Alaskan Music Teacher Feature:
Toby Lambert
A middle school music teacher at Colony Middle in the Valley, he is teaching band, choir, general music,
and is our Journal editor! Please read the AMEA Journal for more great articles!
Networking, The Old Fashioned Way!
by Toby Lambert
Well, I have to say, that was a lot of work. Another conference has come and gone and I am wiping the frost off my face (too cold for sweat). All and all, I am proud of our AMEA Board for the work and effort they put into this activity. Take it from me, it takes time, dedication and a lot of organization to put a conference together. For those of you who attend, I hope you took something new to your classrooms. We had a wide variety of great clinicians that provided useful information on how to become a better teacher.
For those of you who could not attend, I encourage you to attend the All Northwest Conference in Spokane, Washington next year or go to the National MENC Conference on April 9-13, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The only way to improve as a teacher is to “steal” stuff from teachers who have proven it works in their classrooms. We all want to be better teachers and that is the best way to reach that goal.
I have to say, being that I have put 6 conferences together in my short career, I am amazed at the different ways people teach music. Yes, there are the standard music techniques, but the best teachers seem to be the ones that have a “special card up their sleeve” that works great with their students. It can be a certain word, a gesture, a discipline method, a reward or just their own personality. It does not matter.
How many times, in your career, have you said “Gee, what do I need to do to get this point through their heads?” I think I say this to myself at least 3 times a week or more. It is encouraging to me to meet many teachers with the same problem. Along with that, I also find it encouraging to me that there are lots of great solutions to many of these classroom problems. Remember, information is the most powerful tool we have and we need to use it to become better at what we do (that what I tell my students). To get that information, we need to interact with each other. We need to talk, demonstrate and listen to each other. What a great way to do that at a state conference.
So if you are one of those who could not come, please email me at tlambert2468@yahoo.com for ideas and suggestion that you would like to share or learn about at our 2010 AMEA State Conference. Happy teaching.-TL.
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