As you head back to school, especially this coming school year, your mind might be all over the place. You have thoughts swirling in your mind of what needs to get done, but it’s a bit overwhelming trying to figure out what to do when. If it feels like I’m describing you, I created this music teachers back to school checklist to help organize your thoughts.
Don’t feel overwhelmed and try to get through everything in one day or a week. Give yourself time and lots of grace to get through all the things that need to get done before the school year starts. Take it one step at a time and focus on what needs to happen in order to most effectively teach music to your students.
1. Find out your back to school teaching situation
As you already know, your teaching situation for the fall won’t necessarily look the same as anyone else’s. In fact, the nearest district probably has a completely different plan than yours. Finding out HOW you’ll be teaching music to your students is the first step in helping you to move forward into the new school year.
2. Create/edit your classroom management plan
The classroom management plan you’ve used in previous years may not work this upcoming school year. If you’re teaching virtually, you do still need to have a plan in place for the chat box, expectations while you’re teaching, and for when it’s time to talk and ask questions. If you’re on a cart, you might follow the plans the classroom teachers already have in place in conjunction with your music procedures. The important part is to look at your teaching situation, what you liked about your classroom management plan from last year, and then adjust it as needed. You’re also going to need to think about your procedures and expectations and how you plan to introduce and continue them with your students for any teaching situation.
3. Decide how to set up your classroom
First of all, you need to know about what your “classroom” is going to look like. Will you be in an actual classroom? Are you going class to class? Will you be teaching from your home? Whatever the case may be, you still need to think of ways to decorate your music room. Yes, you can definitely still do this if you’re teaching virtually. Be creative with it and meet your students where they’re at.
4. Organize your lesson plans
The next step in getting ready for the upcoming school year is to organize your lesson plans. You probably already have tons of lesson plans from last year (or several years worth) and organizing them will help you to find what you need when you need it. How you organize your plans depends a lot on what your personality is. If you like to organize things by using technology, then do that. Or, maybe you like to organize them in a physical binder. It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you remember the main goal is to organize the plans so they’re easy to find.
5. Plan out the first few weeks
After you know what your teaching situation is, you can begin planning out the first few weeks. As you know, making a plan is just that… a plan. It doesn’t mean it’s set in stone and can’t be adjusted as needed. But, have a general plan of what you want to teach, what instruments you’ll need, and start gathering any resources you’ll need to do that.
6. Map out any school performances (even virtual ones)
There may not be very many performances happening this year. It all depends on a lot of factors that are completely out of your control. But, still map out performances, whether programs, informances, or musicals, that you want to do just in case you’re given the green light. Put them on the calendar. Decide what themes you’ll want to use and where you want to purchase the music. Then, make a contingency plan just in case.
7. Get your back to school letter ready to go for parents
At the beginning of the school year, it’s always a great idea to communicate with your parents. You can post the letter outside of your classroom or on your Google classroom. Send it home in student folders or ask classroom teachers to share it in their virtual classrooms. On your school website or Facebook page, you can also post the letter there. In your back to school letter, introduce yourself, explain what the kids will be learning in music, and advocate for why music is important.
8. Make a list of what you need for COVID teaching
This year, if your back in your regular classroom, you’ll be doing a lot of disinfecting. Make a supply list and give yourself time to buy these materials, since stores have been running out of things. You’ll need lysol wipes, some disposable gloves, masks to wear, and maybe some extra trash bags. Your school may provide some of these items, or you may need to purchase them on your own.
9. Set up your cart if needed
If you’ve been asked to teach on a cart, the first step is to obviously get a cart. Then, think about how you want to set it up. Where do you want your teaching resources? How will you store easy to tote instruments? Are there manipulatives you need to bring to a particular classroom with you? Make notes of all of these things and then begin decorating and getting ready to go.
10. Set up for virtual teaching if needed
The good news is, you probably became a virtual teacher in the Spring of 2020. You learned a lot of what you want to do and things you don’t want to do moving forward into this school year. Go through any technology you might want to use. Narrow down 1-2 options so you don’t overwhelm yourself. Then, learn everything you can about those platforms. This blog post will give you several ideas of how to move forward with virtual teaching.
What do you need to check off of your to do list this week? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments below or share your thoughts on social media as you share this post.
Also, I’d love for you to share this post or any of the resources on my website with a friend or colleague who you know NEEDS to see it.
P.S. Are you feeling frustrated or stuck as an elementary music teacher? Check out these free resources to help you teach elementary music with confidence!
