In ten days a journey I began 29 years ago will end.  It might have been 39 years ago, but I took a journey away from school to figure out what I really wanted to do.  After that journey, I made the decision to go back to school to learn how to be in school for the rest of my career.  Some might say it was a waste of time, but I say you learn from every experience. Since that decision, every year beginning in August (except for the one year I lucked into a job in October), I would step into my room, in whatever state or town I was in, and plan another year.

I was never one of those teachers who taught exactly the same thing every year.  I would have been bored out of my mind.  I used what worked, chucked what didn’t and inserted anything new I thought would work.  I learned from classes, workshops, colleagues and yes, stole ideas from practicum students and student teachers.  It wasn’t rocket science –  my plan was to do whatever got kids excited about learning about and participating in music.

Some years I taught K-8, some years K-12, some K-5, the later being my favorite.  My degree is in choral music with a long background in band, so I taught beginning band, 4-12 choir, but mostly elementary general music.  As much as they made me crazy, the littles made me laugh because you never knew what was going to happen next.  All the best laid plans could be completely upended by having to play whack-a-mole, especially with kindergarten.

And as much as I loved what I was doing, I was beginning to get a glimpse of a bigger picture.  I began to see past my little school in my little state and seeing what was happening across the country.  I began to have conversations with colleagues across the country about music education and saw that, while I felt I was having some impact with my own kids in my own little world, that maybe there was a way to do more.  Having the opportunity to serve on a national board showed me, however, that it’s still important to keep an eye on that little school in that little state.  It becomes easy to see the forest at that level, but you begin to forget that the forest is made up of individual trees.  I make it a point to not forget the trees.

So in ten days, after 29 years, I leave my own little room in my own little school and take a journey where I get to help others who are having their own journeys in their own little classrooms.  What can I do to help, to take away some of the burden, and to encourage?  How can I help develop better curriculum for kids, to develop professional development that excites teachers to do more or see what they’re doing through new eyes?  How can I use my experience to observe young teachers, to mentor them and perhaps help them avoid some of the pitfalls I experienced as a young teacher?

I will be working to answer all of those questions as I step away from that little classroom.  Year 30 is going to be an adventure.  I chose a great time as we’re all stepping into uncharted territory this coming year – it could be a little scary and perhaps a lot exciting as we restructure things that we’ve been doing the same way for, well, at LEAST 29 years.  Perhaps year 30 brings about even more collaboration and innovation than ever before.  And it all changes in 10 days.