sorry I have been MIA. its been a busy summer for me! camp was busy and ended with a bang. Then I had a week off and it was time for music teacher summer camp!
if you dont know, I work for this amazing organization called Education Through Music. We now have centers in NYC, LA and somewhere in Chili. the organization is a not-for-profit that brings music education into inner city public schools. every year, my organization brings all the teachers to Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio to train. We had 5 days of serious music teacher training. it was AMAZING! i am hoping to keep up the momentum and spirit of camp throughout the year.
i teach general music to elementary students. during the retreat, we had demonstrations from the 4 worlds of general music pedogogical thought: Gordon, Dalcroze, Kodaly, and Orff. I fell in love with Dalcroze. This pedagogy is all about movement and learning music through moving. I think my students would learn best through this. They are constantly wanting to move and dance and talk and the Dalcroze method would allow thing to do that, as well as get a great music education! sigh I'm seeking out some workshops to go to this year.
the week was just great. i wont bore you with music teacher talk. i just feel so inspired to go back to work. i really needed this. i needed to be inspired again about the year ahead. it was also nice to get to know my fellow music teachers. we went to the bar every night and sang songs. yup...imagine about 20 music teachers at a small bar, singing the national anthem in harmony, playing ukelele and dancing all kinds of funny kids games. it was a blast. i really had a good time.
im so inspired from this retreat that ive decided to get a tattoo. i need a constant reminder that there is a reason i went into this profession. i need a physical reminder that i love what i do when things get tough. i remember how tough last year was and it would have been nice to look at something and say "i got this permanent mark because i love what i do so much. you make a difference." i dont know when i will get said tattoo (hopefully in the next week), but i definitely want to get one.
now, i need to go clean my house and look over gymboree lesson plans! training a new teacher there today. oh! and maddy (my manager) asked me to do all of the music teacher trainings at gymboree!! she has hired a bunch of new teacehrs to take over for teacehrs leaving (like me) and im the only one who is really qualified to train new music teachers. some extra cash for me :)
later!
~mana~
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