At the end of February I was privileged to represent my profession in a round-table discussion at the Federal department of Education in Washington DC. The National Association for Music Education (NAfME), formerly known as MENC, sent out a request for representatives from the neighboring states and I was able to tweak my schedule and participate. The discussion focused on a new initiative, RESPECT (which stands for Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative

I have decided to institute a no-whining policy in my world. If you whine I will charge you $10 to put up with you. This includes whining about bus duty, whining about pay freezes, and whining about parents who send ill-prepared kids to us. (oops. Did that sound like I was whining? Sorry.)

In order to generate a few smiles I've compiled a list of random goodness in the hopes of making you  chuckle. Here goes:

1. Student G comes in with birthday crown on. After singing Happy Birthday to

    The general public thinks teachers take the day off at the drop of a hat. Those of us in the know realize that we’d rather work with the bubonic plague than write sub plans- especially for six different grade levels in one day. Add to that the fact that rarely is a sub a musician and you surely see the dilemma. But, I refuse to give in. If you’re going to come to Mrs. Benson’s music room, you’re going to teach.

     I’ve found that the Share the Music series by McMillan-McGrawHill  has

Hello and Happy Valentine’s Day! I’m sorry to be so long away from the keyboard- I’m afraid other keyboards have been calling.

              Our school district usually spends down every penny around this time of year. And given the current economic climate there aren’t that many pennies around. I was thinking of all the things we scrounge up to make our classrooms work and I thought I’d share a few ideas from “The Queen of Free” (what one of my principals used to call me.) 

    Happy New Year readers! I hope this finds you ready to rock and roll in your music rooms in 2012. I know it isn't actually the middle of the school year but boy, does it feel like it. And all of a sudden all my students - all 460+ of them- are getting taller and looking more and more grownup. I'm very proud of all we've accomplished this year, and I'm energized for the run!

    These past few years our regional schools that taught our more profoundly disabled children have been

So here we are, the last two weeks before the Winter Holiday. (We go right up to mid afternoon December 23. Bleh.) I have just a few minutes but I wanted to share a couple of fun activities I've used to keep the kids engaged during these hectic and frantic days.

One of my favorite things for my K and 1st graders is to sing "SANTA" to the tune of 'BINGO." For the K, we just do it straight forward- having one student erase each letter as we sing it . For first graders we figure out the ta and

Hello loyal readers. So sorry to be delayed in posting- I'm taking concert season one day at a time but lately several days have ganged up on me.

My students did a lovely job at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. They were attentive and their behavior was exemplary. I was so ridiculously proud- when we left my contact at the BSO said "Well behaved and well prepared as usual Mrs. Benson. See you next year!"

I could live off that compliment for several months. (that and a healthy dose of

    Next Thursday I will be taking 126 of my closest friends to an open rehearsal at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. This has become a yearly event for my fifth graders, thanks to the graciousness of our beloved BSO. (I tolerate the Orioles, love the Ravens, but the BSO is my home team!)

   Several years ago the BSO began offering open rehearsal visits twice a year to local schools. Due to the continuing economic issues our families are facing it’s been a

  Long days, these October days… but hey, we survived September! (My theme song is “Wake me when September Ends”  by Greenday. ) So the days grow short, but hopefully our tempers don’t. By now we’re in a groove- behavior issues are beginning to appear, unfortunately, since everybody’s comfortable, but the routines have been established, which is always a relief.

   I figured it’s time for a tune up, pun intended. It’s time to step back and re-evaluate what we do as musicians. Not as

Hello all… after my last “Debbie downer” post about how miserably my school year started off I thought I’d update a bit. I do have another laptop to replace the one that mysteriously disappeared and it’s up and working. I recreated a lot of the lost work I had on the old one, so that’s good. The implementation of the new Spotlight series continues, and I find new and interesting things everyday. (Some of which the kids even love!) I’ve dusted off my tried-and-true lessons that are worth

Shifting Sand?

Alas. Back to school last week. I arrived at school to find that I was scheduled for a 5 hour block of solid teaching along with “lunch” at 10 AM. (Keep in mind I start my day at 8:45.) Hmmmmm. That’s not gonna work. Then I found that I had not one but TWO 11 period days- that’s 5 ½ hours of teaching. And then I found that a class had been popped into my chorus spot.

            None of this was deliberate on the schedulers part- in fact, she was extremely amenable to my

….. is what you have before you truly understand the situation. What scares you about the first day/week/month of the school year? Is it the setup to your classroom?
            It might be if you’re new at this. A few things I’ve learned over the years might help. If you’re setting up a music classroom, whether in public school or private school, how you set up the physical plant of the room will help you be successful.And, it's a huge help with classroom behavior management!

 “Momilies”

 First, thank you to all my ECMMA friends for their kind messages of support when my Mom passed away. It’s been a tough couple of months with my Mom’s final illness and passing. I’m very lucky to have such wonderful friends and family to help during this difficult time. I’ve been having trouble with my ECMMA blog in that I cannot make comments at this time. The top-notch IT folks at ECMMA are working on it… I hope.

I was thinking of how what I learned as a kid and adult from

Joann's mother passed away this week, so her regular post will not be in place as she attends to family needs.

Perhaps you could leave a "comment" for her. You do not have to be a member of ECMMA to comment.

Thank you for being a part of ECMMA's extended family.

Rick Townsend
Managing Director
ECMMA
 

So my year just ended, and after 4 days of pool and “beverage” therapy I’m ready to think about how to evaluate my year. I’m not good initially at remembering the best of my school year; I tend to dwell on the things I didn’t get done or the issues I feel I handled poorly.

 We’re very fortunate in the public school sector to get a yearly “do-over” each fall as we begin a new school year. No other field gets to do that- so I don’t take it for granted.

 What went well this year? Well,

Down the track they come….. hugging the inside corner…… and in the lead out the building the last day of school its…. the…… TEACHERS!!!

We’re entering the final countdown for the school year. Field day is tomorrow (if your school doesn’t do field day it’s a shame. Loads of fun for the kids and staff- and exhausting for everybody.)

My spring chorus concerts have been completed, and we’re just putting the finishing touches on the Fifth Grade choral pieces for their Farewell program.

ECMMA blog April 25, 2011

 Always Look on the Bright Side of Life…

I have a particularly troublesome group of little guys this year. Since I’m going to have them for 6 years in total (for better or for worse isn’t just for Will and Kate) I need to make some positive changes in their behavior. Pronto.

We’re made some real differences so far- emails  and meetings with parents have helped. We've also been more consistent in  implementing our school wide discipline plan which is a color

How Many Screens are Too Many Screens?

A colleague of mine stopped by to observe how I use technology in my elementary music classroom. We had a nice chat- a good give-and-take with a respected friend is almost as good as a snow day…. almost.

 She watched us use our Activslate  along with our LCD projector and smart cart. The kids did a good job- and she was especially impressed with the Student Editions on CD that go with the new MacMillan Spotlight On Music  series book. We used the

Children of Poverty

Did you know that the brains of children of poverty show significant physiologic differences? Poverty is usually defined  as a state of deprivation- usually material possessions. But our kids who come to us from impoverished backgrounds bring a host of other issues besides simply not having their school supplies.

The school that I teach in is in a fairly affluent suburban neighborhood yet we have a number of kids who fall into the FARM category (Free and reduced

My little ones in Kindergarten just celebrated several huge milestones. Two weeks ago we had our 100^th day celebration- WOW!  They were incredibly excited and enjoyed scavenger hunts, treats, and costumesThey each presented their collections of 100 things. I loved stopping by to see their puzzles, Lego creations and jars of buttons!

I always love to piggyback on the K celebrations in the Music room. I’m so fortunate to work with  amazing professionals in the Kindergarten area that keep me