Moments

Alas, poor blog.  Neglected is your state!  Would that I had more time to devote to cherishing you.

On this cheerful Friday, I wanted to take a moment and share a glimpse of my first quarter as a *real* teacher.  It's been insanely busy, especially as I am still keeping all my weekday private students and I just started dating.  JW and I laugh that my first semester teaching and his last semester of law school is a very silly time to start a relationship, but some things are worth the effort.  "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods."  -Thomas Paine.

Here's an adorable picture of us, just so you can see.  :)  Except now JW has shaved off his beard with no warning, and I'm still adjusting to him looking like a totally different person.  But anyways.  We're cute.

So far, teaching has been fun.  Stressful, for sure.  When I decided to be a choir teacher, that was never supposed to include grading papers, and yet I find myself grading 84 homework assignments quite frequently.  Such is life!

In no particular order, here are some of the moments and thoughts that have stuck out.  Some are good, some are mundane, but all contribute to the big picture of my first experience.

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I never realized how much my students would occupy my thoughts even when I'm not at school.  I'm not sure they realize how much I want them to succeed, and that I frequently spend my long commutes thinking of them and how I can help them.

I got the sweetest compliment from a girl at our network-wide choral festival last week.  She came up to me after the concert to say that after I ran the soprano sectional, she heard a bunch of girls from other schools talking about how much fun I was and how they wished I could work with them more.  This was especially meaningful for two reasons: one, the girl who told me is one of our all-star soprano divas, and very hard to impress, so the fact that she took the time to come tell me was surprising; two, most of the other conductors there are women who tend to be thought of as choir goddesses in this network, and this is only my second month of teaching, so I was extremely intimidated, and finding out that I could be on their level, at least from a student perspective, was very gratifying.

I like hanging out in my classroom after school when students come in to use the piano.  We can laugh and trade good music and learn a little.

I hate giving detentions.  I've only given three, and they were all at the same time for talking in class.  I hope I don't have to give more any time soon.

I was called "the fashionista teacher" today because my skirt matched my shirt matched my nails.  I chuckled.

My students make me laugh, though so far most have not picked up on the fact that I her hee.  I'm okay with this.

Some of these kids can make great music!  It's SO much fun when they finally come together and sing out strong and really get into it, because we can make some cool things happen.  Sometimes, they really impress me.

Other times, they drive me up the wall with their constant chattering.

I like my classroom.  It echoes, with it's very high ceilings and bare walls.  (The school apparently used to be a warehouse.)

I don't like writing lecture notes on the whiteboard.

I love when a student finally has a "lightbulb" moment and gets a concept.

The best (or only good) part about teaching music history is having a captive audience who has to listen to the pretty music I want to share with them.

I am so entertained by the conversations in my study hall first thing every morning.  Today, we named all of a girl's future children by random letter selection.  One poor kid is named Qhypogo.

Spending 40 minutes a day on 6th and 7th grade lunch duty makes me ever so glad I do not teach middle school.

I just had about 70 reports handed to me to grade this weekend.  Whee!

I really like tutoring one-on-one before and after school, and am glad the school places such a priority on that.  I also tend to like students more when they take advantage of my expertise.

We have some great parents at this school.  I have had nothing but very positive interactions with them thus far, and I hope to high heaven it remains that way.

As a network, our schools seem to attract young, attractive teachers.  And unique; I think there's a uniqueness quota you have to meet to be hired.

I was told my a veteran art teaching that I must really love teaching, because it shows.  :)

We've had two students pass away this semester, which is a challenge I never really thought about facing, much less in my first two months of teaching.

Having one mass faculty office where all our desks are located is convenient for networking, but I am much more likely to be productive working in my room where it is quiet.

There is a startlingly large number of true redheads at this school.

As a classical liberal arts school, the student body here is very different from what I've worked with before.  On our bus ride up to Jazz/Mad at NAU, they were excited about watching someone's copy of RSC's Hamlet with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart.  Most high schoolers I know would have whined about being forced to watch something like that, never eagerly suggest it.

It's equally as fun as a teacher to reward students with a game as it is as a student to get to play said game.

We do all internal subbing at this school, which is different and kind of nice.  It helps keeps things small and connected.

The best things about middle school lunch duty are making friends with the teachers I share it with and the occasional free food from the lunch ladies.


Fridays are my favorite.  Hello, weekend!

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