Accomplishment - One Organized Cabinet!!
I spent some of my preparation day at work straightening one of my cabinets.
Doesn't sound like much, does it? It was amazing to see what was crammed into my sensory material cabinet (all spread out on the singing carpet in my room) and then to organize it, make labels for all the storage containers, and write everything down. I now have an inventory that indicates what I have and where I stashed it so I can find it later. I feel a bit more confident about running my center ideas now that I know what I have in the sensory cabinet...
I was inspired (by my art therapist friend) to start thinking about thematic programming for music therapy. Every time I start to think about this, I find myself stuck in a self-doubt loop and things just don't gel for me. I don't want to be doing things like "Penguins" or "Monsters." I want to do things that are more based on coping skill or character development - things like "Kindness" or "Friendship." So, I've started brainstorming some general characteristics that will allow me to center TMEs around specific ideas, but that offer me lots of ability to adapt things and make them work with all of my clients. All of my clients. Every single one.
Difficult to do when you work with children and adolescents who span every sort of experience and developmental spectrum known to humans. I know that I can find a way into "Healthy Relationships" for my 5 year olds as well as for my 15 and 21 year olds. It can be done, but it will take some creative thinking.
We're going to start off the year of 2018 with the theme of "Future." I started by going through my lyric collection to see what type of songs I could find that were related to dreams, making plans, thinking about the future. One of the things that I would like my older, more academically advanced students to do is a music/art journal during one of their centers. I'm thinking simple lyric analyses and/or blackout poetry and/or lyric collages. So, I'm looking for some songs that will exemplify the possibility of dreams and others that illustrate the reality of future. My younger students can learn the song "When We Grow Up" from Free to Be You and Me. (Here's the link to the 1974 performance of this song with Michael Jackson and Roberta Flack. It's one of the songs that influenced me as a youngster. Enjoy!) We can talk about community jobs and possibilities. I can bring out my "Superstar" game, and we can talk about the challenges of becoming rich and famous. I think we'll use whistles and horns for celebrating the New Year and our new possibilities.
Ooh. I love it when the creative thinking starts.
Once brainstorming begins, it is often difficult to stem the flood of ideas that start churning around. Add another brain into the mix and, all of a sudden, you have an exponential explosion of ideas that start to come to fruition.
All of this because I decided to clean out my sensory cabinet at work yesterday.
I've got to get these ideas written down quickly before they vanish. Have a wonderful Saturday, all!
Doesn't sound like much, does it? It was amazing to see what was crammed into my sensory material cabinet (all spread out on the singing carpet in my room) and then to organize it, make labels for all the storage containers, and write everything down. I now have an inventory that indicates what I have and where I stashed it so I can find it later. I feel a bit more confident about running my center ideas now that I know what I have in the sensory cabinet...
I was inspired (by my art therapist friend) to start thinking about thematic programming for music therapy. Every time I start to think about this, I find myself stuck in a self-doubt loop and things just don't gel for me. I don't want to be doing things like "Penguins" or "Monsters." I want to do things that are more based on coping skill or character development - things like "Kindness" or "Friendship." So, I've started brainstorming some general characteristics that will allow me to center TMEs around specific ideas, but that offer me lots of ability to adapt things and make them work with all of my clients. All of my clients. Every single one.
Difficult to do when you work with children and adolescents who span every sort of experience and developmental spectrum known to humans. I know that I can find a way into "Healthy Relationships" for my 5 year olds as well as for my 15 and 21 year olds. It can be done, but it will take some creative thinking.
We're going to start off the year of 2018 with the theme of "Future." I started by going through my lyric collection to see what type of songs I could find that were related to dreams, making plans, thinking about the future. One of the things that I would like my older, more academically advanced students to do is a music/art journal during one of their centers. I'm thinking simple lyric analyses and/or blackout poetry and/or lyric collages. So, I'm looking for some songs that will exemplify the possibility of dreams and others that illustrate the reality of future. My younger students can learn the song "When We Grow Up" from Free to Be You and Me. (Here's the link to the 1974 performance of this song with Michael Jackson and Roberta Flack. It's one of the songs that influenced me as a youngster. Enjoy!) We can talk about community jobs and possibilities. I can bring out my "Superstar" game, and we can talk about the challenges of becoming rich and famous. I think we'll use whistles and horns for celebrating the New Year and our new possibilities.
Ooh. I love it when the creative thinking starts.
Once brainstorming begins, it is often difficult to stem the flood of ideas that start churning around. Add another brain into the mix and, all of a sudden, you have an exponential explosion of ideas that start to come to fruition.
All of this because I decided to clean out my sensory cabinet at work yesterday.
I've got to get these ideas written down quickly before they vanish. Have a wonderful Saturday, all!
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