This post could also be titled "What I wish I knew before I started this job".
I didn't train as a Primary School Music Specialist, mostly because there is no specific uni degree for what I do. Most Primary School Specialists fit into either one of two categories: * Qualified High School Specialist who (for a variety of reasons) migrated to teaching Primary School. *Primary Classroom Teacher who has extra training or a special interest in their chosen subject area and fell into Specialist teaching. So my background is High School Drama and English, however I wound up teaching Drama, Dance and Music to years 8-12, and then migrated to teaching Primary school Performing Arts. These are the things I wish I knew before starting this job: Specialist Teaching is Lonely When I taught high school, I taught in a team. We would often collaborate, we could talk to each other about curriculum issues and we would share projects and team teach. There was a great sense of relief to be able to work with someone whose passion and area of expertise matched your own. In my school I am fortunate enough to be in the "Specialist" curriculum team. It means that I have people in my learning team that teach and manage similarly structured classes to my own, and I work at a school that respects and values the role of the Specialist teacher. However, in many schools this is not the case. Specialists sit through Professional Development that has little to no relevance to what they teach in the classroom. They work with colleagues who don't teach or understand their particular subject area and in general, are very isolated. They also need to make many decisions alone without collaboration or a 'sounding board', in the form of a fellow team member. Sometimes it is soul crushingly lonely. What do we do about it? Get involved. Reach out to other teachers in your discipline in your area. Do every and all specialist PD you can get your hands on. Get emails, and actually follow up and email people. Share programmes. Jump on facebook and start a group. If you are a department teacher, log into Connect and join ALL the groups. Do WAGSM, ASME PDs, May Day, Schools Make Music, Local ANZAC Day Ceremonies, Local shows (Canning Show, Kelmscott Show), contact your local Music shop and introduce yourself...I know I did! Surround yourself with your tribe. Teaching is not an easy gig, but it is made easier with intelligent, inspiring and down right cool people supporting you. Specialist Teaching is Physically and Mentally Exhausting Classroom teachers have a lot to cram into their work days, however they have the full spectrum of a day, with it's natural highs and lows to work within. There is literacy and numeracy, as well as HASS and all the other incredible things they get done, but there is also finishing off time, Go Noodle brain break time, Silent reading time and all the other 'times' that allow you to breathe, order your desk, mentally catch up or observe the incredible little people we teach. In a Specialist Classroom, you have to be the MOST EXCITING PERSON five or six times a day, every working day. Your time with that particular class is so incredibly precious, and you definitely cannot get through everything in the curriculum if you allocate 5 minutes every week for 'packing away' or 'finishing off'. You are constantly revising, as you may not have seen your class for a week, or more if you had a carnival or a public holiday, and you feel like you are assessing every second or third week and still don't have enough data to write reports. What do we do about it? Well, first of all, we need to get smarter about assessment. Do you need to assess every child, every outcome? Will a group task provide just as much data? Are you still marking writing tasks when you could be using Plickers or Kahoots? Do you do over the shoulder marking or peer marking? Do you record or video work for moderation? Can your lower years interview each other with ipads? Also, we need our down time as well. Some days it is nice have a clean classroom, and a room of year 2s simply love being asked to tidy the instruments, even for the two minutes before recess. Can the 'hook' of your lesson be an inspiring clip on YouTube so you have 2 minutes to catch your breath? Do you have a Level 3 EA in the room who can supervise, so you can dash to the toilet? All of these things will make such a difference to your stress levels at the end of the week. Specialist Teaching is Fulfilling Early childhood is my least favourite age bracket to teach. They cry, they dob, they put snot on everything and I tired quickly of going over Beat and Pitch. However, the year 1 students I taught nursery rhymes and clapping games to, are my year 6 students who are singing complex harmonies and sight reading and composing incredible film scores and writing essays about Australian protest music. And guess what? I got to lead them on that journey. That makes me feel pretty proud. What can we do about it? Just keep being awesome at what you do. Have I missed anything? What do you wish you had been told?
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