Teaching Music in Two Schools- The hard parts, the best parts, and tips if you're in this situation

I teach in a rural area and music teaching positions and full-time music positions are hard to come by, full-time music positions are nearly impossible. So when I was presented with the opportunity to get full-time music split between two schools I jumped at it. Now, I LOVE that I have this opportunity to teach music to more students and teach full-time music, but it does come with some challenges.

The Hard Parts 
1. It can be a management nightmare. From having to ensure that concert schedules don’t conflict, to managing grade books for two schools, to keeping track of all the extra school events between the two buildings, there are a lot of balls to juggle, so having a good solid way to keep track of all that is going on is super important

2. You likely won’t have all the same resources in each school. So that means one of two things you plan lessons based on the resources you have in each building or you take things back and forth. Speaking from personal experience, you might think you’ll remember to transport supplies until the one time you’re so excited about the lesson you have planned and you realize you left the book or the manipulatives to go with it at the other school. Then you’re forced to adapt on the fly 

3. Your students will be at different levels even if you teach the exact same lesson the exact same way your students between the 2 schools will not learn the same way or be at the same level. At one of my schools, I see my students an extra time on a 6-day rotation, one school students are exposed to more music outside of the classroom, one school is prone to have more absences for extra-curriculars, and to top it off the class sizes are different all of these factors affect create so many variables that the classes end up  with different skill levels and preferences, which can require some creative lesson planning.
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The BEST parts 
1. You have double the resources: Short some bell sets for Christmas concert, borrow from the other school. Even though it can be frustrating having to move things between 2 schools there are lots of times when it works to your advantage. You can have double the inventory and make your budget go further be sharing things between your two schools

2. Your lesson planning can go further: Even though your students may be learning different things that different times, eventually they all need to learn the music concepts. So when you plan a lesson, say for quarter note and eighth, the activities you plan for one school, you can do for another even if it 4 months down the road. 

3. You get to teach music to more kids: For me this is the best part of teaching in two school, twice as many kids get to experience music because you are willing to teach in two schools. Despite the craziness that can come with teaching in two schools, it is so worth it to give more kids quality music experiences. ​

Practical Tips
Here are some of my best practical tips if you find yourself in this situation

1. Be careful with what you commit to with extracurricular. If you say yes to every activity at each school you will have DOUBLE the amount of activities compared to other teachers at each school.  
2. Have a very good inventory list for each school, especially if you are planning on sharing instruments between the schools 
3. Don’t assumes the school routines are the same. Different administrators and schools have different method and expectations.Jjust because one school does something one way doesn’t mean the other will follow suit. 
4. Use one planner. Digital or paper, either works but just use one. This way you know you’ll always have it and you can transfer the lesson ideas 
5. Color code your calendar. Give each school a color in your calendar then you know what is happening at each school.
6. Spend time outside of the music room. Be intentional about the leaving the music room, when you’re only at a school half time it will be harder to get to know other staff members 
7. Keep the classroom decor simple. You now have double the classrooms to decorate, keep it simple and decorate with things that can stay up for long periods of time
8. You have more students now, use a seating plan to learn kids names quickly! 
9. Reuse concert songs. There's no shame in having both school perform some of the same concert songs 
10. Find ways to streamline assessment, because you have a lot of students to assess. Rubrics and checklist are great for this! 

Taking the plunge and teaching at two schools was one of the best things that I did for my teaching career. Some days it's a crazy ride, but it is so incredibly rewarding!