Concurrent Music Teaching Tips

More and more music teachers are heading back to in-person teaching, while still teaching distance learners at the same time. It's a lot to juggle and it's not easy at all, but after doing it since last September I have a much better handle on it than I did when I started! There's so much more to say than I could ever cover in one blog post, but here are a few tips for managing concurrent elementary music teaching.

1. Establish Routines

I've said this in different ways more times than I can count now, but routines. Routines have been my saving grace this year more than ever before. Routines for me as a teacher, routines for the students, and routines for the flow of the lessons themselves. As mundane as it may seem, put routines in place anywhere you can! The mental load of concurrent teaching is the toughest part, so anything you can make automatic and not have to think about is a plus for everyone. I've written in much greater detail about specific routines I've put in place for concurrent teaching in these posts below:

 

2. Stop Asking, "Who Remembers..."

I know I'm not the only one who uses the prompt, "who remembers (fill in the blank vocabulary, word or concept)?" to review previous lesson material and segue into the next activity. If you're teaching concurrently? Stop doing it. If there's one teaching practice that will bring your concurrent lesson to a halt more quickly than anything, it's asking the whole class a question and inviting students to raise their hands to share a response. While there are times when doing so is definitely still worth it, for the most part I avoid asking the class a question and inviting individual answers now. Instead, I ask individual students directly (so I don't have to wait for students to raise their real or zoom hand and I can better keep track of individual student understanding), or I invite the whole class to respond simultaneously (like "Alright everyone, yesterday we learned that the violin is in the.....? *gestures out to the group* yes, string family!"- that way distance learners just answer with everyone without me having to unmute them). For a question like "who remembers___?", which is really just intended to be a quick reminder for the group in a typical class setting, it's not worth the hassle!

3. Build In Distance Attendance Opportunities

I don't necessarily plan my lessons around this, but I try to take advantage of opportunities in the middle of class to take attendance for my distance learners. Sometimes I do so by asking all students to respond to a question or perform something, and I mark down names as they do it, or sometimes I have students watching a video or working on an individual assignment and I can jot down who's there while I'm not directly teaching the class. With classes being as short as they are I don't like to waste time taking attendance while students just sit there, but with students coming in and out at different times, I don't always remember correctly if I'm taking attendance right before or after class either. 

I also don't normally take attendance in my class, but for distance learners in particular it has been critically important to take attendance this year so I can keep track of anyone who isn't showing up in my zooms and follow up with their families. 

4. Restate Student Comments

Get in the habit of restating anything in-person students say or do, and anything distance learners put in the chat (unless it's meant to be private of course). For music class it's not always practical to make it so distance and in-person students can see each other, but it's still very important for them to be able to interact with each other and also make sure noone misses parts of class discussions. Remember even the in-person students often can't hear each other because of distancing and masking, and online students certainly can't! Because of the sound lag I generally have online distance students muted during class, so for students in 3rd grade and up especially, I have them use the chat for the majority of their questions/ responses. I of course read those out loud for the class to hear before responding, but I have also been conscious of restating even those interruptions from in-person or distance learners, no matter how off-topic they are, before redirecting. Kids miss talking to each other. They usually find their peers funnier than their teachers, and those random comments- while sometimes disruptive- are what the distance learners especially miss from being in the room with their friends.

5. Make the Board a Second Monitor

My favorite way to set up technology is to have zoom on my laptop and connect the laptop to the projector with dual monitor settings so the board functions as the 2nd monitor. I have everything I want to show students in a google slides file on the "2nd monitor" so the in-person students see it projected on the board and I share my screen to show the same thing to the distance learners on zoom. I can have both groups of students see things/ not see things at the same time by stopping the screen share and blanking the projector if I want them to just look at me or have a class discussion, for example, I can control whether in-person students see the distance learners and the zoom chat window on the screen or not, and I can still see all of the zoom participants when I share my screen instead of being limited to the small window on the side.

This topic warrants a whole post of its own, but I want to point out that in my experience there are times when I want the 2 groups of students to be able to see each other and there are times when it is actually better for the distance learners to know they are not on the screen! Distance learners can be very uncomfortable about doing movement activities etc if they know they are projected on the big screen, for example. It's also worth noting that I taught in a cart in many spaces that did not have boards or projectors at all, and depending on the situation/ activity, my 2 (far less than ideal, but workable) solutions were to either 1) have in-person learners also join the zoom with the distance learners, or 2) use the relatively small monitor I mounted to my cart (yeah I did that) as the "board" for hybrid students to look at.

I could keep going for pages and pages- there is so much to think about with this mode of teaching- but those are some of the most important discoveries I've made this school year. If you've been teaching music concurrently and have your own tips, I'd love to hear them in the comments, and if you have questions please do leave those as well! You'll find more ideas and tips for various forms of pandemic teaching on my dedicated page below:

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Teacher Routines for Concurrent Music Teaching

I've been teaching concurrently- with some students socially distanced in the classroom and some students participating in the same class live on zoom at the same time- since the beginning of this school year. I'm also on a cart and, as of right now, still not allowed to sing or share any supplies in school. It's still exhausting and frustrating, but I have definitely figured out some strategies to make it work more smoothly over the last several months! Here are some routines I've established for myself to help me juggle all my responsibilities for teaching elementary music concurrently.

There are 2 categories of routines that I think are equally valuable in teaching in general: class routines and teacher routines. Class routines help make class predictable- I've leaned even more heavily on establishing routines for how I run my lessons this year to help give my students and I some predictability in these highly unpredictable and unusual times and make it easier on all of us to know what to do when we're dealing with these complicated restrictions. I do the same series of stretches at the beginning of class, and I end with a virtual "happy note" at the end of class, ever single lesson. You can read more details about how I have established class routines this year in this blog post.

Equally important, though, are the routines we establish for ourselves as teachers! The reason concurrent teaching is so exhausting is because you have to think about so many different things at once, so anything that can alleviate the mental load is a good thing. It has taken me a long time to find a routine that helps me manage everything, and of course as things continue to change I have to continue to adjust my own routines, but here is my current routine for managing everything for my teaching.

1. Before School

I make sure to set up a few things before my first class each day so that I have everything ready to go:

• Put my class lists on my clipboard to have on my cart
• Put my class schedule on my cart
• Review my lesson plans for the day and write down the basic sequence of each on sticky notes- the first one goes on my computer next to my trackpad where I can see it, and the rest go on on my class lists next the classes they're for
• Pull up the slides and any other tabs I need for each lesson- I put all the tabs for one lesson in one browser window and minimize the others so they're ready but not visible
• Open the zoom app and find the first class in my list of recurring meetings
• Get my voice amplifier on
• Make sure my computer, walkie talkie, speaker, and voice amplifier are charged and turned on
• Open class dojo on my phone and find the first class I'm teaching
• Fill up my water bottle, eat a quick snack, and go to the bathroom

2. Before Each Lesson

I have 5 minutes between most of my classes. Before each class here is what I do to make sure everything is set up:

• Start the zoom, and pause the automatic recording, 5 minutes before class (this often means I'm starting the zoom for the next class before I leave the class I just finished teaching)
• Adjust any zoom settings- make sure students can't unmute, and can only chat with me
• Make sure slides and other tabs for the lesson are open and ready for the beginning of the lesson
• If it's different than the lesson before it, get the sticky note for that class and put it on my computer, and move the previous one to my clipboard
• Look through the roster to remind myself of who to expect on zoom and in the room
• Try to be walking into the room about 3 minutes before the start of class so I can
• say hello to the in-person students
• ask the homeroom teacher/ cohort supervisor who is absent today and/or any in-person students who are on zoom 
• Plug in my power strip from my cart
• Connect my computer to the projector and adjust my settings as needed, move windows so the visuals I'm sharing are on the board and the zoom window is on my computer
• Admit all students from the zoom waiting room at the start of class time, say hello, and make sure everyone can see and hear me

3. After Class

Usually the routines I have for starting the next lesson are happening at the same time as the routines I have for the end of the previous one, unless I have more than 5 minutes between 2 classes. 

• Write down attendance: I try to note my attendance for the distance learners sometime during the lesson- usually when they're all taking turns answering a question or when everyone is watching a video so I am free to look through the participants and mark them down. If I don't have a good time to do that during class I make sure to do it right after class before I forget, and I always wait until after class to mark down the in-person attendance.
• Send a virtual happy note on class dojo to whoever got it that day (more on this in my previous post on class routines linked above)
• If I'm not teaching that lesson again that day, close those tabs

4. After School

After my last class is over, here are the things I always do before the end of the school day:

• Make sure I have sent all the happy notes on dojo (if I didn't have time between lessons)
• Pick out one zoom recording for each grade and post the recording in each google classroom
• Plug in my voice amplifier and speaker to charge
• Throw away all the lesson sticky notes for that day
• Contact the families of any distance learners who were missing more than 1 day without a known reason
• Make sure tomorrow's google classroom's posts are ready
• Make sure tomorrow's slides are ready

This is a lot when I write it all out but I hope it helps anyone who is finding themselves teaching concurrently for the first time and struggling to wrap their head around it all! If you want to see more ideas and tips for teaching in various pandemic teaching situations, be sure to visit this page where I've compiled all my relevant posts in various categories:

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Fostering Social-Emotional Health in Elementary Music (pandemic edition)

We all know how critical it is to care for our students' social emotional well-being right now. The question, of course, is how! This is already a tall order for elementary music teachers with our short class times and hundreds of students to contend with, but the difficulty is magnified this year with, depending on our situation, even less class time, the loss of our classroom spaces, the difficulty of connecting with virtual learners, heavy restrictions on singing, dancing, and other activities that would normally be at the top of music teachers' lists for class activities that promote social-emotional health, and so much more. Nonetheless, the importance of tending to our students' needs remains. Here is what I have found success with so far this year.

1. Restorative Mindset

This is not so much a practical strategy but, I think, centrally important to making those practical strategies actually work: we as teachers need to approach our students and their families with a restorative mindset. I have written extensively about applying principals of restorative practice/ restorative justice in the music classroom, and of course there is a lot of wonderful literature out there by many others as well. In practical terms, I see this mindset playing out this year in how I approach common stressors and difficult situations. If a student always has their camera off, I (privately) ask them why. If a student is in a bad mood or refusing to participate, I ask them what happened. If a student is not showing up to class online, I ask the family how I can help and find out what their situation may be. These may all sound like common sense, but in my observation there are a lot of teachers who, in all of those examples, are jumping straight to making demands (you must have your camera on during class) and giving ultimatums (if your child doesn't show up on time for class they will fail/ get a zero/ be marked absent and put you on track to be reported for educational neglect). I understand why many teachers are doing this- we are under a lot of pressure to prove that we can still provide students with a worthwhile education remotely, and this form of teaching is so new and foreign for most of us- but that does not change the harmful effects these responses have. If you're new to the concept of restorative practices, start here:

 2. Routines

With so much upheaval in every aspect of our lives, predictability is critical to our emotional well-being right now. As hard as it may be with our teaching modalities changing constantly and so many new things to adapt to, class routines are an important and effective way to promote emotional health. This can be as simple as a hello and goodbye song to start and end each lesson, or using the same format for posted lessons so students know how to complete their work! I have found a few key routines very helpful both for in-person and virtual teaching this year, which you can read more about in this post.

3. Individual Connections

I can't say enough about the importance of making individual connections whenever we can! I make it a point to greet every single student by name at the beginning of class. I'm also leaning hard into any sorts of inside jokes/ nicknames I have with students (being careful, of course, to avoid anything that would offend or embarrass students)- some love to change their name on zoom and have me call them by that name the entire lesson, some have told me a funny story, even in previous years, that I'll try to reference randomly in class, etc. I also encourage and praise any aspect of students' personal lives that they share with me, whether that's siblings joining in with the lesson, their bedroom decor, or pets in their laps. Of course I am mindful of any students who don't want to be publicly pointed out (for those students I will send them a private chat or speak with them privately if we're in person), or things I see in their homes that students didn't intend to share, but anything that helps students feel seen and gives us a way to connect on a personal level, and encourages them to connect with each other (which is where pointing out students in front of the class helps the others notice each other), is a good thing. 

4. Talk Time

Since we started teaching fully remotely, I have quickly learned that I need to give kids the time to just chat with me- especially the younger ones! Not since my first year of teaching have I felt the need to give students time to just tell me whatever they want, but my younger students are so much more motivated to come to class, and are so much happier and engaged, when they have time to tell me that their uncle's birthday is tomorrow, or show me the toy their baby brother is playing with, or explain their theory on why snails have shells. I've realized that, without the usual ways I connect with them in person, they need that time to just say whatever they're thinking about, and I am a fresh audience for them! I let them unmute for the first few minutes while students are joining, and I try to end the lesson a few minutes before the end of class and let those who want to stay and chat unmute then as well. Of course, there is almost always someone who doesn't get to say everything they wanted to- I always tell them before I end the zoom that they should send me a message in Google Classroom if they didn't get to share something verbally!

I have been intentionally giving more time to chat with my in-person students as well. I use the time when I am coming in and setting up my cart, and then packing up to leave, to let students share and chat with them about life. They aren't as desperate for conversation because they have each other and can make those social connections, but we are all desperate for more human connections these days, right?

Of course these points barely scratch the surface of this enormous and important topic, but it is a start. What strategies have you found most helpful for fostering social-emotional well-being as a music teacher in pandemic times? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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Class Routines in Pandemic Times

If there's one thing children (and, let's be honest, grownups too) need more than anything during uncertain times, it's routine. Consistency. Predictability. But it's also one of the hardest things to accomplish when our world keeps getting flipped on its head and everything is different! Here are some routines I have established this school year through in-person teaching on a cart with simultaneous virtual learners, and full live distance teaching, that have been helpful for all of us.

1. Stretching

I cannot take credit for this idea- this came from one of my 2nd graders! At her suggestion one morning when I walked in and commented on the gloomy faces in the first week of school, we all stood up and I led the class in some simple stretches. It felt great, so I did it with my next class too. I haven't stopped since. Every single class period, with every single grade, we start with the exact same stretching sequence. Every now and then I throw in something different just to mix things up, but for the most part it is the exact same thing every day. 

There are so, so many benefits to starting each class this way: 1) it establishes predictability and routine, 2) it is physically helpful for all of us since we're hunched in front of a screen or stuck in our socially-distanced bubble, 3) it is very easy, after the first few days, for even my kindergartners to self-direct, which gave me time to plug in my cart and set things up when I was teaching in person, 4) it gives kids time to sort out tech issues and get logged in while keeping everyone else busy, 5) especially with the older grades, it gives me a chance to connect with individual students- when we're in person, I can chat with kids about life while we're stretching, and on zoom (since they're muted) I can comment on and say hello to each student individually (oh look there's Jaiden's little brother, I love your hair today Chloe, your bedroom is so cool Davonte... etc).

I also manage to sneak in some musical concepts (because why not?): I raise and lower the pitch of my voice when I say "everybody reach up high/ down low", match the tempo of my speaking with how fast or slowly I want them to do something, etc. Every little bit counts when we're working with reduced class time, and I have noticed when students jump in to announce the next stretch (which happens quite often) they will often do the same thing with their voices without even realizing ;)

2. Upbeat Closer

I end most classes with either a rhythm play-along or movement/ dance activity with an upbeat song that has an uplifting, positive message. I can't waste the opportunity to use the power of music to lift everyone's spirits! For kindergarten and 1st grade I generally have them copy me and/or each other in doing movements with the steady beat. For the middle grades I do that, or a quick round of freeze dance (though nobody gets out because of zoom lag), or a rhythm play-along. For the older grades I use rhythm play-along's as well, or a play-along video where they do body percussion or movement. Thanks to the many creative and tech-savvy people out there, I've found no shortage of rhythm play-along videos for all skill levels on YouTube, but for this purpose specifically at the end of class, I am looking for ones that are upbeat instrumental or have an encouraging message. I also use a lot of the tracks from my dance playlist for the movement activities or make it into our own simple "play-along" by putting a few rhythm patterns we're working on up on the screen and playing those with the beat of one of those songs. I honestly get a little choked up sometimes watching my students happily dancing along with words like, "it's gonna be OK", or "keep your head up"- I hope the words soak in.

3. Happy Notes

Happy notes are not new for me- I've been giving out happy notes at the end of every single class period since 2013- so I knew at the start of the year that it was important to find a way to keep that routine going. You can read about how I normally use them and get the link to the free printables I use in this post from 2014, but essentially the idea is that I give one student a note with a specific compliment, and I announce it in front of the class. Rather than being a ranking system of any kind, like a traditional "star student" or "student of the day", I make it clear that everyone gets a turn and whoever gets it is NOT getting it because they were the "best" but because they are awesome and they matter.

Because of our circumstances, I did have to make a few adjustments this year. Since I can't give out actual pieces of paper, I started sending a message on ClassDojo (a parent communication tool our school is using this year) to the family of the student instead. I still announce it in front of them at the end of class, but this has actually been such an unexpected positive because I am communicating more directly with the families, and they are getting quick little positive notes from me instead of the flood of tasks and information us parents are getting so much of this year! I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from families because of these happy note messages, and the students are so proud to know that I'm sending those messages to their families. The other adjustment I made was to break my strict one student per class rule- if I have a full class (and not a small in-person cohort by themselves) I give a happy note to 2 students each day, so that students are getting more frequent compliments. I think we can all use extra compliments right now!

How are you establishing routines in this year of unpredictability? I think it's so important to find ways to create structure and routine for everyone's sanity this year. If you have other ideas that have worked for you, please tell us in the comments! If you want to read about the routines I use for the beginning and end of class in "normal times", check out the posts below:

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Advice from the Field

After chatting with some fellow elementary music teachers last week about the joys and struggles of our various teaching situations, I asked each of them to share a short word of advice to others who may find themselves in the same situation, whether that's teaching fully online, live or asynchronous, on a cart, in your own music room, or some combination of the above. Here is what they had to say!

If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend sitting down with a cup of something cozy and watching the video of my conversation with these wonderful women. It has been one of the most encouraging conversations I have had in a long time just to hear their hearts and feel a sense of camaraderie in the struggles and joys we are all encountering in our various situations! Watch that here. 

And now here is the advice each of them shared:

For full virtual, live teaching: Charissa Duncanson

I encourage teachers to connect with one another on social media if they have not already. We can feel very lonely in times like this, and connecting with others reminds us that we aren't alone in this new journey of teaching in a pandemic. I have also found it helpful to set clear boundaries for myself when it comes to working vs being home. I gave myself clear boundaries of when to and when not to do "school work". When I made the choice to turn off my work laptop at 4:30pm I really was able to rid myself of the burden of constantly answering and feeling like I had to immediately respond. I know that my work will be there for me the next day and I can pick up where I left off. These boundaries have helped me tremendously, and kept me sane throughout my week. 

Find Charissa @musiciwthmrsdunc on all social media platforms or at her website to connect and chat with her further!

For full online, posting asynchronous lessons: Leah Riggs

In this season of my life, where I am teaching in a way that is completely new to me, I have found a few new pieces of wisdom. Number one is being adaptable. Good teachers are good learners; we have to learn and adapt to new content and new ways of delivering content. I can’t think of another time in my career that I have learned more in such a short amount of time. I didn’t know how to make a video lesson let alone how to upload it and make it available to students! There are SO many new skills I can take into the future. Number two is safety. I am keeping my students and my family safe by working from home. I am in a district, county, city, and state that is doing it’s best to keep our community safe. That comes with a lot of restrictions that are hard to deal with. The bottom line is, we may not always understand in the moment the big picture of community safety, but I trust that my leaders do, and I am ever so grateful for that. If you ever need advice, or need to bounce off ideas about asynchronous teaching, I am all in to help! 

Find Leah on Facebook and Instagram @musicinthemeadowbooks, or email musicinthemeadowbooks@gmail.com to connect and chat. 

For in-person teaching in the music room: Aimee Curtis Pfitzner

Deep breaths. 

Expect the unexpected. The Law of Mutability applies this year: Nothing remains the same but change. That is incredibly difficult for human beings - we crave routine and are hard-wired for habits and familiarity. Nothing about Pandemic teaching has to do with routines or familiarity. We are all first-year teachers figuring out how to work with the technology, learning platform, behavior management, student engagement, interaction, etc., etc., etc. 

What are the most important areas of content to teach your students this year and what kinds of lessons can be extended to multiple lessons?  Consider grouping grade level lessons together and/or using the same pieces to teach from once in a while to ease up on planning. Consider reaching out to small groups of students to encourage, develop relationships, and stimulate engagement. In an age where everyone wants to create virtual classrooms and high-tech proficient lessons that are polished and professional, consider that what your students might need most is YOU.  Your face, your voice, and the stability and familiarity of you teaching lessons as if all your students were in the room. Share the personal joy of music making, creation, and performance.  Give them moments of joy, safety, comfort, and fun while also focusing on concepts and skills. 

Reach out to other music teachers- our community is AMAZING and the support, camaraderie, and sharing that is happening within music education is absolutely remarkable. 
Above all, know that this too shall pass.

Find Aimee on Facebook @ofortunaorff and Instagram @aimee_ofortunaorff, or email musicquilt@hotmail.com to connect with her!

For hybrid teaching on a cart: Elizabeth Caldwell

First a few practical tips: 1) Get a mic/ personal amplification system. Teaching with a mask on to a room full of spread-out students will do a number on your voice otherwise. 2) Write down where you are supposed to be when and have it readily visible on your cart. 3) Have a power strip and extension cord on your cart so you can plug things in. 4) Drink water. Lots of water. I have barely any time between classes but it's worth the precious 2 minutes it takes to use the bathroom to keep my energy up. 5) After each class, roll your cart to the next location, start the zoom for the next class so students can start coming into the waiting room, and get your computer set up with whatever tabs you need for the lesson. I have found little spots in the hallway outside each of the rooms I teach in to park my cart and set up my computer, then I run to the bathroom, drink water, and/or check messages etc with whatever time I have left before the next class, knowing I have everything ready to go.

Besides those practical tips, I echo what the others have said: connect with other music teachers, establish routines and boundaries for your work hours, and be intentional about self-care, whatever that looks like for you. And please reach out to me on social media, in the blog comments below, or by email! You can find my contact information and social media links right here on my website.

I'd love to hear from you: what advice would you give to other music teachers, and what questions do you have? Leave a comment below so we can all support each other through this crisis.

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Schedule Dashboard for Teacher Planners

My schedule this year looks nothing like it ever has before, and keeping track of where I'm supposed to be when and doing what has been an unprecedented challenge! This planner addition has been a life-saver for me this fall and it has proven to be even more versatile than I ever imagined.

This year because we are on a rotational schedule where we see the same 2 grade levels for 3 weeks and then switch, my schedule is the same every single day, and I'm essentially teaching 2 lesson plans each day. So while I don't need to re-write my lesson plans for every single 2nd grade class with the same lesson plan, I do need a way to keep track of what my schedule is- I am teaching both full distance learners on zoom and in-person cohorts simultaneously, and going into different rooms around the building on a cart.

Rather than writing out my schedule each day, I wrote out the times, locations, and formats (in person, online, or both) for my classes and printed 2 copies front and back, laminated, and hole punched it so I can keep it in my planner and move it from week to week to reference. I've also been using it to keep track of my schedule during the day by sticking it to the side of my cart with a magnet. Double duty! Having it as a reference has saved me many times.

Here's a video showing it in more detail:

If you have a crazy schedule this year like mine, I highly recommend this simple DIY- I've found it so helpful! If you're looking for the planner printables I use, you can find those here. Looking for more tips and ideas for teaching in a hybrid model? You'll find lots more posts on this page:

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The Unexpected Realities of Hybrid Teaching

Amidst the ongoing covid19 pandemic, I have been teaching elementary music in a hybrid model for about a month now. In our district, families were given the option of keeping children home in a fully online distance learning program or sending them to school in a socially-distanced classroom 4 days a week. I teach both the online learners and the in-person student simultaneously by having students join my classes through Zoom. For any teachers anticipating going back to some form of in-person teaching, here are some of the things I didn't expect before I started.

1. Technology Fails

Over the course of the pandemic I have become somewhat of a tech guru- I'm not sure how, because I've never considered myself a "techie" person, but nonetheless I find myself often being the one explaining how to use certain programs or solving tech problems for my colleagues. I spent most of my summer figuring out and testing the best solutions for how to make this hybrid situation work. I came in with a plan. All of that went out the window when the wifi at school went down.

One of the things I've learned about hybrid teaching is that I have to have at least 3 backup plans for how I'm going to deliver my lesson if the technology fails, because it will. My computer died in the middle of the day, I got kicked out of my zoom in the middle of a 1st grade lesson, taught an entire day without wifi, had both Google Classroom and Zoom report massive outages across our entire region... the list goes on. Always have another way to deliver the lesson, and expect to have to change course multiple times a day. Be patient!

2. Loads of Laundry

...and by loads I mean lots. After a few positive cases in my building, I quickly got serious about our school nurse's advice and started changing clothes after school every day, and I wash them all after each use. My two daughters who are learning in-person also have a different mask for each day of the week that need to be washed every week. That means every weekend I'm now doing 3-4 loads of laundry for just my small family, when I used to do 1, maybe 2! 

3. No More Skirts

My staple teaching outfit used to be dresses and skirts with pockets (I wrote a whole post about my favorite teacher clothes here). Not this year! Because I am on a cart, I carry my cell phone in my back pocket to be able to check email and send messages to families with our communication app. Because I am wearing a mask and don't want to project my voice, I have a voice amplification system, and the speaker hooks onto my front pocket. And I'm walking around the building with my cart all day, getting down on the floor to plug into the outlets in each classroom. My dresses and skirts also aren't as sturdy as my pants to hold up to weekly washings, so it's pants and t-shirts every day for me! 

4. Parent Communication

Because parents of distance learners have to be so much more directly involved in their children's education, I have had a lot more frequent and direct contact with my students' families. I also switched from handing out physical "happy notes" to students at the end of class to sending a message to a student's family on our parent communication app. It has actually been really great to connect more with the families of my students- something I hope will continue after this pandemic is over!

5. Low Energy

I was shocked the first few days at how quickly the kids and I would lose steam! I think it's a combination of stress, the mental energy required to do everything differently, and the physical toll of wearing a mask all day. I have had to really tone down the energy I expend when I'm teaching, although I think the students and I are also starting to adapt now that we've been doing this for a while.

If you have been teaching in a hybrid model, I'd love to hear other things you've experienced that you didn't expect! And if you're heading back to in-person teaching soon, feel free to leave any questions in the comments below. It is a lot to adjust to but we are adjusting and adapting and making it work!

To see more posts with ideas and tips for pandemic teaching, click below:

Read more "The Unexpected Realities of Hybrid Teaching"

Back to School Haul: pandemic cart teaching edition

My back to school shopping definitely looked a little different this year! Yes, some of these are things that I should not have to purchase with my own money- I fought hard to have the district provide many of them but was unsuccessful. I tried to be judicious with my purchases though, and not get sucked into buying all the things for a teaching situation that is so constantly changing. I'm no expert in cart teaching, or pandemic teaching for sure, but these are the things I got that have been working for me so far teaching elementary music in person on a cart in a hybrid model.

Affiliate links included in this post- this does not affect the purchase price or experience, and I was not sponsored or otherwise compensated for sharing this information.

1. Voice Amplification System

One thing I knew I would need teaching with a mask on was a personal microphone. I probably should have been using one much sooner, considering how often I experience vocal fatigue as a music teacher, but I know I would not survive without it now! I ordered this one, but there are many different options available online and I honestly did not spend too much time deciding which one would be best. This has worked well for me so far though, and the price was good! Sidenote, I learned since taking the photo above that wearing the mic outside my mask works just as well and it's much more comfortable.

2. Medical Grade Masks

Please note, I am NOT an expert on this AT ALL! I spent a lot of time looking at the research on aerosols, mask efficacy, and which PPE is most practical for music teachers. I tried a lot of different versions but what I have settled on for now are the medical grade disposable masks like these. With the number of students I see each week etc I did not feel comfortable with a regular cloth or non-medical masks, but with this extra trick shown in the video below I have found these to be the most well-fitted for my face while still being comfortable enough to speak in and stay off my mouth. 

3. Water Bottle

I have become a big water drinker in the last couple of years and really believe it makes a huge difference in my overall health and energy, and my vocal health in particular. I have been using the same water bottle at school for years but this year since I'm on a cart, I needed something that was spill-proof but easy to take a quick sip from- I ended up getting this one and so far I love it (the colors are pretty great too)!

4. Cup Holder

With my new water bottle I also needed a place to keep it on my cart, and this cup holder worked out perfectly. It is very stable and holds my water bottle securely, and it's easy to attach anywhere on my cart too. 

That's it! It was very strange, honestly, not to be setting up my classroom and coming up with ways of streamlining and organizing like I usually do, but there are plenty of new challenges to deal with now and I'm learning how to adapt better every day. If you have any items that you've found especially helpful for pandemic cart teaching, I'd love for you to share them below! Don't forget, if you're looking for more ideas for all aspects of pandemic music teaching, head to my page below:

Read more "Back to School Haul: pandemic cart teaching edition"

Music Teacher Cart 2020

Normally I would have done a classroom tour at least a month ago, showing how I've set up my space to get ready for students and another year of music-making. This year I have no room to set up because I am on a cart for the first time ever as we open in a hybrid model in the midst of this pandemic. I'm new to this myself and tried not to spend too much of my own money on something that is so subject to change, so this may not be the perfect model of what everyone "should do" but I'm making it work!

First of all, my district has not (yet) actually provided me with a cart to use for cart teaching- they are hoping to be able to order something but for now I am using what I happened to already have in my classroom from last year. So if things seem unnecessarily awkward, it's because it is! Still, I am lucky to have this cart that I bought last year to store composition and other miscellaneous student supplies:

Originally I took all the bins out, thinking I would want the bigger shelf space for things like my laptop, a keyboard, etc. But I quickly realized that while the large lip around each shelf is very helpful for keeping things from falling out, it makes it very difficult to reach things that sit low inside them! So the bins made a comeback and I'm using the ones on the top shelf to store things when I'm rolling, and serve as a shelf when I'm stationary.

Besides my computer, I keep all the things that are most essential to teaching on the top shelf (plus a minion for good measure): a clipboard, my voice amplification headset, and a small bluetooth speaker. I didn't realize how helpful it would be that the cart is metal- I am able to attach things to the sides with magnets, like the laminated copy of my class schedule that I have stuck on the top shelf so I can keep track of where I'm supposed to be when.

The middle is where I plan to keep different things I might need for a particular lesson. I found that a mini keyboard fits perfectly into the shelf, and since I do tend to gravitate to the piano for quick demonstrations of concepts or to accompany a movement activity, I wanted to make sure I could take it when I want it. If I have other instruments or supplies for a specific lesson I'll take out the keyboard and use the middle shelf for those. That shelf also has the power strip, which I had no idea how badly I would need until I started trying to plug everything in! Most of it can run without being plugged in, but I am paranoid and want to make sure I can plug things in in case the battery runs low in the middle of the day.

On the bottom shelf I have an extra Chromebook (again, because I am paranoid- I want to have a backup plan in case my laptop freezes, which is not uncommon for my dinosaur machine), an extension cord, tissues, basic first aid kit, hand sanitizer, a walkie talkie, and a box with some basic office supplies like sticky notes, pencils, and paper clips. 

This is all admittedly a bit of a mess to look at from the back, but I brought back the one poster that I took home during distance teaching this spring from my classroom and attached it to the front to hide the mess:

If you're a first time cart teacher like me I hope this gives you some ideas! And if you have your own ideas that have worked well for you please share them in the comments. We're all going to need to learn from each other more than ever this year! If you're looking for more ideas for pandemic teaching, here's the page where I'm organizing all of them:

Read more "Music Teacher Cart 2020"