Personal Time Vs Work Time: Finding The Balance

As a music education major and soon to be classroom teacher, I can only assume what sort of responsibilities I will have when I get into the working world. I can infer from my current work load that I will have to find a balance between my personal musicianship as well as my teaching career.As a musician and a teacher, I think I offer an interesting perspective when it comes to balancing personal and professional lives; mostly because both my personal and professional skills cross over.

What I fear most going into teaching is allowing my music to become trivial. By this, I don't want there to ever be a day where I tell myself I don't want to practice or play because I do too much of it in my job. As it stands now, I don't see that happening, but I hear horror stories where fabulous musicians in the height of their skill and careers burn out because they have no time away from their craft. While I can only hope this never happens to me, knowing it does happen is an added bit of stress in my day to day efforts to be a better musician and teacher.

To prevent burning out, I think it is incredibly important for musicians and teachers to find some other sort of personal entertainment outside of music. For me, I like to play video games and make crafts. It surprises a lot of my friends when they see the jewelry that I throw together half-assed when I am not feeling very musical. A lot of great teachers I know also have an incredibly wide array of other things in there lives that pull them out of the music world. One very influential teacher quilts and sews in her free time as well as struggles with an addiction to candy crush. In short. I think it is extremely important for a music educator to explore their other interests.

Tech Tools For Teaching: 3 Teaching Peripherals and How to Use Them.

At a recent conference, I passed by a room where the presenter was offering a crash course on educational peripherals and tools that teachers may use in the music field. Unfortunately, since I was working the event, I was unable to stop in to do some research. That got me thinking: what sort of peripherals might I have access to when I enter the schools? If I am to assume that when I enter a classroom I will have decently updated equipment, I have chosen three interactive  tools and highlighted to some of their best uses in the classroom.

1 - Smart Boards

Makers - Smart-Technologies, Promethean, etc.

Most college students have most likely used a smart board type of interactive whiteboard. While in our classroom it serves more as a traditional whiteboard, the number of uses is really limitless. The main draw of these boards is their easy interactive nature; in a perfect world, a smart board is the type of tool that can be walked right up to and used. Here are a few other advertised uses for smart boards:

• Slide Shows
• Drawing and Editing Photographs (I.E. circling locations on maps, showing key points of a picture, etc).
• Videos/Photo Presentations
• Music video/other musical media viewing. 
• Notation study/composition.

2 - Ipad/Tablets

Makers - Almost all major technology providers.

In the modern age, many students have access to handheld technological peripherals like Ipads and Tablet PCs. These tools are multi-faceted and allow access to all sorts of different tools, both internal and through the use of apps. Here are just a few facets and uses of a handheld touch device.

• Personal, 1 to 1 ownership and responsibility.
• Technology that students can bring home.
• Decent camera and photo tools.
• Access to educational apps.
• Mobile access to internet tools.
• Quick sharing from tablet to tablet.
• Composition tools (garageband, fruity loops, etc)
• Playing tools (e-guitars, pianos, etc).

3 - Personal Devices

Makers - Samsung, Apple, LG, etc.

If there was any tool that most students have access to, it is their personal electronic devices. While it may take some careful coordination in order to get students using their phones appropriately, it can be used as a tool to further student's learning on the go. With similar uses to tablet computers, it is easy to see how useful personal devices my be.