Posted on Oct 22, 2009 under Teaching |
Everything lately has been about cake, so I thought I would take this opportunity to talk about something else going on in my life. On Monday I received the most wonderful news. I finally have electricity in my trailer at school and get to move in this week!!! Some of you will know right away that this is a huge deal for me because you’ve probably heard me talk about it for the last year. But for the uninformed, here is how the story goes…
My first year at GCS I shared a trailer with the counselor. Not the ideal situation but we made it work. Around the beginning of my second year all my stuff had been moved because I was promised my own trailer. I was really excited about this but although the trailers arrived in late July of 2008, they did not have the power hooked up yet. So all my stuff was dumped in there and “they” (being my principal and everyone else at school) promised me it would be done in about two weeks. So I thought no biggie, I can just travel to classrooms for a couple of weeks to get started. Well- long story short- weeks turned into months turned into almost a year and a half later they just connected the power last Friday. I can’t even begin to tell you what a difference this is going to make in my work life…
Before I was ever a teacher I’m sure I would have been very snobby and thought that teaching music in a trailer would be a huge step down from a classroom. Now that I’ve gotten a reality check I feel like I am in heaven just getting half of a trailer! That’s because traveling to classrooms has been so much harder than I imagined. The toughest things have been:
- I am physically exhausted from hauling my ’stuff’ around all day. I push a cart carrying big heavy things like xylophones. In some ways I feel like I shouldn’t complain because I make the decision to do that, but honestly it wouldn’t be fair to my kids if I didn’t use instruments. I think that my lessons would not be as engaging and they wouldn’t get the full experience they deserve.
- It is much harder to have classroom management because I am not in my room, I am in their room. The students don’t understand that My rules apply for those 30 minutes, and if the regular teacher is in the room it makes it even harder because they constantly try to talk to her and ask questions. Then she’ll just say “pretend like I’m not here” but that’s impossible.
- Space is a huge issue. I maneuver around desks and chairs and classrooms that just aren’t set up for music. Kids are always whining about someone being too close and bumping up against them.
- I feel like I will be in trouble for being too loud. Teachers who stay in the room often give me looks because I am disturbing their planning time. I want them to understand that music is not always quiet!
- Sometimes the students have to stay at their desks and finish classwork that they haven’t completed. “He can come to music when he’s finished.” While I’m not opposed to that, it takes away my time with them when I only get 30 minutes a week. And again it makes it harder for the students to distinguish between music time and regular class time (goes back to the management thing).
- When I have planning time I literally have nowhere to go! Not even a small closet to sit and do something. Usually I hang out on a bench or chair in the library which makes me feel like I waste so much of the day when I could be really getting something done.
Whew, I apologize because I really didn’t want to make this whole post sound negative. I just want to give you a small glimpse of what I’ve been dealing with for the past year and 3 months. And perhaps now you can understand why getting my own space, even a tiny space, is such a huge deal! I began moving things in today and will continue to work on my room this weekend. My hope is to start having classes out there Monday.
Trying to end on a positive note- because this is a positive story! God really has blessed me so much through this job. This is exactly the job I prayed for and He provided on the exact day that I asked for. If you don’t know how that happened I’ll share that story in a later post…
The people I work with and especially the kids are so wonderful. They are the reason I show up each day. They make all that hard stuff I rambled about worth every moment. And to be honest it’s only affected me not having a room. Kids are no less thrilled to make music on a small 12 x 12 reading mat. They still love it anyway. Their sweet faces and their precious personalities (most of them) keep me smiling and laughing all the time.
I pray that through all of this I have learned perseverance and how to be content in any situation. (Not that I have always been content, I’ve done my share of complaining!) But I can see how God has strengthened me and always provided just what I needed at the right time. I hope that I am becoming the teacher He wants me to be. To HIM alone be the glory!
Posted on Sep 15, 2009 under Teaching |
I am happy to report that so far this has been my best year of teaching (or at least my favorite). And I have to admit that towards the end of last year, spring semester, I was not feeling that way at all. Certain classes and different things about the job really stressed me out. There were definitely times when I would question “why am I doing this?”
So what is it that makes this year better? Maybe it’s just having more experience ‘under my belt’. Maybe it’s a fresh set of kids. I know a big part of it is better preparation with my planning and feeling a lot more comfortable throughout the week. Whatever the reason, I love the fact that now I truly look forward to showing up at school every morning and sharing music with my kids! (Fighting traffic at 6:40 a.m…..not so much.)
I thought I would share my Top 10 List of things I love about this school year:
10. The kindergartners still don’t know my name so they just call me “Mrs. Music.” Ehh, close enough.
9. Even though I don’t enjoy traveling room-to-room it is so satisfying to open the door to a classroom and hear the squeals from the kids when they realize it’s time for music.
8. The fact that even 5th graders, the Big Kids, still get excited about having their name written on a piece of paper saying they did a good job.
7. Kids stopping me in the hallway to ask “Are we having music today?” even when they already know the answer.
6. Getting hugs from students on their way into the room, especially when they’re a foot taller than me.
5. How kids think that getting foam hand sanitizer on the way out the door is such a big deal (and good for me to stop the spread of germs!)
4. How I’m able to sneak concepts into our lesson and call it a ‘game’ so the kids think they’re just having fun but they’re secretly learning something too (hehe).
3. That I had 137 kids try out for choir this year, and how even though I said over and over I would only accept 40- I ended up with 55 because their behavior was just that awesome.
2. Choir has to be on here twice! I thought it would be so hard trying to manage that many kids in my tiny space. But they are such hard workers, with positive attitudes, and they pull out their music and just start practicing before I even give them any directions. And they sound wonderful!
1. The fact that each day is a new adventure. It’s not always easy and I still have lots of challenges. But God has blessed me so greatly with this job and thanks be to Him who has helped me to persevere. I am finally seeing the good rewards. =)
Posted on Aug 13, 2009 under Teaching |
Yesterday was our first official school day and it went really well. However I forgot how exhausting teaching is. Other than being tired though, I am very happy and I have a huge reason to celebrate!
My mom told me a while ago about a website she used called “Donors Choose” where teachers can post needs they have for their classroom, and anyone on the web can look at your project and become a financial supporter. Mostly the people who write about their needs work in low-income schools like mine. So about a month ago I opened an account and wrote a proposal for 2 new tubano drums for my classroom. The estimated cost with shipping was $377. I’ll admit- while I was hopeful that it would get funded I was also sort of skeptical that people would really donate that much money to a stranger. Then a few days ago I got an email saying that one person had made a $25 donation. Well, I thought that’s a good start. So last night I told Kevin about it and he immediately wanted to write a post about it on his blog No Debt Plan. I said “sure why not, maybe people will donate.” He posted it this morning, and no kidding less than 3 hours at work he sent me a text message saying it had been fully funded!!!
Right now I am just blown away by the generosity of complete strangers. And I’m thankful to my awesome husband for taking the time to care and for saying such sweet things about me and my job =).
You can read the full story here on his blog.
I love my husband, my best friend, and my #1 fan.
Posted on Jul 29, 2009 under General, Teaching |
We all know how much I like bullet points =)
Just one short week from tomorrow I go back to school!
Things I am going to miss about summer:
- The ability to take naps whenever I want to
- Playing with my dog
- Enjoying evenings with my husband and I don’t have work to do
- Losing track of what day it is
- Having time to make cakes
- Exercising in the mornings
Things I am looking forward to for the school year:
- Buying school supplies
- Fall weather (my favorite!!)
- Seeing my crazy kiddos again
- Football season
- Planning new activities for my classes
- Kevin being done with school for good, and seeing him every night
- Laminating things…I know I am such a nerd but I love it!
- Using the new books I bought, and stuff I learned from Orff class
~Done with my random thoughts for now~
Posted on May 12, 2009 under Teaching |
No one was actually hurt 
But isn’t it funny how before a performance people always say “break a leg” ? How did that get started and what does it really mean?
Anyways, most of you know that I have been rehearsing with my 5th graders for about 3 months now working on the play “Beauty and the Beast.” In the beginning it was much more of a beast than anything else. Well we did our first performance on Monday in front of the school, and it went alright. Mostly the kids were nervous I think to act in front of their peers. I like to call that one the ‘dress rehearsal’. But then tonight we did our second performance for the parents and the kids did sooo well! I could not have been more pleased. Even though it has been a long, grueling process, it was so rewarding to see them succeed. I even had one boy in the play tell me after school that I had given him confidence. He told me that the first day he ever had to read his part (he was the narrator) in front of his friends he was really nervous and his knees were shaking. He said that because of the things I taught him he now thinks it is so much fun to act in front of people. Wow- could I feel any more blessed right now? That one thing that a child said to me just made my whole year. It made all those early mornings, late nights, and frustrating rehearsals worth every minute. It reminded me why I love teaching…and I needed that reminder.
So now the fun, the stress, the preparation is all over. Thank you so much to those of you who were praying for me. It meant a lot to me and God was faithful as always to see me through. To Him be the glory.