back . . .

FINALLY!! I have been exhausted. I know it's my ninth year teaching but the first couple days of school DRAIN a person! I have it very good this year and I'm not complaining at all. I love love love my job and I have a great school. Like I've said before- teaching music is FUN!

Added to my life this year is a commute... WHA?

*Notsofun*

Seriously- a loooong commute. I think it will get better as school gets in the swing of things and not every parent in South Florida is driving their kiddo to school instead of letting them take the bus. I've heard it's like this every year so I'm crossing my fingers. Before school started it took me 20 less minutes so it HAS to be better than this.

There are a few things helping me on this commute:

1. Google Maps app for my blackberry. Srsly, best ever. I can see where I'm at and where I'm going. It's too bad that I have to wait until stoplights to read the screen (no txtndrv) but it's great for learning a new area.

2. Xm/Sirius radio. Howard Stern, top 20, 90's, Opi and Anthony, weather, traffic, the Blend, the 80's, alternative... pick your poison!

3. I have the New Testament on a CD to listen to in the car. I figure I can listen to trashy pop radio for one length of the commute and the other is listening to the Bible. I know- that sounds weird but I made a resolution to read the Bible this year. I've done it before, but that was 10 years ago. I thought I'd have a different perspective being 29 (for 3 more weeks) than 19 and Catholic as opposed to Baptist. So far the age has helped with wisdom (somewhat) but the Catholic vs. Baptist hasn't affected anything. Hmm... methinks I should ponder this at some point. ANYway, I have a commute, and a husband, and cats, and a house, and a really hard training program for multiple half marathons and a full marathon....so I'm re-learning how to manage my life. This is good! I like a challenge! I promise not to slack too much here (I like this).

4. Caffeine. I limit this to mornings only.

5. My cell. Thank you Mom. Thank you for getting me through my long commute.

If any of you want to reach me... please call me on my longass commute at the following times:

5:00-7:00 Monday

6:00-7:00 Tuesday

4:00-4:45 Wednesday- Friday.

:-)

St. Louis recap is coming soon!!! I LOVE the Schmidt's and St. Louis so much that I want to make sure I have half a brain to talk about it. If you REALLY want pics you can see them on facebook.

where i play . . .

I mean work, of course, work....

:-)

I have a FABULOUS job! I teach music to beautiful, wonderful, darling, and amazing children every day! This is my room. I'm very lucky to have such a great space and a variety of instruments. It's a music teacher's dream.

*view from the door walking in to the room*

*view of the instrumentarium*

*view from my desk*

Each morning my homeroom (6th grade this year) comes in and sets the room up for first period, Upper Academy Chorus. That class is a combination of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. I love teaching Middle Grade Chorus because they get to start the day off on such a positive "note."

:-)

They are pretty easy in the morning as they are tired and they can't really talk back as I keep their mouths pretty occupied with singing... lol!!

The rest of my day is 2nd through 4th grade. The 5th graders will have the other teacher this year. I love the little ones. I get very irritated when people think that the little ones can't be very musical. If they aren't being musical it's because they have a bad teacher. Honestly, I've seen the most beautiful music come from the littlest of people.

I can't believe that I get stressed out some days. I mean, how on earth can I get stressed out teaching such a great subject? I have to remind myself to have the joy of a child and enjoy that I teach something that they enjoy! Beauty- every second of the day. That's what my focus is this year.

Balance, Joy, and Beauty of the little moments in each day... please remind me when I forget.

:-)

it's that time of year . . .

Back to school! I wasn't really ready to go back- at all- when I got an email from my administration asking that I come in to help with something. I went in to help and as I was sitting across from my AP a little bubble of excitement rose in my gut. Yes, I am excited for school to start! While I'm not quite ready for the lazy (who am I kidding, this summer hasn't been lazy at all) days of summer to be over I love the feeling of starting again.

Children and those that work in the field of education are lucky. Instead of just one "New Year's Eve" we get two. The start of the school year is full of new ideas, expectations, and anticipation (and new clothes- lol). As usual, I've started creating documents, writing letters to students and parents, visualizing my classroom, and thinking about new ideas. It's all a mess in my head right now but as I start organizing, getting new supplies, and printing documents it becomes more ordered.

disorder

order

Like new year's resolutions the new school year resolutions sometimes lose steam and fizzle over time. Usually this is because we take on too much and try to create too many changes and implement too may new ideas at one time and then can't keep up with it all.

In an effort of making sure that I stick with my new school year resolutions I've embedded the changes *in* my lesson plan format and I've started planning. I'm going to implement just one seed idea. When it has become familiar I will add another. I hope that the small changes will slowly transform me into a better teacher and role model instead of starting off all-or-nothing and letting it slip when I can't keep up. I tend to be all-or-nothing and my goal this year is to learn to adapt and change over time.

How about you? Are you all-or-nothing or do you slowly adapt? Any helpful hints for an all-or-nothing kind of person?