The first days as a first year teacher!

So I am jumping in and beginning my first "real" teaching job.  Just to fill you in if you don't already know, here are a few details about my new job:

I got hired at an elementary school in Belle Plaine, IA (east/central Iowa) a few weeks after the school year had already started.  The teacher that had this position before I got it decided to accept a different position just a few weeks before school started.  Rather than scramble to find a new music teacher before school started, the administration decided that it would be better to take their time finding a new teacher and just hire a sub for the first few weeks of the school year.  Soooooo, I got hired as the new music teacher a week and a half after school was already started.

While this was obviously not an ideal situation, starting school a few weeks late and having no prep time, I was excited about my new job nonetheless!   I was hired as the prep-kindergarten through 6th grade general and choral music director.  This means that I teach 8 classes every day and see each class every other day.  I counted the other day and I have a total of 326 students.  That is a lot of names to learn!  I'm scrambling to get my classroom and curriculum together, but after having been here for three weeks or so I'm starting to feel more organized.

I have quickly learned the hard way that the music teacher that was here before me was not an organized person, and was not a very "fun" music teacher.  My abbreviated general philosophy on music education at the elementary level (and other levels as well I guess) is that if the students are making music and having FUN with it then the learning will come along with the fun-having.  From what I have gathered, this was definitely not the philosophy of the teacher before me.  Within the first week that I was here I was told numerous times by the other teachers that the kids had already made more music in my classroom this school year than they had in all their previous years of music.  It's nice to know that I'm doing a good job!

I'm trying really hard to get these kids excited about music because it sounds like in the past the only thing that they have really done in music class is worksheets, videos and coloring pages.  We will see if I can revive them from their musical coma and get them making music and getting excited about it!

So far I feel like everything is off to a pretty good start (despite the not so ideal situation...)  I am finally feeling like I have started to get my office organized (which was a PIT by the way...) and get my room set up the way that I want it.  Unfortunately the teacher before just took off and left alllllllll of her junk behind.  I have recycled at least 10 large t rash cans full of CRAP that no good music teacher would ever need to use.  The classroom has finally started to look like my classroom and feel like my own classroom.  Here are a few pictures of my classroom:

As you can see, I am blessed to be working in a very nice classroom in a brand new school!  It's exciting to be in such a nice environment and to have really nice materials to use.

I'll be keeping you posted on some of the more noteworthy things that take place in my classroom!  Stay tuned!