New Adventures Await

It’s all about mindset.

School started yesterday for me. This year, for the first time in well over a decade, I have become an actual full time teacher. My duties have shifted for a couple of reasons.

First of all, some context. In 2011, our district went through some financial trouble and there were cuts. Trying to keep me employed, they reassigned half of my day to the IT department, anticipating that there would be a need for additional tech support. We opened a new building the following fall and rolled out 130 new computers and 700 new iPads. A year after that, we rolled out 700 iPads to our high school. 2 years later, we rolled out 700 Chromebook’s to the high school, and rolled out the 700 high school iPads to our elementary buildings, one grade at a time. Not only was there a need for my duties, they’ve added 2.5 full time positions in addition to mine. This year, there was a need for more music instruction. Our band numbers are reflecting our school numbers, which are growing. In addition, the school introduced classroom guitar/modern band 6 years ago in a section taught by the orchestra director. This past year, they had 41 requests for that class.

Here’s that mindset thing I mentioned.

In January of 2015, my twins both bought guitars. Their grandfather gave them his massive change jar for Christmas. It was the size of a commercial purified water tank that is used in offices. That change jar, once cashed in, added up to well over $500. They both got a beginner grade guitar at the local shop. Actually, my son got a bass and my daughter a guitar. Upon hearing about that, their grandfather wasn’t happy initially. He thought it was something they’d play and quickly not pick up again. Well, my Son not only kept playing, he went to the University to study bass. He’s currently gigging every single weekend and Is taking a gap year before he finishes up some gen ed coursework to finish his degree. My daughter did play the guitar and more importantly, she let her Dad play it too. Why did Dad want to play it in the first place?

Ok. Another story. About the same time I was taking on those IT duties, I had a VERY good jazz band. My band qualified for the Iowa Jazz Championships in 2012. It was the first time they ever had in the school’s history, and they got 5th out of 15 bands on their first try. The really neat thing is that of all 15 schools, they recognize 4 Outstanding Performers of the Day. These are the kids who did something at the elite level. One of them was my guitar player. I wish I could take credit, but most days, I didn’t even know who to talk to him about what I wanted. I know my band instruments just fine. Guitar? Not so much. By 2015, I knew I was getting another guitarist coming up that was at least that good. This kid was a guitar prodigy and had been taking private lessons since like age 8 and was incredible. He looked like this nerdy jr. high kid until you shut your eyes and you swore you were hearing Stevie Ray Vaughan. I’m not kidding. So, in 2015, I made a decision. I would NEVER not be able to talk to one of my musicians again. To do that, I started learning guitar. I went through 3 levels of beginner books in 2 months, Hundreds of YouTube videos and played constantly. By that Summer, I had my own instrument. By the next year, I’d added two more to my collection.

That experience did 2 things for me. First, it was a great way to keep learning new things and expanding my horizons, not to mention my skills set. The other, unintended consequence was that I took on the mindset of a beginner at age 50. I was just talking about that to my brand new superintendent 2 days ago. To me, a great teacher should be a beginner at something all through life. We get caught up in our own expertise and are soon to forget what it’s like to be a beginner who struggles. That guitar experience made me a MUCH better elementary level instructor. It reminded me to slow down, smile a lot, show empathy, and be patient. It also reminded me that learning is seldom if ever linear. It’s more two steps forward, one step back, one step forward, one step back, 3 steps forward, no steps back, etc.

Well, to bring this all the way around, this year, I am assigned to teach one of the new sections of guitar. I’m teaching beginners and kids with experience. But what’s fun is that for my teaching skills, this is a brand new challenge teaching a new prep. I’ve taught band for 35 years and can do so in my sleep. I’ve taught choir for several years in the past. I’ve taught music appreciation. I’ve never taught guitar. That’s new and I’m looking forward. I want my teaching skills to improve just like my student’s guitar skills. We’re learning together, which coincidentally is the mantra of my principal.

I look forward to it . I took last school year off from my Substack. I’m going to try to be more regular in my writing. I keep hearing from so many people how much they like reading this and my social media posts. For the record, I had no idea, and that was never my intent, but I’m flattered beyond words. I literally have never thought that anyone might enjoy what I write. I like to write, but I’ve never seen myself as a writer. Maybe that’s the secret I don’t know.

Anyway, the second day of school is tomorrow. My guitar kids see me again Tuesday. Wish me luck! I hope that you can all find something that you can broaden your horizons as well, and learn like a beginner. Learning really is fun and should be fun.

Thanks for reading along. Be well, and as always, be kind.