My name’s Zach, and I’m a K-5 music teacher with 11 years of experience.

My Typical Day

I get to school at 8 am and greet students in the hallway at 8:30.

Then, I have prep time for 45 minutes.

Then I teach 5th, 4th, and 3rd grade music in 50-minute sections until lunchtime.

40-minute duty-free lunch.

Then I teach 2nd, 1st, and Kindergarten for the same amount of time.

After that, I go help with pick-up duty by reuniting students with their parents class by class.

I also see each class once per week for 50 minutes. Each class has around 25 students each. We play games, sing songs, practice reading and creating rhythms and melodies, and discuss different styles of music and famous musicians.

Pros

• Seeing all the kids, year after year.
• Making music and getting to know each students’ musical preference.
• Seeing the joy in students with fun and engaging musical activities.
• When you’re done at the end of the day, you get to be done as an elementary music teacher!

Cons

• Each class is very teacher-intensive and tiring.
• You only get so much time to prepare for things like concerts.
• You may be asked to sub when there aren’t enough subs.
• Some other teachers look down on you as the music teacher.

Advice to aspiring Music Teachers

In becoming a music teacher, you’ll need to go through a college music program. The music parts of the program will be amazing. You’ll play in high-level ensembles and develop a great mastery of your skills as a musician. But you need to keep in mind that teaching music isn’t quite like playing in music. Teaching is a different skill set.

My biggest piece of advice for people looking to get certified in music is to block out part of one of your days per week and get into the classroom and volunteer to help a music teacher. Getting in front of kids and getting experience is the best way to get yourself ready for the teaching part of the job. Student teaching is great, but getting in before this time will help accelerate your progress and better prepare you for real teaching.

Before deciding on this career path, you need to consider if it’s right for you. Do you love working with kids, even though they may not always show their appreciation? Are you ready to give up extra time and energy for your students? It’s easy to say “Yes!” without realizing what you’re signed up for. This is another time when shadowing and getting extra hours in will help you decide early on if music teaching is right for you.

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