From as early as I can remember, I knew I was going to be a high school band director. My dad was my high school band director and our family’s life revolved around that band program. I wanted to build the same kind of program that would be visible in the school, community, and beyond and I really wanted to serve students and their families in the process.
I did it … but it was often really hard. I was doing everything I thought I should do to take the program to the next level, but I was desperate to learn how to be an even better teacher without all the trial and error. I wanted to be a band director who was able to spend more time teaching music and less time managing all the drama that goes with the gig. So in addition to teaching full time, I’d attend conferences and professional development to build my skills as a teacher in order to help my students and the program flourish.
It puzzled me as to why I’d go to a conference, attend tons of amazing sessions, capture all kinds of ideas for everything from how to teach intonation and select literature to the nuts-and-bolts of percussion instrument maintenance and incorporating SEL components into my lessons, and return to my classroom gung-ho to implement all the incredible ideas so I could fast-track my students and my program, but after a week or two of trying the new ideas, we’d lose momentum and I’d slip back into old habits.
At conferences, I’d take copious notes and ask lots of questions at the sessions, so why was I having such a hard time successfully implementing these techniques in my classroom? How could I be a more effective teacher without working even harder? How could I work smarter?
In a lot of ways, it makes me think of Pinterest – you know what I mean, you see a post on Pinterest that is way too cool to pass up, so you dive in and gather everything you need to make that Disney Princess cake (even though you’ve never decorated a cake before) and start the project. Only your cake doesn’t look anything like the one in the photo you saw. Instead, you’ve got a hot mess of frosting that makes the princesses look like they’ve been caught in a downpour. Even though you followed all the steps, your results were clearly not aligned with what you intended to do.
That’s how I used to feel after conferences. I would try the newest tuning technique or breathing exercises that someone was teaching at a conference, and I’d get good results…for a while. Then the students and I would slip into old habits and we’d be right back to where we started. It was frustrating for everyone.
As I got older and wiser (and tired of wasting precious time and energy), I took a hard look at why I was having a hard time implementing so many of these awesome strategies my peers were teaching.
The biggest mistake I made when it came to building my program came down to this: I’d take all these new ideas and try to implement them in my classroom and would get haphazard results. I wanted to accelerate kids’ learning so much that I’d overwhelm them with too much and we’d all get frustrated. After the novelty of whatever it was I was trying to implement wore off, momentum to keep working on it faded (on my part and for the students), and then I would assume the new idea didn’t work, when, in fact, it turns out when ideas weren’t successful, it was generally because I hadn’t thought through the crucial steps of how to implement them in a way that made sense in my classroom.
As you head to conferences and other professional development this spring, I’d like to offer a few pointers I’ve picked up over the more than three decades I’ve spent as a band director so you can fast-track your program to success … without burning out in the process.
- Don’t try to implement every strategy you learned in every conference session at the same time!
- Do pick one strategy that will have the biggest impact on getting you to your primary goal and make a commitment to incorporating it into your routine for 21 days. (For example, if you’ve attended a great session about how to teach students to learn to tune, spend a little time every day for 21 days practicing the new technique so you’ll be able to truly assess whether or not it’s having an impact.)
- Consider how you will implement what you learn into your own program (vs. trying to just immediately implement the technique the identical way the person who introduced it did in his or her classroom) so it will be sustainable instead of just one more thing you tried that ends up not working.
- Have a non-negotiable why behind the reason you are implementing the new skill or procedure so you aren’t tempted to just give up when it gets hard.
- Think about your personality, your students, the way you teach best, and use those things to inform the best way for you introduce and implement new ideas so they are successful with your kiddos.
- Find a trusted mentor who is committed to helping you hold yourself accountable and be there to help you through the hard stuff. There’s no substitute for collaborating with someone who’s achieved goals you’re aiming for and having them help you get there faster, easier, and with more sustainable results!
Teaching is hard work. When you have ideas or learn new teaching strategies, they can be game-changers … if they’re introduced and implemented properly. After all, isn’t that the ultimate goal when you attend a conference or PD? Don’t you want to take a new idea back to your classroom and see improvements for you and your students?
It can be hard to know where to start or what to do next to move your program in the direction you want it to go. That’s where I come in. I help music teachers build successful programs without burning out. I believe music educators can change the world, and it’s my mission on this planet to help music teachers build sustainable programs they can serve in for a long time. We have important work to do, and I’m here to support music teachers on their journey.
To schedule a complimentary 15-minute call to see if we’d be a good fit to work together, click this calendar link and let’s connect! I’ve got a couple of openings for motivated music teachers who are tired of trial and error and are ready for results!
With you on the journey-
Lesley