I said I would never teach high school Choir...well....
I know I have only officially been a high school choir teacher for a week, but the grade level that I didn't want to teach, never envisioned myself teaching, or even thought I could be good enough to teach. I am in love. I am in love with every part of teaching choral music to these fabulous singers of mine.
Some differences that I'm so in love with, in high school kids that are in Choir choose to be there. They have a vested interest in being there. In middle school, especially with many of the latest middle school trends with teaming and core teacher common planning, kids have limited electives options and many times they are just placed in Choir and other electives. Thus becoming a dumping ground. You have the combination of kids that want to be there and kids that don't and your teaching becomes a dog and pony show. In high school, they catch on to things faster. They remember things more and there isn't a ton of re-teaching the materials from the previous day. Plus I really can't stress this enough, in high school, they have that internal motivator that middle school kids just don't have yet. But my favorite thing....THE BOYS VOICES HAVE CHANGED!!! Sorry not sorry for my excitement on that one. Also, you can't beat the school pride that is felt at the high school level.
However, there are many things that are the same. I get to expose kids to the quality choral music that they otherwise wouldn't get to be exposed to and I get to build a community. Kids are Kids. Kids just want to be loved and they want to be heard. They want to feel valued. My middle school students wanted this, and guess what my high school students want this too.
This goes for teaching at any grade level. Students want to have a voice, they want to be valued and heard. We as educators have to ensure that we give our students a voice. After all, it is their education, shouldn't they have some say in it?
So here I am today eating my words, I said I would never teach high school and yet here I am. But I can tell you one thing for damn sure, I will NEVER teach elementary music. For those of you that do it, thank you for your service. You deserve sainthood. For those of you that teach middle school Choir, keep loving it and keep helping kids fall in love with the art form. For my high school colleagues, let's go change the world and help these kids reach the highest heights.
For the Love, all educators let's do that last part no matter what kid level you teach.
Some differences that I'm so in love with, in high school kids that are in Choir choose to be there. They have a vested interest in being there. In middle school, especially with many of the latest middle school trends with teaming and core teacher common planning, kids have limited electives options and many times they are just placed in Choir and other electives. Thus becoming a dumping ground. You have the combination of kids that want to be there and kids that don't and your teaching becomes a dog and pony show. In high school, they catch on to things faster. They remember things more and there isn't a ton of re-teaching the materials from the previous day. Plus I really can't stress this enough, in high school, they have that internal motivator that middle school kids just don't have yet. But my favorite thing....THE BOYS VOICES HAVE CHANGED!!! Sorry not sorry for my excitement on that one. Also, you can't beat the school pride that is felt at the high school level.
However, there are many things that are the same. I get to expose kids to the quality choral music that they otherwise wouldn't get to be exposed to and I get to build a community. Kids are Kids. Kids just want to be loved and they want to be heard. They want to feel valued. My middle school students wanted this, and guess what my high school students want this too.
This goes for teaching at any grade level. Students want to have a voice, they want to be valued and heard. We as educators have to ensure that we give our students a voice. After all, it is their education, shouldn't they have some say in it?
So here I am today eating my words, I said I would never teach high school and yet here I am. But I can tell you one thing for damn sure, I will NEVER teach elementary music. For those of you that do it, thank you for your service. You deserve sainthood. For those of you that teach middle school Choir, keep loving it and keep helping kids fall in love with the art form. For my high school colleagues, let's go change the world and help these kids reach the highest heights.
For the Love, all educators let's do that last part no matter what kid level you teach.
Awe that was sweet
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