Hello blog-sphere!
If I'm being honest, getting back into blogging after maternity leave has been intimidating. I have so many ideas for blog posts jotted down on my Google Keep that the thought of logging back in to blog has been an overwhelming ... from Student Led Rehearsals 2.0 to working through post-partum depression, our exciting new Jazz Band collaboration with Jesse Elder from Postmodern Jukebox to a food-for-thought piece about multitasking and everything in between.... But after this past Tuesday's first leadership meeting of the year, I have found the inspiration to push through and get some thoughts down!
Our leadership meetings are open to all, and those who are seeking a leadership position with the Cougar Marching Band are asked to come as a part of their training. I knew Tuesday's meeting was going to be a great one before we even began when 37 students came to participate!
Last year, we worked on developing handbooks for both leadership and student members for the Cougar Marching Band. The handbooks were used as a way of explaining our procedures, clarifying expectations, and establishing a positive culture right from the beginning of our season. It was quite an accomplishment for our leadership team to draft these handbooks, having a positive impact on our groups right from the beginning of the year!
But after our handbooks were complete, it was time to consider what's next Inspired by the idea of a "band council" (a group where any student could attend and participate in ways to further instill a sense of community and pride in our program), I decided that this year's leadership focus would be on developing some leadership committees to help students to build these things based on topics and issues that are most important for them.
We started out Tuesday's meeting by breaking up into small groups and discussing what sorts of things they might like to accomplish. Every 3-5 minutes, I would have students shuffle their groups, introduce themselves to a new set of people, and continue discussing their thoughts. After shuffling a number of times, I invited students to come up to our white board and write down any key points that came up from their discussions. From there, we organized some of the tasks into groups that possible committees would handle.
Hearing these students talk passionately about their ideas and wanting to do more, be more for our groups is what finally got me out of my funk and inspired me to sit down and type again. Their love for music, music making, and one another was so infectious! The energy in the room was palpable; everyone could feel it, everyone was excited and ready to take their ideas and run. It was simply one of the best feelings in the world for this band director to experience. #thisiswhyiteach #proudSCteacher
After some great writing and discussion, the students and I came up with a few potential committees for the year:
- Social Committee (including ideas like a marching band veteran/rookie partnering program, social gatherings, etc.)
- Community Outreach Committee (including finding opportunities to improve our community through making music, ways to bring music into community service, etc.)
- Publicity Committee (including social media outlets, starting a YouTube channel, publicizing concerts, collaborating with athletics/student groups, merchandise, etc.)
- Jazz Band Committee (including jazz band specific needs such as our jazz band retreat, additional performances, finding additional collaborative opportunities, etc.)
- Handbook Committee (including updating/editing any information necessary to our current handbooks to keep them relevant for all our members.)
I can't wait to see what directions these fantastic young people take our groups!
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