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Thank you Jennifer from In My Music Class for nominating me for the Liebster Award! I love to blog and only wish that I had more time to enjoy it, so I really appreciate the award.
By the way, if you are interested in some really great ideas,
Jennifer has shared some very practical "boots on the ground" ideas from her music class in her blog. I especially love her sub plan idea because it both simple and effective when you aren't blessed with a music sub. To check out her post, follow the link HERE !
The Liebster Award was created to highlight blogs with growing audiences. The rules for receiving this award are:
1. In your post link back to the blogger who nominated you as a thank you and a 'shout out'.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer. (The questions I have answered please)
3. Nominate 11 people (Blogs with less than 200 followers) and link them in your post.
4. Let your nominees know and provide them with a link back to your post (so they can see the rules)
5. No nominating the person who nominated you, however send them a thank you :)
1. In your post link back to the blogger who nominated you as a thank you and a 'shout out'.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer. (The questions I have answered please)
3. Nominate 11 people (Blogs with less than 200 followers) and link them in your post.
4. Let your nominees know and provide them with a link back to your post (so they can see the rules)
5. No nominating the person who nominated you, however send them a thank you :)
These are the questions that are set for me to answer...
1. Why and how long ago did you start blogging?
In 2010 I wanted to start a website. I tried to learn how to create a website from scratch and since I had a URL and a willingness to work, I created Melodysoup.com. It took me several months and lots of hard work to figure out that I really didn't want a website, I wanted a blog. So Melodysoup blog was born as an offshoot of my website that really doesn't have anything on it except a link to my blog. Through trial and error I began to blog seriously and regularly in January of 2012. The development of my blog corresponds with a time when I was at a new school and really feeling the loss of a great teaching partnership that up until that point in my career had provided a wonderful outlet for professional collaboration. The blog was motivated in great part both by my need for professional collaboration with other music teachers, but also as a way for me to help out music teachers who might be like me and in need of a professional cohort.
In 2010 I wanted to start a website. I tried to learn how to create a website from scratch and since I had a URL and a willingness to work, I created Melodysoup.com. It took me several months and lots of hard work to figure out that I really didn't want a website, I wanted a blog. So Melodysoup blog was born as an offshoot of my website that really doesn't have anything on it except a link to my blog. Through trial and error I began to blog seriously and regularly in January of 2012. The development of my blog corresponds with a time when I was at a new school and really feeling the loss of a great teaching partnership that up until that point in my career had provided a wonderful outlet for professional collaboration. The blog was motivated in great part both by my need for professional collaboration with other music teachers, but also as a way for me to help out music teachers who might be like me and in need of a professional cohort.
2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?
Soup - I love teaching music and I love gaining insight from a variety of philosophies, ideas, and perspectives. When I throw all of those sometimes quite divergent elements together into a beautiful mixture of techniques and experiences for my students it is sort of like a delicious soup made from all the great and sometimes random ingredients from my well stocked musical pantry. As a result, my blog doesn't really embody any one particular musical method and hopefully as a result, everyone can find something useful in my posts.
3. Is there something you learned late in your blogging journey you wished you knew before?
I wish I had understood the difference between content posts and opinion posts. As a music teacher there are times when I am searching for content. If I can find the content I need on a blog then I am totally there. Opinion or editorial posts certainly have their place, but as far as blogs about elementary music blogs are concerned, the best posts that really drive traffic to my blog all contain real content.
4. What is your favorite past time other than blogging?
I write music. It is my favorite of all of my favorite things which means that I love writing music ALOT!!!
5. How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog?
The time that I dedicate to my blog totally depends upon what is going on at school. In the summer I try my best to work on my "BIG" projects like my word wall or my planner posts because those take lots of time. I also try my best to get several posts scheduled so that I can have time to start school in August. I feel REALLY great if I'm able to post twice a week, knowing that when things get nuts at school, then once a week will be a miracle. However, I always have multiple drafts in process and I write something every single day because some posts are just more involved than others. In a typical week, I'll check on my blog for stats and comments every day. I do this primarily to make sure that there aren't any spam comments that need to be taken down. I'll write a bit, but typically write heavily two to three days a week. (1 hour a day on average)
6. What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?
FREE Downloads!!! I like to create things and I like to share them.
7. Where does your blog inspiration come from?
I am inspired to write a post when I try to find something online and i can't find what I want. I'm planning a post on listening maps soon. The reason behind the post is because I needed a particular listening map and there were none available, at least not the kind I wanted. So, I have created my own and will share it soon. That same feeling of not being able to find what I wanted has inspired my word wall posts, my teacher planner posts, and all of my free download posts to date.
8. Which post that you've written are you most proud of?
Useful, Useful, Useful and FREE FREE FREE!
9. Is there any post you have been planning to do, but have been postponing it for a while now?
I plan on putting together a series of posts about how to create a black light show. I inherited the black light show and cannot in any way take credit for the genius that it is, but it sure is fun and before I inherited, I had never heard of one or seen one, so I spent a great deal of time looking for information online and didn't find anything.... So it seems like a good subject for a post.
10. What's your favorite aspect of blogging?
The collaboration. My post about a Musical Word Wall is both the most work I've ever done for a blog post but also the most collaborative. The response to this post was huge and everyone had requests for words that they would like to see included. The list of words got longer, the existing words got edited and on the whole, the entire thing was better and more useful because in the end, it was a resource created collaboratively. I think that is blogging at it's best!
11. Which recipe, project, or idea on my blog would you be most likely to try yourself?
In my lesson plans for last week I actually included a link to the Nutcracker Movement Activities because my 2nd graders were studying Tchaikovsky and I wanted a quick way to remember what we could do as a movement activity for the Chinese Dance. It was great and my students loved it!
You may notice that some other music education bloggers have suggested these blogs too! That is because they are awesome! :)
Thank you so much for the nomination! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the nomination! Love your blog as well!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the nomination!!!
ReplyDelete