Middle School Music

I'm excited to be a middle school teacher.  This wasn't always the case.  I always thought I made a great elementary teacher.  I love little kids.  They give you lots of hugs, love music, tell you everything they notice about you and others in a cute way and are willing to try pretty much anything. I've said that I could never be a middle school teacher.  It'd be too hard to teach moody pre-teens and teens.  They are a little scary and unknown.  The hormones make them hard to read, hard to engage in learning and emotionally unpredictable

But had I ever taught middle schoolers?  No.
So where did my belief that I could never do it come from?  Assumptions and hearing others talk about how middle schoolers.

Yet here I am now about to embark on teaching middle school students and thrilled about it.

I've been trying to do some reading about teaching middle school.  There is a real lack of information out there.  High school - tons of articles and information.  Elementary age has an unreal amount of sources to equip teachers.  But middle school is lacking greatly for teaching resources in comparison.

There are resources out there.  However, there's not a wealth of knowledge about this age.  Research information about Orff in Middle School and you'll find an even less amount of substance out there. This is likely due to there being few schools that have Orff teaching in middle school.  Band and Choral information is likely more common.  I'm thinking this may result in a change of thesis for my master's course.  Maybe Orff Curriculum for Middle School, gathering information about Orff Schulwerk in a variety of middle schools across the USA, researching how Orff works in middle school... something to keep thinking about.

A few books that do look relevant and helpful for teaching middle school:

1) The book "What Every Middle School Teacher Should Know" is one that I found on Amazon.  I read the 'inside of the book' that is shared online.  I love the line that says "...if you see what adolescents bring to your classroom as a promise rather than a problem, middle school teaching can be one of the most exciting and satisfying things you will ever do."

2) Another book that looks good:  Make Just One Change.  This book could be used for a wide variety of ages.  About formulating your own questions.

3) http://www.middleweb.com/  - looks like a great resource for teaching middle school

4) Book:  Tween Crayons and Curfew

5) Chris Judah-Lauder, Rob Amchin, ...

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