in this video we spoke with several new teachers
to check in and hear their thoughts on their first few weeks of teaching
this summer we launched the JW Pepper new music teacher Club our goal is to connect
with first-year music teachers welcome them to Pepper and point them to specialized resources
that address their unique situations and challenges and just a heads up if you're a
new music teacher or you know a new music teacher our page is a great place for articles videos
product lists and more check it out and sign up for updates at jwpepper.com new teacher now we
won't take up any more of your time let's get into the interviews and meet some of our new teachers
if you could go back to your first week and do something differently what do you think it would
be absolutely without a doubt I would tell myself in the first week to focus on making connections
first before trying to be the best teacher in the world first I didn't know where my students were
going to be at when I got here and I think that I might have underestimated their abilities a lot I
have figured that covet would have a greater effect on you know what level we would be
playing at kids are really resilient and they were excited to get back into it be more adamant about
going over rules and procedures on the first day I wanted it to be a fun environment I wanted to
play games I wanted to do all that kind of stuff I went over rules but I think I should have taken
a little bit more time to practice those rules instead of just telling them the rules I had no
idea what I was walking into and I think I would have done a little more homework first yeah sure
because it's an eye-opener I can do anything differently it probably asked more questions
uh to my admin our first week was mostly teacher days and there are certain things I was like do
they want that for me now do they want that for me later so I would have asked more questions to my
admin you know it's my first year teaching and I'm coming in after you know a teacher who had been
here for 34 years I really do think the biggest thing is I would have just taken more time to just
sit back and get to know students before trying to delve into what I wanted to accomplish what is
the biggest challenge you've faced everything you do won't be perfect but you have to make sure the
things that you know are the most important that you do those well and there are certain things
that I'm not saying you skate but there are things you have to just make sure that you do to a level
that it's it's going to be fine and satisfactory came into a new District as a new teacher and
really needed to find you know who is supportive of the program that I was building and who was
going to help me to get the numbers up and you know finding those connections with the
guidance department and the front office and the secretaries the janitors who set up and
tear down our concerts and making those important connections especially coming out of the pandemic
was really important because all of those people play a key role in what I do and in how successful
our program is uh my beloved 8th graders uh who I have come to love so much juggling the fact
that they can still love their old teacher just as much as they now love their new teacher like
they can still hold a place for their old director and also hold a place for me it's not one of the
other at all you know you're juggling all these competing priorities all the time uh what are
some of your favorite time management strategies for me personally like I've already planned for
my Thursday and Friday this week and I did that Tuesday morning because I had some time I find if
I'm in the classroom my favorite time management skills are just my disciplinary skills with my I
have my class do certain things at certain times five minute blocks of time to do certain things
so like for me my five minute walk is really helpful for cleaning my classroom you can get a
lot accomplished in five minutes if you close your door you are in silence you set a timer I set a
timer on my Promethean board and I'm like okay in these five minutes I have to clean my room as best
as I can and you'd be surprised how much you can do in five minutes if you just that's all you're
doing I'm cleaning my room nothing else as far as time management is concerned I want to identify
what are my glass balls one of my rubber balls so so what am I allowed to like leave and what can I
drop and it'll be fine I'll bounce back but then what are the things it's okay I absolutely must
do this what surprised you about teaching how quickly I would acclimate to the school and the
district that I was working in and how quickly I would uh create close relationships with my
co-workers and with the students as well that's been a really nice bonus for me the depth that
we get from our students it surprised me being in college for for years you you get kind of removed
from what it is to be you know a teenager and be in high school and all that but just how
smart and how intellectual a lot of a lot of the students are because I don't remember being that
smart in high school a lot of the business side of Education that a lot of people don't think about
there's a lot of different roles that I didn't necessarily think that I would be filling quite
as much I thought my job was to come in here and teach music and it is that's just one of my roles
I have a bunch of different roles that I also feel I was shocked by the amount of prep work I was
doing how each choir class is different and how there are subtle little nuances of each class that
have to be addressed very differently even though maybe you're teaching the same song it has to be
approached in a different way and I wasn't really prepared for that to be honest what achievement
are you most proud of this was the first year I was able to get my students back competing at the
state level for jazz and other things like that and we were able to earn two bronze medals which
hadn't happened in a few years pre-covered so just even getting that recognition for the kids and
earning a couple of solo Awards was a huge moment for me an aha moment for me that what I'm doing
really matters and that the kids can see that and now the community can see that as well I actually
had a student and he did not speak any English he only spoke Spanish every time the little kids
walk into my room we sing a welcome song and so I said you know what kindergarten we're gonna try
to learn this song in Spanish and so I translated it my little kindergartners you know they're still
learning how to speak some English I I taught my kindergartners and today was their last day
singing it seeing that student's particular face not only hearing me saying in Spanish but also to
hear his classmates sing in Spanish those are the words that we were singing and those are the words
you use to make friends my students were learning those words that they could use in turn with him
I think that is like my biggest accomplishment one of my colleagues that like my sister Middle School
she was so worried about like the repertoire that she was picking their costumes that they were
wearing and like all of these little details and she told me you know AJ it's not about any of that
the students are going to remember singing with their friends and feeling good in that classroom
with you as long as you're focused on the students having a good time and you having a good time
that's literally all that matters a huge thank you to all the new music teacher who joined us for
this video I had so much fun getting to know these Educators it was really uplifting and inspiring
to hear their stories being a new teacher can be tough there are so many challenges that you have
to deal with some that you may never have expected hopefully this video gave you some insights that
will help you this year and for years to come if you know any other new teachers who might benefit
from what these teachers had to say make sure to send this video their way what other types
of videos would you like to see from us make sure to leave a comment down below like this
video And subscribe so that you don't miss any of the new content we have coming out at JW Pepper
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