26 Things Music Teachers are Thankful For

1.  Hearing a song you've taught a class, ringing out of the student bathroom as you pass by.

2.  An email that says "My son/daughter has never taken an interest in music, but I think you have inspired them to take up a new hobby."

3.  Boomwhackers, arranged in perfect order and hanging on the wall.

4. That rush of pride and relief that comes after a performance.

5.  Comfy shoes and a drawer full of chocolate.

6. The technology working just as it is supposed to.

7.  Supportive administrators.

8.  Spouses who totally get concert week.

9.  Being tagged in a favorite teachers post on Facebook.

10.  Perfect attendance at after school choir.

11.  That one second in recorder class when everyone rests at the same time and your soul knows a moment of peace.

12.  The parade of the birthday cupcakes, donuts, snack cake and other goodies during the last hour of the day.

13.  Classroom teachers that accept you as part of the team, not a babysitter during their break.

14.  The smooth, clean feel of a brand new tubano.

15.  Artie Almeida.

16.  Pool noodle ponies standing neatly in their "stall" waiting for the next class.

17.  Finishing a folk dance with students that rolled their eyes and moaned in disgust before, but now are flushed and happy and saying things like "That was so much fun!"

18.  Teachers Pay Teachers.

19.  Food Fridays in the teachers' lounge.

20.  Kids who laugh at my jokes.

21.  Friends and family that have to listen to me talk about my classroom and students non-stop.

22.  Thunderous applause.

23.  Being a witness to music bringing people together.

24.  Although many of us would like to see our students more often than we do, we are also pretty darn thankful that we see SOME classes once a week for less than an hour.

25.  Beautiful, colorful bulletin boards hanging perfectly on the wall.

26.  We have the best job in the whole world.  We make a difference in the lives of students every day and are often the only ambassadors of joy they see each week.

Let me know what you are thankful for in the comments!  Like this post?  PIN it for later.

Dealing with Teacher Burnout

Some days when I’m greeted with an enthusiastic “Good morning!  How are you?”  I just want to growl and say “I’m tired.”  I hate being that person, because would much rather be happy and cheerful.   How about you?  Let’s face it, teaching can be exhausting and burnout can happen to the best of us. How do you avoid burnout?  How do you know if you’re there?  What does burnout look like?  Read on, my weary teacher friends.

How do you know that you’re burning out?

You are overwhelmed.  You know there’s a lot to do and you are wondering how you will be able to add one more thing.  Maybe you are thinking that you should compromise your values and expectations just so you can mark things off your to do list.  You may even consider prioritizing but tell yourself it just won’t be enough.

You are anxious.  You’ve got that nagging feeling that you should be doing more.  You may even realize that you actually need to do LESS, but still feel like you could do more and you should do more.

You are tired.  Maybe tired isn’t the best description.  You are exhausted.  Weary.  You sleep, but don’t seem to rest.  It’s the kind of tired that makes you want to crawl in bed at 6:30 and wake up in 3 days.  For me, I know I’m experiencing burnout when I sit down at lunch and daydream about going to bed that night.

You just aren’t any fun.  How long has it been since you laughed?  Really laughed?  Belly laughed?  Maybe you just don’t laugh or smile as much as you used to.  I hate unfunny me!  It makes the days feel longer than usual.

You just aren’t up to daily challenges like you used to be.  You may not feel as creative, patient or enthusiastic as you once did.  You may feel like you have just lost your edge.

You just want to be left alone.  Do you just want to find a big cozy blanket and hide under it?  You may be experiencing burnout if you are craving a place to hide, a place where you aren’t tried and tested and no one will question you.  A place that is just…quiet!

Ways I’ve Tried Dealing with Burnout

1.  Look at that teacher or administrator that is really getting on your nerves.   Close one eye and put your pointer finger and thumb in front of your other eye and pretend you are pinching their little heads.  Incredibly satisfying.

2.  Harry and David’s has these magic little bags of happiness called Moose Munch.  Buy. Eat.  Eat some more. Cry when it is gone.  Buy more.  Repeat.

3.  Gallons of Diet Mt. Dew.

I don’t really recommend any of these, but they are things that I have tried!

How to Deal with Burnout 

1.  Get physical.   I know, it’s not what I usually think of when I am tired and stressed, but exercising can give you quiet time, gets your endorphins popping and will make you rest better.  You don’t have to go to the gym either.  Take a walk, dance to a YouTube video with your kids, get a little romantic with your spouse, take a swim or even play a game of ping pong.

2.  Be a list maker.  Sometimes I get stressed because I am trying to remember everything that I need to do and inevitably forget something.  Now, I make a list of things that I need to do and then stop worrying about it.  My lists usually in three parts:  Today, This Week and Sometime.  The Today list includes things that need to be done before I go home.  This week means as soon as I can and the Sometime list is for those great ideas that I want to do, but can’t do right now.  Sometimes I copy things from list to list for weeks until I get to them.  While that might sound crazy, if it is on the list I spend less time thinking about it.

3.  Plan your quiet time.  Schedule a time for a massage or a pedicure.  Plan an afternoon where you have no responsibilities and turn your phone off.  Schedule time to relax.  Make it as much of a priority as you do your tasks at work.  Your family and your students will thank you for it!

4.  Get some rest.   No, really.  Go to bed a little earlier.  End your evening with a hot shower, a favorite drink and perhaps meditation or prayer.  Don’t research online, grade papers, catch up on emails or even make a grocery list.  Just go to bed.

5.  Get to work earlier.  Feeling rushed and stressed can start right away.  Is there a way that you can get to work 15 minutes earlier?  A few minutes of extra time before things get busy and noisy can go a long way in starting your day off feeling prepared and refreshed.  If you can find those minutes in the morning, plan to stay 15 minutes later and get everything ready for the next morning.  (That includes stacking up papers to grade and leaving them there until tomorrow.  Don’t take them home!)

6.  Be thankful.  Sometimes when I am feeling overwhelmed and stressed it helps to count my blessings.  Be thankful for your family, friends and co-workers.  Be thankful for the things that are going right.  Be thankful for the little things like outside recess and no bake cookies for lunch.  Be thankful.  You have the greatest job in the world!

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Crafty Ideas for Teacher Appreciation

Hurray for teachers!  I love celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week but I love to celebrate teachers all year long too!  Here are a few ideas for crafty thank you gifts for teachers and staff members.  

You were MINT to Shine

In this goody bag, staff members get a hand full of mints and a key chain flashlight.  They are placed in a clear treat bag and tied off with some curly ribbon.   (MSTA is the Missouri State Teacher's Association.  If you teach in Missouri, please check out this fabulous organization!)

POPpin' In

Microwave popcorn looks fun and fabulous.  The red polka dot paper is scrapbooking paper cut to wrap around the entire pack of popcorn.  I added the tag (Yes, I know it's corny!) and the gold piece of popcorn.  The popcorn was made with glitter foam sheets from Walmart or a craft store.  They are inexpensive and you can make quite a few with one sheet.

The tag says "Just wanted to POP in to say... We know it may seem a little CORNY and we're really not trying to BUTTER you up, but you are a very important part of our school!  Thanks for every KERNEL of wisdom you impart!

Float into a New Year Charged Up!

This was a fun craft to make!  We ordered custom USB car chargers from Elite Promotions.  We poked them into a section of pool noodle that had been cut to be about 2-3 inches tall.  The tag was tied onto the pool noodle with curly ribbon.  These were pretty unusual and were received quite well.

You Have to Glow

This simple gift would be fun around Halloween or perhaps a school spirit week.  This little tag is holding a glow stick.  They are inexpensive and fun and add just the right mood to a silly, schedule-gone-crazy kind of day.

You're the BALM!

You've seen the lip balms that come as spheres.  Love them!  They are so handy and they make great craft gifts!  I took the lid off and traced it on the tag and then cut it out and put the bottom of the lip balm through it and the top lid on top.  When I screwed the lid back on, it attached the balm to the paper without any kind of adhesive.  You can find these in most discount stores, drug stores and dollar stores.

If you'd like some more crafty ideas for gift giving, you might enjoy this Pinterest Board.  

A POPular Teacher Appreciation Idea

I love being a cheerleader for the amazing teachers in my school, my children's school and well...the whole darn world really!  Teachers often exist in a thankless atmosphere and that's not okay with me.  Not long ago I posted some ideas for gift baskets for teachers that you might want to take a peek at.  Today I'm going to show you how to make a unique gift for teachers and staff that will make them say "How did she DO that?"

We are going to create soda bottles that are stuffed with things that...well...just shouldn't fit in a soda bottle!  I created these gifts for some teacher leaders that came to Leadership Symposium for the Missouri State Teacher's Association.  They were quite a hit!

First, you'll need a clean, empty two liter bottle and lid, a sharpie and a good pair of scissors.

The secret to getting all of the goodies inside is to create a large flap.  We'll cover it later so don't worry if it is a little crooked.  Draw 3 sides of a square that measures about 4-5 inches wide.  Don't cut the square all the way out.  We are just creating a flap, so leave the fourth side untouched.  Cut only three sides.  The flap will curl up just a bit.

Next, stuff the bottle full of as many goodies as you can fit inside.  Make sure that you use some things that would not fit in the bottle's regular opening.  Here are a few ideas:

-sodas, juices, tea or sports drinks

-candy bars, snack cakes, little bags of chips

-gum, mints, hard candies

-lip balm, flashlights, magnets, lanyards, keychains

-bumper stickers, auto decals, school spirit items

-t-shirts (rolled up tight), socks, gift cards and gift certificates

-ink pens, Sharpies, sticky notes, fancy paper clips

Stuff the bottles pretty full so that your flap will lay back in its original position.  In this set, I used some tissue paper in the bottom of each bottle to give them a little more volume and color.  When you have filled it completely, secure the flap with a few pieces of tape.

Finally, using construction paper, scrapbook paper or wrapping paper cover the bottle at about the same size as the original label.  Then, print out a colorful label.  Add it on top of the other paper.  It may not fit all the way around your bottle, but that's okay.  Some of the bottom layer of paper should peek above and below the label so a little bit showing in back won't be a big deal.

My label said "SODA-lighted to watch you SHINE!"  We were working with a Hollywood/movies theme so I decorated mine accordingly.  

You might also like:
"SODA-lighted to Celebrate You!"
"SODA-lighted to be in Your Class!"
"SODA-lighted to work with a POP star like you!"
"For a POPular Teacher-Thanks for making every day SODAlightful!"

I added a bit of curly ribbon for a little more pop and put the lid back on.  I loved the look on the recipients' faces as they tried to figure out the "trick".

Don't forget to check out Baskets Full of Teacher Appreciation post for more ideas!

Baskets Full of Teacher Appreciation

Teacher Appreciation Week happens only once a year, but teacher appreciation should happen all year around!  In this post, I hope to inspire you to create baskets full of joy for the teachers in your life. As a local teacher's association leader, my officers and I were brainstorming ways to show our members a little bit of extra love during March and April.  The stress of the school year was catching up to everyone and with mandatory state assessments coming up, everyone could use a little pick me up.  We decided to reward all of our members with a basket.  We have a small CTA so this was totally doable for us.  Each morning for 22 days (that was the number of members we had that year) we announced a CTA Member of the Day.  The dialogue over the intercom went something like this:

"Good Morning!  This is Mrs. King, CTA President, here to announce our CTA Member of the Day.  Congratulations to Mrs. Prewitt, today's winner.  Mrs. Prewitt thank you for everything that you do for our school and our students.  We think you are awesome!"

Next, a special delivery was made to their classroom.  We created several different themed baskets that would be eye-catching and a treat for the winner.  We also slipped a $10 gift card in the basket too! On the back of each tag (created in PowerPoint and printed), I folded up the paper and slipped in the gift card.  Here's what it said:

We picked a few basket themes and made multiple baskets with the same theme.  This made shopping less of a headache.  Here are a few of the baskets we created:

Super Sipper Basket -This basket contained a cool plastic cup that comes with a lid and straw (and can bounce a few times on hard classroom tile without breaking!).  In addition there was tea, Tang, a small pitcher, several drink mixes that you can use with a bottle of water and more!

Here's the Scoop Basket - This fun basket barely fit in one basket!  Inside this basket was syrups, sauces, sprinkles and waffle bowls.  In addition we added an ice cream scoop!

How Does Your Garden Grow Basket - We knew that we had a few gardeners in our midst so this basket contained some gardening basics.  We added a few tools, some seed packets, pretty gardening gloves, a rose bush plant , a rain gauge and a few pretty baubles.

ORANGE You Glad You're Here Today Basket - This basket was SO fun!  It is filled with random orange things!  Drinks, snacks, gum, air freshener, candy and even a Tide pen!

Basket Full of Sunshine - Similar to the Orange You Glad basket, this basket is filled with yellow things.  Actually, the yellow things were pretty big so we ended up having to create a basket and a bonus pack when we delivered.  So much fun!  This one has Pringles, yellow Gatorade, wet wipes, Juicy Fruit, vanilla Oreos, lemonade and more.

Another basket that we created that is not pictured above was a Chocolate Lover's basket.  It was filled with candy, hot chocolate, chocolate syrup and more. Our members were so excited to get their baskets and this activity was a great way to show appreciation for all of the hard work they do.  Students loved cheering for their teacher too!  By the end of our giveaway time I had a student volunteer to beat box for me so I could rap the announcement of the winner.  Such fun!
You might also like my next teacher appreciation post:  A POPular Teacher Appreciation Idea