Community, Team, PLC, posse, super hero squadron what ever you call it they are your immediate support system when teaching, the people around you that you turn to when you need help. We as music teachers cannot do this alone even if we stand by ourselves as music teachers there are so many teachers in our building who can help with other things, whether it’s help with our shows, our management, or just a friendly chat our school community is there for that. We cannot be hermits hiding in our room waiting for the next class to show up. After a while it gets tiring, almost a way of burning ourselves out without even thinking about it. New and experienced teachers are guilty of this, new teachers can be shy or were told in there college programs not to get involved. I remember before I graduated college that I was told to never eat in the teachers room because it would get me in trouble..but it’s one of the ways I’ve found that gets me involved in the school community. Teachers find me more when I’m sitting in the teachers room having lunch rather than trekking all the way down to my little corner of the world. Experienced teachers get into a routine and if they do not start out involved with the school it’s hard to break the hermit lifestyle.
Here’s some ways you could find yourself involved and creating your place on a team or in a community: get on a committee, take an extra duty once in a while, eat lunch in the teachers room, go to an after school event that’s not yours, integrate other’s curriculum into your own, put on a grade level show, make friends and chat online, even if you just WALK DOWN THE HALL a couple times a day your presence is known and there’s a 99% chance you could exchange more than a few hellos and smiles to your colleagues.
Be friendly, be willing to help and be willing to listen. You’ll be a prominent member of your community in no time surrounded by your team mates. Remember, teaching is a team sport and there is no I in team.