Well, hello out there! After going back and forth and starting and stopping a couple of times, I have finally decided to start a blog to document my teaching adventures!
Who am I?
I am a music teacher in Colorado. I primarily teach orchestra, but have done a bit of general music as well. My main age group is 5th-8th grade, but again, depending on the year, I have taught from 1st-12th grade. When you travel around, you never know what the next year will bring! As it stands now, I will be teaching 5th-8th grade orchestra at four schools for the 2016-2017 year. As if teaching during the year weren't enough, I also enjoy teaching elementary literacy & science in summer school.
Apart from teaching, I enjoy disc golfing, reading, watching baseball & soccer, swimming, hiking, playing piano and cello, hanging out with friends, and traveling the world! Of course, I have a lot more time for all of that in the summer, but I try to fit in some fun year-round to keep myself sane!
Why am I blogging?
A few years ago, the entire staff at our school took the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment, and one of my top five strengths came out as "input". I had never thought of this before, but reading the description, I felt like it really nailed some parts of my personality! Specifically, I love following different blogs that inspire me both personally and as an educator, and I have learned so much from reading about what other teachers do in their classroom! Many times, the thought has crossed my mind that I should share what I'm learning as well, but I am much more comfortable learning from others than adding my voice to the conversation. I'm finally deciding, though, that I need to take this step, both to pay it forward and help others and to get feedback from the amazing educational community!
What's next?
This has been an amazing summer of professional learning for me, and I am excited to start documenting it as I plan for the next school year! Current thoughts are revolving around: BreakoutEDU, Explore Like a Pirate, Genius Hour, formative assessment, Google Classroom, my educational leadership classes, and finding out where our students are coming from! More to come as I organize and get my thoughts written out before the school year starts...
Why do you blog? What blogs inspire you as an educator? I'm always looking for new ideas!
Welcome to the blogging world! I love blogging to share ideas, think out loud, and seek feedback/thoughts on things I'm trying or experiencing. Sometimes it's even a combination of all of those things! Looking forward to learning with you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amy! Your blog has been a great resource for me, and I've passed it onto other friends who are interested in trying new ideas in their music ensembles as well!
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