Today is the day! My fall semester officially begins this morning. It’s been nice to have a month to plan and prepare, and now I’m very ready to start. Not because I’m organized-ready, mind you, but because I’m so excited to see all my students again. 🙂 Last week, I was still feeling pretty overwhelmed with the list of things I needed to do before today rolled around. But it finally occurred to me that I could resume teaching even if everything wasn’t as perfectly in place as I would like it to be. That’s a big step for someone like me who doesn’t function so well with disorganization, but I’m trying to learn to be more flexible and realize that I can still work toward better organization even after I’ve started the new semester of lessons.
Of course, I did still have to make some forward progress, because the studio floor was looking like this:
Each year, I like to get all my students some new books and/or sheet music so that they can start something fresh. I use the input from their Year-End Evaluations and Student Questionnaires to determine the best literature and books to use. I jot the titles down on my lesson planning sheet and then note whether I have the material that they can use or whether I need to purchase it. A lengthy trip to the music store and $200+ later and we’re set for the year (for the most part, anyway)!
I finally got everything labeled and categorized according to lesson day and time so that as students come for their lessons this week I’ll be able to start them off with their new music!
In light of all this, hopefully you’ll forgive me for not getting a Monday Mailbag put together today. 🙂 It will be back next week, though, so feel free to send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!
Hope your teaching year is off to a great start!
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