Make It Monday: Safety Signs and Songs

I spent much of my Friday afternoon making file folder activities for one of the teachers in my school who needed some large safety sign practice folders. So, I sat down and cut out all sorts of safety signs from Breezy Special Ed. There are twelve different folders in the set that my school uses, so I made a complete copy for the teacher in folder size and am continuing to make smaller versions in half size for some of the other students in my school.

As I was making the folders, I was reminded of my thesis where I wrote songs specifically for sight-word recognition purposes. Many of the safety signs were also part of our sight-word list back then, so I already have a bunch of songs written that go along with the file folders. Of course, my sings do not cover all the signs on any of the folders, but that's the way things go.

My thesis was uninteresting, especially to me. I got laryngitis during the testing period so I am sure that things were affected by that fact, but it was just not what my heart was into. I wanted to start my sing about song series, but my advisor did not, so I did what I had to do to get my degree finished. That is part of why I didn't finish my Ph.D. program - same advisor was just not interested in what I wanted to do with my life, so...

Anyway, I may dig those songs out of retirement and bring them back to the music therapy session. 

I enjoy it when a task that I am working on allows me to create something that I can use in a music therapy session. When I am in a creative mode, then the ideas flow. When I have a creative block, I just stare at what I am doing without having any thoughts swirling in my head. I am getting back into a creative state of mind after a period of time where I was likely to just sit without any sort of thought.

It is time to figure out what I am going to do with my copy of these file folders. Do I rewrite songs for each folder? Do I compose new ones? Either path is a good one, so I might just start the journey.

Meanwhile, I am almost ready to start my book project. I have the book, I have the start of the TMEs going, I just need to start writing. This might be helped by taking my laptop into my bedroom, but I am not entirely sure about that. I have set a due date, so be on the lookout later this week for an announcement.

It is about time to get going for the week. I have some folders to finish up, five music therapy groups to facilitate, and one individual lesson to get through before a meeting and bus duty. My mom is getting a cataract removed today, so there are things happening far away that will affect what I am doing. I am not sure what we will be doing this week in my music therapy sessions - maybe we will talk about marching bands this week. Next week is Musicians of the Month and choice/leisure programming. This week can be just about anything. I will figure it all out once I get to my desk at work.

What are you going to create this week? Will it be a new song? A visual aid? New goals for clients? However you create this week, enjoy the process as well as the process...

Happy Monday.

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