Summer Reading

I have always been an avid reader. My mom likes to tell me that when I was very little and too young to actually be able to read the words, I would wake up early and grab every book off my bookshelf and sit on my bed "reading." And I would be ready for breakfast by the time I flipped through the pages of each book.

And since graduating, I have found that reading is a great way to continue professional development for the education profession. I would love to actually go and visit programs that are thriving and implementing things that could be useful to me. But I also hate the idea of missing a day of school to do this.

A. I would have to write sub plans, which we all know to be the absolute worst.

B. I always feel like we would miss so much instruction.

C. I want to find a program similar to mine, but my current situation is pretty unique.

D. How do I decide who to go observe and how do I make that contact?

One of my professional goals for next school year will be to take a day or two and go observe teachers in action. But until then I have been reading "On Teaching Band: Notes from Eddie Green." I received it as a gift from the leader of the CSU Beginning Band Director's Camp last summer and am just now finding the time to read it. But OH MY GOSH!! If you do not have this book you NEED IT. It is amazing, I am reading all these things that make me say "why did I not think of that?" or "Of course I should be doing this. But did I do that this year?"

Anyone have any other suggestions for good music education books? I don't want to limit myself strictly to band methods. And since I teach a lot of elementary music, I would love to do some reading on that but haven't really found any books that seem interesting.