.

13. If I can make some of the more challenging techniques and concepts into a game or describe it with relatable terminology, students will respond a lot better

14. My job is supposed to be fun because music is enjoyable and I love learning

How I’d Like to Grow

1. Increase the methods I use of being able to teach each concept

2. Expand my music library so I have a larger selection of music to teach

3. Incorporate more multi-cultural lessons into the younger grades that I teach

4. Improve student performances to be more interesting for the audiences and allow more individual students to present

5. Incorporate the students’ classroom curriculum into their music lessons

Overall

I love my job. My favorite part of my job is interacting with my students. They are so expressive and honest and fun and full of laughter and joy and interest and it's infectious. I am always learning about music and the most efficient ways to teach a concept to different types of learners. I feel confident in my abilities as a teacher and I know I've picked the right profession for myself at this stage in my life.