Let's be honest, sometimes even with the best of plans, things just don't go the way that we plan them. And that's the way my last couple weeks have been. And I want to talk about that a little bit.
You're listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tarbet, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher at the elementary music Summit. Each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher, and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve. Show Notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at that music teacher.com.
All right, so if you've been following me on Instagram stories, or if you know me, personally, you've known that I've had kind of an interesting couple of weeks.
And if you've been in that music teacher, community, one, you know what's going on. And two, you've been super awesome and been super flexible with the delay in this month's master class. So for those of you that don't know, I over the summer went through the process of becoming a licensed foster parent, it was quite a journey. It was a lot of jumping through hoops, a lot of getting my house ready and things like that. And about two weeks ago, I a little over two weeks ago, I received my first placement, I had a three or a three year old girl that moved in with me. And unfortunately, we spent the first five or six days in the hospital. And it was, it was a lot for sure. And, you know, we we had to figure out I spent a lot of time off work, I spent almost almost two weeks off, because of all the craziness and being in the hospital. And you know, on top of the reason why we were in the hospital. Additionally, we both tested positive for COVID. So it was definitely a lot going on. So I want to talk a little bit about kind of what to do when things don't go as planned. And, and kind of how I went through this process of thinking it was going to be a normal week, and then all of a sudden, I have a kid in my home and then that kid ends up being in the hospital, and then we end up with COVID. So long story short, she has left my home, she ended up moving in with a foster home that was able to accept her and her two siblings, which unfortunately, I just wasn't able to do. Which was definitely an emotional thing myself. But I'm very much so after being able to sit with the situation for a little bit. I'm so happy for her, the drop off and meet him and giving him to the passing her off to the next family and letting them take her in with her sisters went super well. But the reality is, is whether or not you're a foster parent, whether or not you're a parent, whether or not whatever, there are going to be times that things just don't go the way that you expected them. So I went into the school year, knowing full well that I would likely have to take off some time when I received my international placement, I did not expect that I would end up having to be in the hospital, I did not expect happening to take off this much time I essentially figured out alright, I'm gonna have to take a couple days, like do the initial the initial medical things, you know, they might have some adjustment issues. So I might have to be, you know, stay home with them. Obviously, I'm gonna have to figure out childcare. But I never really thought that like, I just wouldn't be able to go to work for as long as it was. So there are some few things that I think I did really well. And there are a few things that I think I definitely need to improve on. Because the reality is I'm going to get another placement. And hopefully we don't end up in the hospital. But you know, we're going to have to take some more time off. And I want to kind of go through some of those things and kind of share some thoughts on them. So first of all, I have some episodes that I've done in the past. I'll put them in the show notes about how I do sub plans. And I think those have been really helpful because the one thing I think I did really well was creating multiple tiers of sub plans. So essentially, I had some sort of online video or assignment or something that essentially teachers or the sub or whoever was covering their class could go into a Google Doc, and just click a button and it'll it'll tell them exactly what to do. But I also had some fallbacks, because we had some issues with technology. I found that when I returned that essentially whenever I would, or the entire time was gone, if there was a sub, the Internet was down. So any of my online plans didn't work. But fortunately at my elementary school where the internet was down, I have a a cache of like, physical assignments, so you know, worksheets, you know, things, reading a book to the students, things like that, so that they were able to have a little bit of
have more options when things didn't go as planned. So that's one thing, I think I did really well as I was able to use that Google Doc. So I didn't have to constantly send things to my principals at the secretaries, I was just able to keep updating that Google Doc. And for the most part, when I was in the hospital, I didn't even have my laptop. So I was able to do a lot of this on my phone, which was really helpful, because there was a lot going on, I didn't have much time to stop and make sub plans, something I think I could do better. And I definitely want to do better, is I need to have more of a cache of sub plans ready, I went into the school year, knowing that I would likely have to take some time off for, for foster placement. And I just never got around to making those, you know, I went into saying, I'm going to make about a week or so of sub plans for when this happens. And then I didn't do it. I mean, let's be honest, we've all kind of been there, we you know, but I, I want to make sure that I'm setting myself up for more success and my students up for success and the substitute teachers up for success by creating some plans in the moment. So or prior before the moment before anything happens. So that when I get another placement or need to take in more time off of work, I'm able to have some plans ready to at least buy me some time. Yes, there are certain things like you know, the stomp out loud video on YouTube that you can use in a pinch. But I'll be honest, I've used them in a pinch before, like when I had my appendix out or this now the other thing where I you know, I need to come up with some we need some new blood, we need some new things in my Inmarsat plan. So that's something that I'm going to be working on the next couple of weeks, is trying to come up with some new, essentially evergreen sub plans that I can use. In a in a pinch, obviously, we will, it would be great for us to get music subs that were able to just take our sub or our actual lesson plans and implement them. So we don't get behind in a lesson this that the other thing. But the reality is, is that's likely not going to be the case. Another thing that I think I want to say that I'm really thankful of is I have had, I have such amazing administrators and teachers that I work with, where I knew that even if my sub plans were garbage, or if my sub plans related technology and technology didn't work, I knew that they were going to figure it out. And they were going to make sure that the students that were in my classroom were taking care of so that I could focus on what I needed to do in my home and with my family.
I hope that is whatever when feels, right? No, the reality is, is that we all have different levels of support from our administrators and the teachers around us. And it can feel hard taking time off, I want to give you the permission that if you are taking time off for a reason that is protected by your contract, take that time off, do not feel bad about it, you are not the part of the system that broke the system, the educational system is broken, people can are gonna get mad, but you know what people get mad all the time. And that doesn't mean that we are doing something wrong. So in I know, these episodes are always super short, because they're more of just kind of an off the cuff what happened in this past month. But I was talking to Bree, we were talking about this because I you know, there's a lot going on behind the scenes here at that music teacher that got pushed back because of the fact that I wasn't able to do any work on it because I had a kid in my home. And she says, Hey, are you able to get this episode recorded, so we can get it edited, and out and I go, I have plenty to talk about this month. Because again, you might not be in the same situation than I am. But you're gonna find yourself eventually in some sort of situation where you have all these plans laid out. And then nothing goes as planned. So I guess kind of the summation of all my thoughts is, I did a lot great, I have a lot that I can improve on. And if you're going to emulate any of what I do is do what you can to set yourself up for success. Set your students up for success and make sure that the substitutes in your in your classroom, whether or not they're actually substituted. There's someone covering on their planning period, feel like they know what they're doing. And they can they can do it in a way you know that is, is worth doing. So that when you're when you have to take unexpected time off, or when you have to take time off or you know, go to the hospital or take care of a sick kid or have COVID yourself, you're able to not have to worry about that. Because we shouldn't have to wait honestly, we shouldn't have to worry about what our students are doing in our classroom. When we are sick with the flu. We should figure out some plans. Yeah, but we shouldn't be sitting in bed hoping that Johnny is having a good day. We should be able to take some time and and take care of ourselves. Because I know we've heard it a lot. But we have to put on our oxygen masks first and sometimes that means what happens in our classroom will suffer and it's a hard
pill to swallow. But the reality is, is we don't have a system around us all the time to allow that to not be the case. We cannot be martyrs as teachers, we cannot say no matter what happens, my students are going to have the highest quality lesson no matter what. Because the reality is, is life happens, the world gets in the way. And if you have an administrator or another teacher, or even yourself, like that little thought in your head, that's telling you that no matter what you need to be your best all the time. That is just unrealistic. Yes, you can take steps to be the best, the most often is you can. But the reality is, is we can't be expected to be on our A game every single day. Because that's just not how life works. So do what you can to help you be successful when things get weird, or when things don't go as planned. But then when things start going awry. Give yourself some grace, and take the time that you need. Take the energy you need and do what you need to do. So that when you come back, you are ready to make those high quality lessons. Again, you're gonna laugh or you're able to make your students feel super loved, super understood, super valid in your classroom. But you can't do that if you're burnout. So I know these are kind of short and sweet, and usually a little bit more preachy. But the reality is,
is I think this is a really important topic. And I I've always thought it was an important topic. But these past couple of weeks have really made me understand that there's so much more out there than you think. Because
you never know what's going to happen next.
