It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like September

Here's a shout out to all the piano teachers who are busy doing all the necessary prep work for another successful year. People think we are on vacation, when in fact the to-do list is long and the piles of music are high. It takes a lot of work to get ready for September!

My students will be returning in 14 days. Here are a few of my "getting ready tasks" that I have ticked off the to-do list.

Binders (tick). I am a stickler for taking pride in what you do, so I prepare binders for all of my students where they keep weekly assignment sheets and other activities. I like the ones with a front pocket so I can add a pretty cover.

Assignment Sheets (tick). Ah the on-going quest for the perfect assignment sheet. Somehow I believe the perfect layout will result in beautiful, consistent practice habits all year long. I ordered enough copies for the whole year so I don't have to worry about running out.

If any of you would like to use my assignment sheet design, go ahead and give it a try. You can download the pdf from my Dropbox. I thought it might be fun to have communication bubbles at the bottom of the page. Here's a quick peek.

Books (tick...sort of). Oh my goodness...and more books. I would guess I spent 50 hours researching, playing and selecting music books for my students this summer. It is a huge job, but I did have a lot of fun exploring some less traditional material. I placed my book order on August 10 (tick), but I still have a massive stack waiting to be filed (to-do) and I have to sort out my book order when it arrives (to-do). I will definitely want to blog about some of my new favorite books, and there were many (to-do).

My pedagogy teacher often said, "set your students up for success". This time of year, when I am feeling a bit growly about the hours of prep work, I try to remember the importance of "setting my studio up for success". So here's to a successful year everyone. Happy teaching!