January! New Year, New You?
Happy New Year from me! Hopefully you got some physical and mental rest during the holiday break. Many of you are back to it right after New Year’s Day. Some of you get another week to rest and regroup for the next stretch of school year. This is an opportunity for starting some new things, but don’t forget to continue those things that worked!
If you did some planning before you left in December, you probably feel pretty good about the restart. If you did not, you probably feel a little apprehension and maybe some Sunday scaries on the day before going back. Either way, I hope you can feel positive that you can continue some good things you have started in your classrooms so far this year and make a difference for those budding musicians!
We are still in the really dark time of year; very short days for daylight. This can make us feel down and feed into that disillusionment we can feel this time of year. Remember from November - honeymoon with kids is over, planning and events feel overwhelming, feeling like we don’t have a life outside the classroom? That’s disillusionment. Good news is that days are now getting lighter and lighter all the time, and distractions from holidays is pretty over for now. You get a long stretch of more focused work from students in the next few months. You’ll start to see some real progress!
So, for January, getting back to the classroom after break, here are some tips:
Re-teach expectations and routines. Students will forget, or at least seem to, about those things you set up for a smooth beginning and end of class, that classroom talk is different than family talk (appropriate volume or language), the routine of bringing instruments or music to class, back to practicing and music “homework”. Most of the time, I’ll just say, “You know the Principal says that I need to reteach all of our expectations today. Do I need to reteach those? Do you remember those?” And usually that will get them to think about them and know that you’ll be looking for them.
Tweak a routine, or many if needed. This is the perfect time of year to change something if you feel you want to. It’s never a bad time, but lots of things are re-starting right now - resolutions and goals, writing a new year on everything (I will probably write 2023 for a few weeks). Some of you will have class or student changes and that might necessitate some new routines for students.
Can you add a challenge or game to required learning? You might as well take advantage of the long learning stretch coming up and intensify that learning that will happen. Recorder Karate or levels, Band Olympics, scale or song challenges, section competitions…. Many things like this are available on Teachers Pay Teachers or can be found through an online search.
On a personal level, if the darkness is bothering you, turn on all the lights in the house and make sure you get what energizes you. If you are energized by people and activity but nobody is around, turn on the TV for background noise or your favorite music on your listening device. If you are energized by quiet, make sure you get that down time, and I don’t mean just scrolling through social media. Sit with your favorite after-work beverage (hot cocoa with a little something in it??), blanket or warm sweater and just stop and focus on your breathing for a little bit. Make time for this re-energizing, even if you have to make an appointment with yourself on your calendar.
Take care of your health. I’m sure I say this every month, but don’t let your mental, physical or spiritual health take a back seat. If you don’t take care of your health, it will rise up and bite you before too long.
Find someone to talk to. I say this every month, too. Many music teachers feel isolated, even when we’re around students and other faculty all day long. Having a connection with a colleague that can be your sounding board, give you ideas, or even just commiserate about the state of music at your school/district/state/nation can really help lighten the emotional load. If you can’t find someone, I do offer first session free. You can fill out a contact form here.
Thanks for reading my January blog. I hope it helps! Amy