Parents, funds and administration, they are a blessing and a curse. Parents can help alleviate stress and assist, they can also be overly controlling and opinionated. Funding is great! If you can get it, and it doesn't come with loads of paper work that wipes out dozens of trees. Administration, if they are supportive and work as team, for the best interest of the students, can make a world of difference. But if they hide behind a desk, demand what is unfeasible and are not supportive, then you might want to look for another job.
Parents! They can help the marching band carry their instruments at parades. Parents can organize and run fundraisers, communicate to other parents, make fliers, show support at meetings to aid the music program and be a great help to music educators. They can organize fundraisers (like bake sales, selling Smencils, plant sales, car washes, you name it) and help make the success of the music program a community effort. For one person (you as the music teacher), to not only teach your general classes, but band, chorus, orchestra, jazz, private lessons, do parades, concerts, fundraisers, attend every meeting known, gather information, contacting parents on concerns not directly related to the students grades or issues in school, can be overwhelming. It is simply not attainable to stretch yourself that thin.
Downfall to parents? They can be overwhelming, opinionated, control addicts who try to overtake your entire music program, making you you not only look bad, but it reflects poorly on you, and is incredibly frustrating. Parents should not be expected to 'do it all' and if they feel as though they're entitled to in fact, 'do it all', then perhaps it is time for them to step down.
Funding can be a nightmare, it seems as though there's never enough funding. Funding and budgeting changes from year to year, so how do you help gain control of it in your favor? You can start by showing your chops as an educator, which will show through your students. You start by showing what you can do with what you have, gain the faith of the 'big guys' in charge, then you'll have more pull. Another way is by attending meetings, and not just sitting angrily in the back, sipping on a coffee complaining. Bring in studies and research backing why you need 'x' amount of funding, why, and how you will utilize that funding optimally. Another way to gain funding, write grants. It's my experience that the more grants you write, the more you increase the probability of receiving those grants (and the better you get at writing them).
Administration, the educational Gods who either reign terror or open up the portal to educational bliss! Hopefully your administrators are the latter of the two! Administrators should have the backs of their passionate, competent, and engaging educators, but also be honest when those educators are 'in the wrong' about something, of course in a productive manner. Some administrators aren't so pleasant. Some can view their administrator as being on a 'power trip', 'haven't taught in years and do not remember what it's like', 'don't care' etc. etc. Try to keep in mind that it isn't easy running an entire school, or district. Sometimes managing a single classroom is a task in and of itself, imagine an entire school. We as specialists deal with the majority of the schools students, not just a single class, so we can relate to our administrators on some level. Have patience with them, support them, have their back, and do what you can on your end. If you work with, and support your administrators you greatly increase the likelihood that they will return the favor.
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