Helpful hints for having a great convention experience
It was a bitterly cold January day in Cleveland,
Ohio. My toes were numb and even my warmest winter coat seemed like nothing
against the strong wind that swept down from Canada and brought tiny snowflakes
to our lakefront location. I was walking with a merry group of future music
teachers on the way to my first professional convention. I had received a long
list of advice, commentary, and warnings from my academic advisor and the older
students in the program, but nothing could prepare me for the moment we burst
into the lobby of the convention center and joined an already long line of
participants cheerily waiting to receive their name badges. This looked nothing
like what I had expected. The mood was relaxed, if a little chaotic, and every
person there seemed friendlier and happier than anyone has a right to be on a
cold and dreary Thursday at 8:00 in the morning.
Conventions are exciting professional experiences in
an educator’s life because they provide much-needed time to collaborate with
colleagues and learn new techniques. Teachers leave feeling inspired and
motivated to get back to their own students and teach more effectively and
joyfully than ever. A convention is a therapy session, a beautiful concert
experience, and the excited moment when you discover a new idea or a resource
that will revolutionize your teaching process. The key is to find the time to
experience all of these important parts.
As you prepare for a convention, whether it’s your
first one or your twenty-seventh, look at the schedule ahead of time. Events
will overlap, but some sessions repeat and you can usually find a time to attend
everything you want to do. I would suggest marking your schedule according to
priority so you can adjust quickly if you run into an old friend or discover a
great session or concert you hadn’t planned to attend.
Plan some variety into your schedule, too. It’s
tempting to choose one thing—whether it’s concerts, sessions, or the exhibit hall—and
spend all of your time there. We all need the inspiration that comes from
hearing skilled performances, and we also all have things to learn from the
experts who will present their ideas. In addition, I would suggest planning to
spend time in the exhibit hall. The schedule here is looser, but there are
often opportunities to speak with your favorite session presenter and you don’t
want to miss that. There are also vendors that provide all the services and
products you can imagine needing in your music program—from fundraising to
teaching resources to that T-shirt with a cat playing the recorder—and this is
a great time to talk to experts in each area so that you can make informed
decisions about precisely which piano
key tie is for you. Or perhaps more importantly, which two-part choir piece
will work best for the specific demands of your new choral ensemble.
This brings me to the most practical (and
surprisingly overlooked) piece of advice I can provide: wear comfortable shoes.
You will be walking quite a bit—and you’re probably used to that, as a music
educator—but don’t forget that it will happen just as much here as it does in
your regular school day. It’s also a great idea to dress in layers. Different
rooms can have drastically different temperatures and as educators we know that
it’s much easier to learn when you’re comfortable. Do everything you can to be
prepared ahead of time so you can focus on being a great music educator during
your time at the convention.
Finally, the best part: the other people. This is
the perfect opportunity to share ideas, frustrations, and achievements. You are
surrounded by experts in your field who will support you in the specific
challenges of your job. These are people who share your commitment to teaching
and talking with them can be both informative and fun! Seek out new people with
whom to share ideas, and don’t miss out on the delightful social experience
that conventions provide.
At the end of a successful convention, you will feel
refreshed, inspired, and thrilled to go back to your classroom and try out all
your new ideas. Do you have other tips or ideas for making conventions great? Please
share them in the comments section!
If you want more information about conventions,
visit the pages below for details about the wide world of music education
conventions.
American
Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA)
November
13-16, 2013, Denver
If
you attend this one, stop by the Heritage Music Press booth in the exhibit
hall!
American Choral
Directors Association
(ACDA)
Cincinnati,
OH: February 26-March 1, 2014
Baltimore,
MD: February 5-8, 2014
Des
Moines, IA: March 20-22, 2014
Seattle,
WA: March 13-16, 2014
Jacksonville,
FL: March 5-8, 2014
Little
Rock, AR: March 19-22, 2014
Santa
Barbara, CA: February 20-22, 2014
The Midwest
Clinic
(An International Band and Orchestra Conference)
67th
Annual Conference: December 18-21, 2013, Chicago
National
Association for Music Education (NAfME)
2014
Music Research & Teacher Education National Conference: April 10-12, 2014,
St. Louis
For
information on your state’s music education conference, follow this link:
_______________________________________________________________
Erika Popp is an Editorial Administrator at The
Lorenz Corporation, where she works with composers and editors to publish new
music and classroom tools. She earned her Bachelor of Music Education degree at
Wittenberg University in 2006 and has seven years of classroom experience in
North Carolina and Ohio. Her general music classrooms have included large
auditoriums, closet-sized classrooms, normal rooms, and even travelling carts –
whatever the size, she hopes they are always filled with learning.
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