By AshaLee Ortiz

March means one thing for educators: spring break. If you are anything like me, you may try to achieve some sort of balance between professional development, catching up on work responsibilities, and being able to take time to relax and recharge. Also, if you are anything like me, you will feel guilt about not being able to achieve any of these objectives with a semblance of success, tainting the time spring break is supposed to afford us to recharge for the final weeks of the school year.

For a music educator, February through April can be one of the most hectic times of the year. The beginning of second semester in the music world has a different, more serious tone, but also a frenetic feel to it as individual students and ensembles perform and prepare to perform at a plethora of events.

Spring break provides a slight reprieve to the insanity. It neatly cuts expected performances in half, making where and when I am required to be at concerts, festivals, and competitions seemingly manageable. I know many ensembles across the country use their spring break as an opportunity to travel with their students. This allows directors to showcase the hard work ensembles have put in over the course of the school year, as well as to afford students performance opportunities that they will remember for a lifetime. I, however, do not subscribe to this practice for various reasons, mostly because, if I am being honest, I need the break.

I don’t wish to sound as though I am displeased with my job. On the contrary, I feel like I have the best job in the world. It is so rewarding to see what these young adults are able to accomplish. Their potential is matchless, and I relish every opportunity to see them shine on stage and perform with such grace, maturity, and finesse. The nature of education as a profession, however, is the little things that pile up and become big things that I, for one, have a tendency to put off until “there’s time.”

So, in preparation for spring break, I make a to-do list using the Eisenhower decision matrix. I figure out what has not been deemed urgent but is important for my students’ success when we return the following week. Things I choose to work on during break tend to be “want to” projects, rather than “have to” projects. I try to prioritize a substantial chunk of time near the beginning of spring break to get these projects out of the way so the rest of my time is not affected by “procrastinator’s guilt.”

This year, a portion of my spring break will be dedicated to arranging instrumental parts and finding costumes for our spring musical, as well as preparing for a field trip to Knott’s Berry Farm, where my ensembles will be featured as part of the “Performance in the Parks” program.

The remainder of the time will be dedicated to recharging and renewing myself personally. It may seem trivial, but self-renewal is so important, especially for educators. How can we continually be expected to engage and inspire when we ourselves are physically or emotionally drained?

Ensemble performance, especially at the middle school level, can be tricky. You want your students to be challenged, but also to feel successful. You want them to sound good, but not be bored with the music after working on it for five or six weeks. So after seven months of building both expectations and community, all while helping students progress musically, March tends to be the time when students hit the metaphorical wall. They are tired of hearing me say the same things over and over (support your tone, sing through that phrase, sit up, watch your dynamics, where is your music, spit out your gum), and frankly, I am tired of saying them. Mentally, my reservoir of analogies and inspirational stories is tapped out. I just want them to sing well, all the time! Is that so much to ask?

Conversely, they are saying to themselves, “Do we have to sing well ALL THE TIME? Can’t we just take it easy?” Excellence in any field requires effort and work, and the educator in me will not stand for anything less than their very best. This juxtaposes against the apparent apathy of my students. It seems mediocrity in the classroom is appealing to the adolescent mind because it frees up time and energy for social purposes.

I find the week off does wonders for my students. When returning to class the first week of April, my eighth graders realize the end is near. Like me, they have recommitted their energy and zeal to creating an exceptional performance, now with a more concrete realization that this will be their last performance with me and possibly with each other. The seventh graders relish the opportunity that will come in a few short weeks to become “the big kid on campus,” and everyone realizes that the close connections they made with their fellow choir members will change as soon as that final note is sung. Those last months in the classroom are always bittersweet.

Now, all we have to do is get there!

AshaLee Ortiz has been teaching K­–8 music for the past eight years in Peoria, Arizona. Her program was recognized as one of the best communities for music education in 2013 by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM). She has a bachelor’s in music education from California State University, Fullerton, and is currently working on a master’s in educational technology. In her spare time, AshaLee enjoys spending time with her family, arranging musical mash-ups, blogging, and sleeping.  

Please share your own tips for a productive and relaxing spring break in the comments below.