We all should have a mission, right? In the last few years, my mission shifted from teaching students to love music, to teaching teachers to teach students to love music. I chose to transition out of the classroom, and my mission shifted to helping more of you to fulfill your own mission.
Right now in the United States, many of us are being forced to consider job transitions. We may have thought we would stay at the same school for 25 years, and now our position is being cut or shifted, and we are being forced to adapt to another new reality. Yet I maintain that with a strong depth of mission and purpose—no matter what position we find ourselves in—we can still be fulfilled. We can still make a difference.
For today’s episode I brought in my friend Shawna Long, an award-winning music technology teacher who recently transitioned from teaching middle school music technology classes to teaching elementary music. A teacher of her caliber so celebrated for her successes could probably have chosen any position that she wanted. Today we’ll explore why we might transition between jobs and how we can do it most successfully.
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Topics Covered:
- Identifying the signs of needing a change
- The effects of school culture and climate on music teachers
- Dealing with stress and avoiding burnout
- Finding renewed purpose in the most unlikely places
Liked this podcast? Check out more Music Ed Mentor Podcasts.
An experienced K8 music educator, Elisa Janson Jones specializes in helping music educators build, manage, and grow thriving school music programs and have long and happy careers. She holds a Bachelor of Music, a Master of Business Administration, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Education in Instructional Design.
Elisa uses her vast and diverse skill set to help nonprofits, businesses, and music educators around the world. She serves as conductor of her local community band, a columnist for SBO Magazine, and maintains a private lesson studio. Elisa is an internationally-recognized speaker, and has presented at national, state, and local conferences as well. She is the host and producer of the Music Ed Mentor Podcast, founder of the Society for Online Music Education, and author of The Music Educator’s Guide to Thrive and The Music Booster Manual.