Meet Julie Boettiger

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Julie Boettiger. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Julie below.

Julie , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

In the world of Elementary Music, a music teacher position could be viewed as a “dead end job”. When I couldn’t squash the need to help teachers and to support by sharing a united voice for the underdog, I went back to school. I was a single mom and we made it work. I woke up early, leaned on my support system and continued to put one foot in front of the other. While each step may not have been the same size, or a few may have been followed by a step back, I persevered. I am the youngest of three children in my family. My oldest brother had three daughters, my middle brother has two daughters, and I have one daughter. Knowing that the girls would need a strong female example that could strive past divorce, abuse, and glass ceilings, I never let a “no” stop me.
My father is a caring and loving Patriarch to our family. We adoringly calm him “Pops” and his calm guidance through the hard times have always been my hidden strength.
The saying goes “It takes a village to raise a child”. I agree. It also take a village to effect change and to continue to have the energy to move forward. To my “village”…. I love you!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Since Elementary School, I knew I wanted to be an Elementary Music Teacher. The joy in making music, playing singing games and feeling supported to explore music were life changing. I knew in fifth grade that music was my calling. My mother lovingly remembers playing “C is for Cookie” on my record player for my afternoon naps in pre-school. To know that music has always been my since of calm, the driver to motivate me to do a difficult task, and the passion project to share with the next generation is nothing short of awesome!
Knowing that when I was teaching that I was working with students when they were still sponges (4-12 years old), I spent time learning their passions and helping them learn to persevere to be ready to power through to do the hard things later in life.
In my first teaching job interview, I was asked where I saw myself in 5-10 years. Please note, I was 22, so that was almost a third of my life. My response was, “I want to help teachers teach. I don’t know that that looks like, but if it doesn’t exist, it will. And I will help.” I was graduating with my bachelor’s degree in two weeks, and knew that I wanted to make teaching easier. The desire to support a group that was already underrepresented has been my continued passion project.
I began teaching continued education classes for teachers after teaching for only a year and a half. I spend time listening, exploring, asking questions and sharing. A colleague coined “sharing is caring” in our department, and I strive to keep that energy alive. When interviewing new team members, I remind them that we have seventy music teachers in our department. I challenge them to interview the team with a request before the end of their first semester. When they receive responses that include full slide decks, video playlists, and a plethora of examples of letters to send home, their eyes are opened.
I strive to be a life long learner and unwavering advocate for the trade of teaching Elementary Music. Our secondary marching bands, professional choirs and Philharmonic Orchestras would not exist without the support of a teacher cultivating the strength in a student to follow their passion.
In 2018, I founded the Fort Bend Kodaly Institute, where our program provides training to teachers in both elementary and secondary classrooms on best pedagogical approaches to use in teaching. We support our participants in developing their own skills in conducting and the use of solfege, while breaking down the teaching components of each grade level to best meet the learning needs of our students. The staff of our institute come from all over the great state of Texas and each summer we serve an average of fifty five teachers. The elementary teachers support approximately nine hundred teachers each year, and the secondary teachers average one hundred fifty students in their programs. The work of my instructors is exponential, as when you invest a teacher, that knowledge is passed on to every student they have in their classroom the remainder of their career.
The institute began supporting secondary choral directors in 2023. Watching the investment from the work we did with our elementary teachers grow in to our secondary teachers, is increasing the enrollment of our secondary programs. The staffing of our secondary programs is based on enrollment and this year we grew by four teaching units. The impact will only continue to grow as we support districts all over the Houston area.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

To ask me for three things that most impacted my journey, feels intimate. In all honesty, the things that impacted me the most are the things that served as weaknesses as I grew as a teacher, a mother, a partner and an administrator. As an Aries, I am stubborn. This stubbornness has served me by my inability to quit. If I know that something can be better, I will stay with it until it is. The position I hold as a Fine Arts Administrator in my school district did not exist before I stepped in to the role. In the Fall of 2019, I was the only music teacher at a campus with 870 students, I was the elementary music teacher leader for the district and planned all development and participated in all interviews for new hires. In addition to these roles, I was running and developing the Kodaly Institute. Staffing the institute, maintaining paperwork and teaching in the program were time consuming. The district saw the need to support creating a full time position and I was able to step right in. I was stubborn and passionate about our trade. It paid off.
Compassion came with a few failed relationships and supporting children that came with those relationships. I have continued to learn how to work with others by meeting them where they are in that moment. A tough morning with a sick little one, does not make a person open to receiving multiple examples of feedback from a visit to their classroom. Instead I work to build a relationship that includes compassion. This opens the door to collaborate and work together to support the needs of the campus and the teacher.
The ability to listen to understand has been a skill I have worked on continuously in my adult life. Even though I want to jump in to help, I will pause and continue to listen. Many times holding space for communicating, a person will work through a challenge on their own. Continuing to ask questions to understand until they stop. Let them talk, let them release the steam and pressure without judgement. Then I ask “How would you like me to respond? Would you like me to provide ideas to fix the concern? Would you like me to intervene? (if possible) or Would you like me to hold this information for a future need?” This allows them to decide where they need me to go or what they need me to do. If the person asks me to hold the information, I always reserve the right to go to move to action when safety of students and self, or other legal reasons come in to play.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

When I feel overwhelmed, I need a perspective shift. I allow myself time. Deadlines that I have imagined or put in place that are unrealistic will create an overwhelming feeling for me. When this feeling happens, I will stop and break the task down. Each task has steps and I will do what I can to take the urgency and anxiety away. So many times, once I get started, I am good to finish up the task.
Now for a bigger job, once I have broken down the task, I will create a timeline. If the timeline allows, I will find ways to delegate tasks to others. When working with teammates, their work will come with questions. Remember that their questions are for understanding, as they want to do their best work also. So allow time and space for their questions. Also, when I set their deadline, I will ensure their is more time for me afterwards to wrap up the project. When it is all said and done, the perspective shift, delegation and time management take the sense of overwhelm away.
One thing that I strive to be better at that plays a large factor in feeling overwhelmed, is something I’ve heard coined “procrastination tax”. This is the price we pay for putting of an undesirable task or push off having a difficult conversation. When we push things off, we keep it on our minds. At first, the weight may not feel too heavy, but over time a consistent load wears us down. We may have our own anxiety coming in to play when this happens, and so I overcome this “tax” by blocking off time in my calendar. I will set aside the time that I think I will need to complete the task and set my devices to “Do Not Disturb”. I make sure all distractions are gone, and I get to work. Scheduling the task allows me to know I have made time for the work, and allows me to not carry the weight of it not being done by knowing I have a plan for the task. Often times, the task isn’t as bad as I thought it would me. A potentially difficult phone call will end up being a breeze and an opportunity to connect with one of my colleagues. Or a task will take half the time I allotted. If this happens, I take a walk or visit a colleague down the hall, or grab a cup of coffee. These little actions are treats to me, and I set them up as healthy rewards for a job well done. By alleviating the “procrastination tax” I find my mind is clearer for the items that I am tasked with daily and don’t feel as rushed or anxious. Keeping my blood pressure and mental health at the forefront is great self care.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jlzttu
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/julieboettiger
• Linkedin: Julie Boettiger
• Twitter: @jlzttu
• Youtube: @julieboettiger
• Other: Fort Bend Kodaly Institute on Facebook and Instagram @fortbendkodalyinstitute
  Link to Fort Bend Kodaly Institute Website: https://www.fortbendisd.com/Page/145001