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I am so excited to, to be here with you today, five years after that music teacher started, I know that I've shared this story before, and about how many that music teacher started and what it's kind of turned into. But the reality is, is, I am so thankful to have been able to be on this journey and that you have supported me along this journey of supporting other elementary music teachers from around the world, in receiving the content specific professional development that they deserve. It is quite a passion project for me to be able to impact classrooms all over the world, and to be able to be influenced by other teachers that are doing amazing things, in classrooms that are so far away from my own. And it is one of those things that I will never take for granted. As I sit here and record this episode, I honestly I have a lot of feelings, because these last five years have been we've had a lot of ups and downs, you know, we sit we went through COVID, we went through my first few years of teaching, and it's been a lot of learning and unlearning and growing, honestly, and I really love to be able to, to see how things have come. And I know this is going to sound a little bit kind of braggy or, you know, look at all the cool things that music teachers doing. But when I I really don't mean it in a way that is trying to focus on what I've done, I want to focus more on what we've been able to do as a community. And that is what really makes that music teacher special to me, because it really helps us get off music teacher Island. And it is really, it's really hard to do that it's so easy to get stuck in our buildings to get stuck in the music classroom, which is usually you know, super super far away if we even have a classroom for everything else. And it's really easy to get kind of stuck in the the content and the lesson planning cycle where we just feel like all we're doing is planning and the plans never turn out the way we want them to. And we don't know who to talk to about it. We don't know who to ask for help. We don't know, you know who to learn new things from. And that's what I love about the entirety of the online music education community. It is what got me through my first few years of teaching, and I'm so thankful for all of you for being for allowing me to be a part of your music, teacher journey, whatever that looks like, whatever step along the way you're at whether you're on your first year or your last year of teaching, I am so thankful that you've allowed me to be a part of that journey and to be a part of the music that is happening in your classroom. It's it's definitely not something that I take lightly. So in this extra special bonus, I this episode, I really wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing that music teacher to change my life. That music teacher, like I said before, started by complete accident. I really missed being in the elementary music classroom when I was working in the special ed world and started with an Instagram account. And it just kept growing and growing and growing. With things like gentle music jumpstart, or the elementary music Summit, and it's really turned into something bigger than me. I'm so thankful for my team. Bree and Colette, thank you so much for all of your help for making that music teacher, what it is, and any other people that have been a part of my team or helped me along the way. I am so thankful for all of the things that you've done to make that music teacher what it is. And for you the listener, I am so thankful that you have allowed this journey that I'm on to include you. And I'm so thankful that the music that is going on in my classroom is able to serve not only the students going in my classroom, but also students from all around the world and teachers that are able to implement in their classroom for years to come. And when you think about how that exponential awareness how everything kind of goes out and that butterfly effect of things. That is what makes my heart so freakin full. Because I think about all the students that are being impacted all the teachers that are going home earlier or taking less work home or feeling more confident or doing better on their evaluations or finally know how to advocate and tell their administrators what's actually going on in their classrooms. That is why that music teacher is still here. That is why that music teacher started in the beginning. Once I started kind of really started shifting things and that's why me that music teacher is not going anywhere. We are here to stay. We are here to continue to make an impact on the music education community. And I am so thankful that you have allowed me to be part of your journey.
