Just how organised does a head of music need to be? Music departments are often victims of their own success – the more successful they are, the more is going on – and that success does not necessarily bring more manpower, or more hours in the day.
I don't know of any heads of music in state schools who have any kind of admin support. Perhaps there are some out there, who are keeping very quiet about it. But most of us organise everything ourselves, with support from department colleagues – if we are lucky enough to have any – and perhaps some helpful students.
One thing is for certain – it is not possible to do absolutely everything. Being able to prioritise is essential. Everyone is different, and one of the ways in which we differ is our capacity for tolerating chaos. Where can we afford to let chaos reign?
My ‘chaos list’ theme tune would be ‘Let It Go’ from Frozen. The things on it are:
- The state of my desks in my classroom and office. Try as I might, there are heaps of stuff that I just can't seem to eradicate. I know what's there, and can judge how far down the pile something might be based on when I last saw it.
- How long a topic might take to teach – within reason. Yes, at GCSE and A-level we have a body of content to cover, and cover it we must. I have given up trying to predict with any precision how long anything will take. It's a bit like cooking: you can estimate how long your pasta will take to cook, but if you keep testing it you'll know when it's done.
- Lesson plans. It's in my head. Yes, I have notes in my planner (the brilliant IDoceo app). I do make notes, but they wouldn't make sense to anyone else. They are just an aide-mémoire, to keep track of the multiple classes that I teach. I don't really have a formal scheme of work at KS3, just an overview and a massive collection of resources. I am lucky to have colleagues who understand what we're doing and why – we don't need to formalise it by writing it all out.
- Lesson objectives. Strictly speaking, I mean communicating these to students. Teachers need to know what the learning objectives are. I really don't think that students necessarily need to be told, even less to write them down. As long as we know why we're doing what we're doing, the rest is dispensable.
My ‘tight’ list (theme tune: ‘Perfect’ by Fairground Attraction) includes:
- Anything to do with peri staff. Mostly communication. In my role as unpaid organiser, caretaker, and messenger, it is imperative that I do whatever it takes for the VMTs to be able to do their jobs. I use the Scannable app to scan application forms to email to peris, and then file away an electronic copy.
- I would then extend this to anything that I am asked to do by colleagues that is necessary for them to get on with things. Requests for information can be dealt with swiftly and then it's one less thing on my to-do list (I keep mine on the Todoist app).
- Knowing where all resources are. With physical resources this might include labelling things, or making sure that they are left tidy. My bugbear is out-of-place xylophone bars: I can't bear to see gappy or messy ones that are not ready to get out and play. I want all guitars and ukuleles left on racks or hooks so that they are out of harm's way. Picks go back in specific tins. Jack leads get hung on a specially adapted picture of Bob Marley. Keyboard adaptors go in red dummy sockets in the wall. Everything ready to get out and use. With computer-based resources, a good system of file organisation is essential. None of us has time to rummage about trying to find things in a black cyber-hole of badly named documents.
- Microphone leads. Seeing a spaghetti-like tangle of cables makes me feel queasy. I would rather spend time coiling and tying them now than untangling them later.
- Students' coursework. Recordings and paperwork need to be labelled, filed and backed up. I cannot bear the thought of what it must be like to lose coursework. Years ago, a friend had his car stolen, with all of his students' GCSE coursework in the boot. Yikes.
Your lists may well be different from mine. It's interesting to consider the ways in which our thresholds vary. What will you be meticulous about this month? And what will you merrily let slide?
