The end of the year can be a relief but also stressful. Your brain has been set to autopilot and now that the students are all gone it can be a little disorienting. However, there are still so many things that need to be done. So what exactly should music teachers do at the end of the school year?
Shred Any and All Student Documents
Collect any and all paperwork that you’ve assigned. Take papers that are living in your class room and go shred them. Necessary documents to keep are grades, reports, and your lesson plans for the year. It is a legal requirement to return intellectual property to students and to not have any personal information remaining. File necessary documents and destroy anything else.
Take Inventory of all Musical Instruments
Pop on Netflix and get to counting. If you’ve accquired new instruments, add them to your inventory list. Record the make/model, type, amount, and any repairs that have been or need to be done. Repair as many as you can and order any supplies or tools you need to fix the rest. Get work orders for the repairs and prep for outsourcing. Pack up any instruments needing to go into storage and get to organizing. Finally, submit any purchase order requests for future instruments you are wanting to add to your collection.
Reflect on Your Year
Look back through the school year with your calendar. Make note of major events that occured, lessons that were missed, holidays that were celebrated, anything that may have impacted your planning. Keep these somewhere you can find easily for when your setting up your calendar for the next school year. You’ll be transferring these events into your new planner. This will also help you gage which lessons worked well and which ones need more improvements. You can also organize your lessons to coincide with school events and other learning opportunities. This would be a great time to email potential concert dates and festival trips to your administrators.
Strategize for Organization Set Up
Finally, put your things away in an order that’ll be easy for you to unpack when it’s time, especially if rennovations are happening in your space. Think about decor and furniture layouts. How could you make your space more functional?
To help you out, here is a set of checklists for you to use as you pack up. Happy Summer!
