Kelsey Helton is our featured teacher this week. She is currently teaching PreK-5th grade music in Goose Creek CISD and directing an all ages music ministry, Joyful Noise, at First Lutheran in Galveston. Additionally, she is a member of NAfME, TMEA, TCDA and P.E.O.
Get to know our authors! In our “Teacher Feature,” you will not only learn about our contributors’ professional endeavors but also get to know them as humans too. Just like our readers – our authors are actively teaching in schools across the United States.
Kelsey Helton is our featured teacher this week. She received her degree from Kansas State University. Ms. Helton is an elementary music teacher and church music director in the greater Houston area. Currently teaching PreK-5th grade music in Goose Creek CISD and directing an all-ages music ministry, Joyful Noise, at First Lutheran in Galveston. Additionally, she is a member of NAfME, TMEA, TCDA, and P.E.O.
My mom was a teacher so I always had an interest in education. I started piano in 2nd grade, then band in 5th grade and I loved it! When I was in middle school, I went to summer band camp at a local university where I had the opportunity to learn from teachers from all over the state of Kansas. They were so fun and engaging and they inspired me to be a music teacher. I always thought I wanted to be a band director so I was an instrumental major at Kansas State University. I had some fabulous teachers that really excited me to teach. I student taught 9 weeks in high school band and 9 weeks in elementary music. After both placements, I realized that I LOVED elementary music because I could teach instruments, singing, dance and more. I liked the diversity in topics that elementary lent itself to.
I was lucky to have a few different influences in the education world. My mom was an elementary general education teacher so my sister and I were always playing school on the farm. Education was always important to me and I thought that being a teacher was the best way to understand the world. On the music side of my career, I was influenced by Dr. Jeff Jordan at Fort Hays State University, Dr. Frank Tracz at Kansas State University, Mr. Kim Harrison (my high school student teaching mentor) and Mrs. Heidi Timmons (my elementary student teaching mentor). I greatly appreciate their diverse experiences that helped make me the teacher I am today!
I came from a farm family where everyone helped each other out. I feel like being willing to share information with others is vital to our understanding of the world. I get so excited when I meet a new teacher because I just want to help them so their experience is a positive one. We owe it to our kids to create quality and engaging activities in our classroom; why can’t we share our expertise with each other? I beg, borrow, and steal from other teachers, I need to return the favor to the profession.
I can’t pick one specifically, but I love working with my elementary choirs. This past year was our first choir tour to businesses in the neighborhood. The kids loved it and did such a great job. I was so proud of them because they started from knowing nothing (essentially) to being able to perform in public. It was so cool!
I started my career in Kansas City as a middle school choir and drama teacher. I was not prepared for that, being an instrumental major. When I left that position, I moved to Texas to another middle school choir position that I actually left after the first quarter, then took an elementary music position, which I also had little experience in. The biggest revelation I have had as a teacher is just how much we learn after college. I was trained to be a high school band director, which I felt very confident in, but I knew I wouldn’t be happy in that category.
I had ONE elementary music class in college and it was mostly elementary band focused. I had observed and student taught briefly in the elementary track, but I was not prepared to teach seven different grades on my first day! I am so thankful to local MEA conferences, on-line PD, and the Instagram teacher community where we can share and learn from each other to fill that gap of what we didn’t learn in college. It was a challenge at first, but now I embrace how many different topics I can teach in elementary compared to the ensemble classes.
I love to craft, garden, bake, and travel. Stress relief is vital in this profession. When I’m not teaching, I also am the Director of Joyful Noise at First Lutheran Church in Galveston, Texas where I direct six ensembles and I volunteer as an angler educator and Project WILD facilitator for the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife. Though both of those involve some form of teaching, the experience is different enough that I don’t get burnt out.
I was lucky to attend (and eventually present) at the Teacher Self Care Conference, where I learned the importance of self-care. That realization has changed the game for me. I no longer spend tons of hours at school. I work smarter, not harder. I prioritize me-time and spending time with loved ones, something I completely ignored my first few years of teaching. Teaching will always be part of my life, but it doesn’t have to run my life.
I love Tex-Mex food and ice cream!
I have two cats: a chubby Siamese named Callie and my new tabby baby, George Tucker (named after a character on Hart of Dixie!)
I am definitely a big country music fan. My favorite artists are Cody Johnson, Aaron Watson, Zac Brown Band, and the Turnpike Troubadors. I listen to a variety of other music, but country is my go-to.
I am always carrying around a Route 44 of Unsweet Tea from Sonic. As a Midwesterner living in Texas, I get a lot of flack from drinking unsweet! On the rare occasion that I drink pop, I always love a vanilla Dr. Pepper.
I’m a big fan of Erynn Mangum’s series’ lately!
I’m not up on the new superheroes, but if I had powers, I would figure out a way to save the planet and make everyone get along!
We hope you enjoyed getting to know Kelsey as much as we have. Check out Kelsey’s articles below!