What Is Your Song?

Today I wrapped up a unit on musical theater with my Fine Arts class today. Today they shared with me their favorites songs and moments from their favorite musicals. One girl shared "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz. 

This is just one of my favorite songs ever, I remember the first time I heard, I was only five but I remember in that moment I thought that singing would be really cool and I wanted to do that too. It became my song.

I think so much of my life is defined my certain songs during certain periods of my life. More than anything I want my students to discover a song that defines their lives or at least moments in their lives.

I felt like today that rediscovered Somewhere Over the Rainbow for the first time. That is what I love most about music. How healing, how powerful, how magical it can be. Sometimes it is hard for me to wrap around my head that this is what I get to do everyday, showing middle school kids that they can find "their song" their Somewhere Over the Rainbow. But I get to do this. Holy Smokes. I get to do this.  When kids find their song, they find their voice. They find how to use their voice in a dark world to make the biggest difference.

Educators, what is "your song?" What is "our song?" We are in a unique moment in the history of education in our state. What song is defining this moment? What song is keeping you going? What song gives you your voice?

"If happy little bluebirds fly, beyond the rainbow. Why can't I?" 

Why can't I make a difference? Why not me? Whatever is beyond the rainbow, the longing of this heart is just to change the world. One middle school singer at a time.

An Open Letter to the Oklahoma State Legislature

My name is Meghan. I am a teacher. I am a middle school choir teacher. Each day I have the chance to impact the lives of children when they are in the most dramatic moments of their lives. I love my job. I love what I get to do. It is because of my love: love for my students, my fellow teachers, this profession, and for this state I must speak up. 

When I look into the eyes of my students I see hope. I see future performers, artists, teachers, doctors, and lawyers. They deserve the best education in the world. Each day my colleagues and I fight do just that, provide the best education in world. We do this because we love this, and all we ask, is for you to show us the same dedication. 

We deserve better. Our students deserve better and our state deserves better. Being 49th in the nation on per student spending, it isn't okay. We deserve better.

We have been told that sacrifices must be made, but why must these sacrifices be made at the price of children? My question to you is have you been to the classrooms of the teachers in your districts? Have you spent time in the schools that make up your districts? You will see that what we do is so valuable. Oklahoma has some of the finest educators I know, we should be funding education to reflect this very fact. You will see that sacrifices should not be made at the expense of our children.

We deserve better. 

ESAs are not the answer. You want the best schools in America. Fund them. Pour in your resources. Draw teachers into this state. Make Oklahoma the place that teachers want to come to teach. Please don't take money from public education and funnel it into private education. 

I am not a native Oklahoman. I am from Arkansas, but I have fallen in love with this state and with it's people. More importantly,  I believe in teachers and students in this state. 

I believe in hope. I believe in love. I believe in the future. So please when you are voting this session, remember the countless children, parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, counselors, secretaries, cooks, custodians, bus drivers, maintenance workers, and the like. Remember us. We aren't asking for the world, but we are asking for respect, for dignity, for the ability to do above and beyond what is best for our students. 

Sincerely,

Meghan Loyd 

Game On

I will be the first to admit it. I love television. I am Kenneth from 30 Rock. One of my favorite TV shows of all time is The West Wing. I was surprised that I ended up liking this show as much as a did, and I will always and firmly believe that Jed Bartlet is the best President America has ever had.

One of my favorite episodes of The West Wing, came from it's fourth season. President Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen, was in full swing for his reelection to the presidency. The West Wing team was in full debate mode and prepping for the final debate. The phrase they used "Game On." All the team wanted was a "game on" moment, one moment when they knew the President would put his opponent, Florida Governor Richie, played by James Brolin, in the ground and cement the President in the minds of Americans as the best man for the job. The game on moment was on of the best moments of television. When Bradley Whitford's character Josh Lyman (whom I still hold on to as the greatest and cutest White House Staffer ever), proclaimed Game On, I jump off my couch every time.  Oh and Rob Lowe's Sam Seaborne, "Strike him, throw him, anyone wanna spin?' We can talk about the First Lady cutting his tie seconds before he went on stage later!

So why am I writing about this? Because teachers, this is our Game On moment. This is our time to declare Game On to those at our State Capitol that are making the decisions that are terrible for our students and for our state. We will not be silent. We will send emails, we will share our stories, we will invite you to our classrooms, and we will show you what we do is important. We will fight for our students and for our classrooms. We will not be silent and will ask questions. We will fight against ESAs, will fight to make sure that one of the most successful Pre-K programs will stay funded, will fight to see that all school districts and all students get the funding that they deserve. As a choral music educator, I can tell you that I would love to have an accompanist that doesn't have to be paid out of activity funds (funds raised by students) and that I could purchase music from living composers and those composers get the credit they deserve. More importantly I don't want to have to pass on huge costs of running my program to my students and their families. I want the best for my students, and my Game On is strong.

Teachers, together we are better. Let's do this thing. No strikes. Game On!

5 4 3 2 1

I love a good blogging challenge! Thanks for getting me writing again, it has been awhile!!

What has been your ONE biggest struggle during this school year?

1. This school year I have struggled with taking care of me. I love my job, I love my students, and I love my fellow teachers. I spend so much time caring for others and pouring into others that I forget to care for myself. I know the importance of taking care of me, but I feel guilty when I take that time to focus on me. 

Share TWO accomplishments that you are proud of from this school year.

1. After 5 years of teaching and trying and crying....I finally had students make the OCDA All State Mixed Choir! I finally found a system of teaching and working that will ensure student success at that competitive level.

2. The other accomplishment I'm proud of is how I have developed a sense of community with my students within my choral program and classroom. I love seeing the friendships that have developed among my students, including seeing students love and mentor those that just need a little extra help. 

What are THREE things you wish to accomplish before the end of the school year?

1. Survive contest season, and continue to thrive and impact lives! February is hard for middle choir teachers. 

2. Be a better mentor. I want to reach out to other teachers and find ways to help them help their students. I want to help every teacher find the resources needed to reach their students!

3. Move this blog over to stand alone website. This is a "what if it fails" in my mind. This blog has been my one of my greatest joys. I want to develop this into a site that teachers, especially music teachers, can find resources and inspiration for their classrooms. And just think of all the unicorns and rainbows I can share!!

Give FOUR reasons why you remain in education in today's rough culture.

1. Because every child deserves access to quality music education. Every child deserves to know the beauty and wonder of music. Every child deserves to know how music can change their world.

2. Because every child needs to know that they have a champion. Because they need to know that some one loves them, even if I might be the only person that tells them.

3. I love singing and I love showing kiddos how to do it.

4. Where else do I get paid (not enough, but whatevs) to jump up and down, sing songs, and play games with some of the coolest kids on the earth.

Which FIVE people do you hope will the take the challenge of answering these questions.

1. Ashley Bowser-My assistant principal rock star super hero. I would just love to hear his thoughts!!

2. Jen Williams-Because she has dark and twisty unicorns and rainbows.

3. Kas Nelson-Because she is just so much fun!!

4. Peter Anderson-Because this guy is super legit. 

5. Megan Morgan-We have similar names and similar souls. 

Fight with Love

I am sure that there is someone out there that is annoyed with my unicorns and rainbows attitude. I know that it can be a bit much sometimes. For me, I have to try to see the world in a positive light. But I cannot apolgize for who I am at my core, I'm just full of unicorns and rainbows and I will always talk about loving kids.

We have lots of issues to talk about in our educational community. What gets me fired up about talking about these issues is my love for kids. What upsets me most about a 47 million dollar budget cut, is because it isn't what is best for kids. So many decisions are made and many of those decisions aren't what is best for kids.

I talk about loving kids and loving this profession, because we need too. The moment we stop talking about why we love our students, why we love our profession, and we do this...we lose. We lose the battle. Someone has to fight for our students. We have to be their voice. We should never stop talking about loving kids. It might some trivial or a no-brainer that we love kids, but we have to make it known and say it all the time. When I hear educators talk about loving students and loving what they do, I get excited and inspired to do my job better.

We fight with love. We brag on our students, to their faces, to their parents, to our adminstration. We brag on them and we love them. We fight with love, because it is the right thing to do. When we fight with love, we let those in leadership roles and elected officials know how incredibly important our mission is, why we do what we do. We fight with love because our students need us, we fight with love because we need each other. Together we are better.

I will fight with love. I will fight with love for my students, and do what is best for them daily. I will fight with love for my fellow teachers, because we need each other. We are professionals and it is time that we are treated as a such. I will fight with love, because the state of Oklahoma deserves better.

Don't ever stop talking about loving kids. We stop, we lose, but more importantly our kids lose. Share the unicorns and rainbows throughout the world!!!

What's Next?

I can't even begin to describe the thoughts that have swirling around in my head the past couple of days. Unless you have been living under a rock or you are just trying to avoid the bad news, it has been a rough couple of days for teachers in Oklahoma. We knew it was coming. We were prepared for it, as much as we could have been prepared for it. But I can tell you the shock of the revenue failure and 47 million dollar budget cut to PK-12 education news, I found myself without my unicorns and rainbows that others seem to love about me. I was mad, in fact I'm still mad. I'm completely to blame for this problem.

Before you say, "Oh no Meghan, don't blame yourself!" Well...I am. You see here is my confession, I never transferred over my voter registration from Arkansas to Oklahoma till recently. I didn't vote in the last election. Because I didn't vote, because I didn't show up and do my civic responsibly individuals that are making decisions that are hurting students and teachers are still in office. And again before you say..."Oh no Meghan, don't blame yourself!" Well as a teacher and as a citizen I had a responsibility to care for the well being of my students and I didn't do it. For that I feel guilty. While many of fellow Oklahoma Edu-Bloggers have shared their thoughts on the issues, I have remained silent because I simply felt too much anger and guilt. Anything that I would have written would have been a lie at best. I have no right to complain or be angry, because I did nothing. My apathy and laziness helped create the problem.

What I have to remember before I beat myself up too much, is it is time for me to move on. So I ask what's next? Where do I go from here? My first step, register to vote. Check. My second step, stop being silent. I have always loved the story of Esther and I came across this verse recently that really spoke to me, "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14 Now I'm not saying that this funding crisis in education is exactly like the issues in the Book of Esther, but there is truth in this verse. We as educators can't remain silent anymore. We have to speak up and reach out. We have to get our voices heard. If we don't share our story, if we don't speak up for our students, nothing will change. Another truth, this is our "for such a time as this." We are in a crazy time, but we are here for this very reason. We are here to love, support, encourage, stand up, and show up for our students. We are teachers in Oklahoma right now, we should not be ashamed of it, but we should embrace it and do what is best for our students. Our time is now to make change, meaningful and lasting change. We must embrace our space and embrace our time.

Another what's next for me is coming from an idea sparked by Mid-Del Public Schools Superintendent and education blogger, Dr. Rick Cobb, gave a challenge to #GiveItBack. You see I'm going to be getting about 30 dollars back in my wonderful little tax cut, those 30 dollars are going straight to my school, where I know that they will be used to benefit the students in my school. I urge you do the same. Take that money and donate it to your local school district.

So maybe the past couple of days I have had some pretty sad unicorns and rainbows lately. However, my unicorns and rainbows are happy and passionate once again. I'm going to do what is best for my students and I'm going to speak out and stand up. That is my what's next.

Reason for Despair. But Even Bigger Reasons for Hope

2015 is gone and 2016 is here!!!!!

Recently this article was published by The Atlantic entitled Can Schools Be Fixed?, all of this shows some inidividuals feelings of despair and feelings of hope. Fellow #oklaed blogger, Rob Miller, from View From the Edge issued a blogging challenging to all the #oklaed bloggers to create our own reason for despair and reason for hope. I might have broken the rules and included more than one reason for hope, because you know unicorns. Thank you Rob for this challenge, I'm looking forward to seeing what this year will hold for all of us!!

Reason for Despair

My reason for despair is a number. 49. That is currently where Oklahoma ranks in education spending per student and in teacher pay. That number has lead to a whole hosts of other issues. The biggest being the largest teacher shortage crisis that the state has ever faced. Why does this number bring me so much despair? Because of the sheer amount of people that are okay with this number, those that are okay with being ranked so close to dead last. It is not okay. It will never be okay. If you have been paying attention to the news recently you will hear and see stories surrounding the mid year budget failure, more money and more resources being cut from public education. The victims of this number 49. Every single one of us. Every single citizen of Oklahoma. How did this happen? How did we let this happen? What are we doing to fix it? What is our legislature doing to fix it? This number. This piece of information just makes me sad. 

Reasons for Hope

I wouldn't be the unicorns and rainbows blogger that I am if I didn't believe in hope. I have hope and lots of it! I still believe and firmly believe that education can change the world!

My first and biggest reason for hope is another number. 140. That is the number of students that walk into my classroom everyday. They are not data points on a chart, but they are some of the brightest young musicians on the face of the earth. They make me a better person. Each day I have the greatest privilege in the world of waking up and teaching them. More than that I get to teach how to sing. Singing and making music is how I cope with this messed up world. I get to do this. I get to share what I love with middle school students. I tell my students everyday, that they have a song to sing, and it is my job to help make their song better. The world deserves to hear their song. No matter what, I'm impacting their lives. When I look at my students I see hope. I see a group of young teenagers poised to change the world. I firmly believe that when we teach students to see the beauty in the world and ultimately how they can make the world beautiful. We win. Everyone wins. 

My second reason for hope, I work with some of the most amazing educators on the planet. The team of teachers, administration, counselors, and support staff assembled at my school work day in and day out to do what is best for kids. I am constantly amazed by the things that go on in the classrooms of my co-workers. When I hear students say they love their teachers and they love their school, it gives me hope. Some of my closest and most meaningful friendships I have right now in my life are my colleagues. Their love and care over my life is overwhelmly beautiful. They give me hope. I work with the most caring, compassionate, loving, bold, generous, and out of the box thinkers out there. 

My third reason for hope. Educators in Oklahoma. Over the past four to five years I have been blown away by caliber of teachers that I have met in this state. Each Sunday night I am challenged through the #oklaed Twitter chats, I am encouraged by these educators, and I am deeply grateful for their love and devotion to the students that they serve. They are brave, They are bold, They fight every single day to make things better for their students and for teachers across the state. As a music educator, I am a part of two organizations that have connected me with other music educators. We do not get to see each other all the time, but when we do we are able to share, grow, and make each other better. We are in this together. 

My fourth reason for hope. Donuts. That's all. 

There are uphill battles ahead. They will be hard. They will stretch us. I will admit that there are reasons for us to have despair. There are reasons for us to be concerned, worried, outraged, and even a little scared. But...there is hope. There is always hope. There are always unicorns and rainbows. If you are involved in education, share your story. Tell the world. You have a song of hope to sing, and the world deserves to hear it.