So I believe I left off talking about my new job, yes?
Well after a long time searching, applying, and interviewing, I was finally offered my first teaching job. The school is great, and relatively new. The facilities that I get to work in are very nice. The band room is huge, and the choir room has a baby grand piano. Most of my equipment is in good condition, I have an office for each of my classrooms, a good band library, and a decent choir library (though I was very disappointed by the ratio of pop/show music to music of educational value. I was able to make enough good repertoire choices for the year with what I have, but it's going to be harder next year unless I buy a few new pieces). My administrators are very supportive, which is a lot more than many of my friends in the arts can say, and being willing to teach both band and choir has made it so that I don't have to travel between schools to work full-time.
I spent a couple full weeks during the summer coming in to get both of my classrooms ready for the new year. Apparently my predecessor didn't know she was going to be leaving until after school got out in May, so everything was kind of left as it was. Both offices were a mess, as it seems that the only time that was taken to clean them was to remove all of her personal belongings on her way out. Both offices had the furniture just completely backwards to how they should have been - in both, the desk was on the opposite wall of the phone outlet, and in the band office, the phone was sitting on the back of the couch... Really??? I can see why she would have the desk on the opposite wall - so that her back wouldn't be facing the classroom, but honestly, how often would you be sitting at your desk in the office when there are kids in the room? The inside of the desk in the band office was just a huge cluttered mess. You wouldn't believe how many drum keys I found in there. I spent a few days alone just organizing all of the file cabinets.
Then the choir room... Well, it was made pretty obvious which class she preferred, seeing the differences between the rooms. I already knew that she was primarily a band person. The choir room had horribly cheesy borders around every door frame, and no two doors had the same border, so it was just gross. Right by the door into the classroom there were four empty filing cabinets, a large shelf unit, and a music folder cubby system all crunched into a corner... Oh yeah, and the whole room smelled like urine. The shelf had cobwebs on it, had the dirty side exposed to the room, and had trash on and around it. The choir office had a broken light, had a desk and three filing cabinets lining one wall, and a long table, filthy couch, and another filing cabinet lining the opposite wall. The table, filing cabinets, and desk were all topped with clutter, mostly accompaniment track CDs (gross), and sheet music that was never put away. The entire effect gave off the feel of a depressing cave. But don't take my word for it... I have pictures on my Facebook. I had the light fixed, took the table out, reversed the desk and the couch (because of the phone outlet) and put all of the filing cabinets on the side wall (even moved in two of the four that were out in the room to fill up the wall), brought in one of two unused keyboards I found in the band storage hall (for potential use as a practice room), cleaned what I could of the couch cushions and bought a few cute throw pillows from Goodwill, and now the office looks bright and open. I took down all of the horrid borders in the room, and rearranged the cluttered storage furniture from that corner so that it didn't make me feel so claustrophobic. I also created my own colorful solfege chart, and painted a large music logo with the school mascot to go on the very blank far wall to add some personality. Now the room looks like somebody actually cares about it! The band room didn't really need a whole lot of love except for giving all of the lockers number cards and just setting it up again after the carpets were cleaned.
Probably what took the longest was organizing the music libraries. I spent a few days on each of them, and my mom even came in to help, because she really wanted to be able to help, and that was one of the few things that didn't require my personal opinion on everything. The music was all generally in alphabetical order, like all of the A's were in the same drawer, but beyond that, it was pretty bad. There would frequently be pieces that were not even under the right letter, and the labels on the drawers weren't precise. We made sure to touch every single piece, make sure it was in perfect alphabetical order, and discarded as many photocopies as we found. Seriously, there was a stack at least two feet tall of photocopied music that I got out of those drawers. That's just ridiculous, when you need all of the space you can get... In the choir room I especially wanted to get the music separated into different voicings, not just all bunched together alphabetically. After sorting out those beasts, I then went through every drawer and entered every piece into a spreadsheet with the title, composer/arranger, genre, voicing (for choir), date last performed, and any personal comments I could think of to describe the sound or feel of the piece, to make music selection quicker in the future. The time put into that was definitely worth it, and I may not know right now how long I'll be staying at the school (but probably at least another year or two), but I hope that whomever takes the position next will appreciate the attention to detail.
Alrighty, it's about lunch time on Saturday, I haven't done anything but chew gum all morning, and I'm hungry. I think I'll leave the recounting here for now, and leave the thrilling tale of my first year of teaching for a later date. At least now I'm only... six months behind, instead of a full year. :) This is seeming much less daunting than when I started out earlier this week. Next time!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
My 2010 in a Nutshell
Well, of course I let myself go over a year before updating my "journal" again. My problem is that the longer I let it go, the increasingly more daunting it seems to get back to it, knowing all of the stuff that I need to fill in. It's already an hour past when I should have gone to bed, but I've hit a wall with nobody to talk to, so I might as well vent here. But first, to catch up.
So the first few days after finishing student teaching I was really down. I really felt as though leaving Marcos and all of the teachers, students, and parents I'd grown to love was like what I imagine a really hard breakup would be like. I say imagine, because, of course, I've never been in that actual situation before. There was a scramble to get all of my teaching certification done, and a near fiasco with having the wrong kind of fingerprint clearance card. Even after getting all of that taken care of, there was not a choir teaching job to be had, mid-school year, and thus began the grueling weeks of constant Craigslist job scanning and online application filing. By the end of January I got a job helping teach an after school song/dance program a couple afternoons a week, and at the beginning of February I began doing personal assistant work a couple hours a day for a lady in Scottsdale, whom I would love to forget... Even though I did leave with many amusing stories. For a little while on the side I did a couple voice lessons for Marcos students (and I quickly determined that private voice lessons are not within my realm of comfort), sat in on the MdN musical audition process (never having been through it before), helped kids work on Regional solos for a week, etc. It was hard knowing that I wasn't spending my days doing much, and it would be oh so easy to go back and visit, but there's a time and a place, and frankly, it's just as sad to hold on as it is to let go... Though arguably I guess you could say that it's sadder to hold on, because you just prolong the agony, and watch all of the relationships go sour as you overstay your welcome. Well, anyhow, I digress.
Now how about the bright spots in the otherwise dismal time? I participated in, and saw come to fruition, the Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir "Lux Aurumque" video. You can check it out on YouTube. It got quite a bit of press, and Dr. Holder even called me a couple days after it went live and asked if that was me. :) I guess I didn't really think of it as that big of a deal when I entered my video, but everybody seemed really awed that I was a part of it, so I guess that was cool.
I got back to arranging and composition. Sometime between spring and summer I arranged another Sondre Lerche song, "Words & Music", and composed a new piece called "Underwater," the text for which I found on an online poetry website by a young artist who lives in the UK. Neither of these has been performed, but I hope to hear them someday outside of midi form. It was cool, one day I was walking through the grocery store with my mom, and I could hear a choir in my head singing "Underwater," and I hope that it sounds nearly as cool in person.
My brother Casey and his wife Christi had their first baby that March, a beautiful baby boy named Finnegan. The Grays were all taken aback by his blond hair (What? A blond Gray?), but we love him all the same. His hair grows straight up, and Casey likes to give him a fauxhawk. Silly boy.
Can't think of a whole lot else that happened during that time. It was a lot of scrimping and saving my pittance to make payments on my Saturn, credit card, and insurance... And the Saturn I only used to get to my jobs and church. Spent quite a bit of time with the parents just hanging out around the house, getting lunch at Costco... you know the drill. Not a whole lot going on socially, because everyone else was still in school. There was a period of time when the old game night group would get together on Sunday nights to watch movies, TV, or internet videos... May have been over the summer. That kind of fell out after a while, though.
I guess that brings me up to the beginning of summer, when I continued applying for ever music teaching job I caught a whiff of (You should see my "favorites" tab and the list of school districts I checked multiple times daily for new job postings since the spring time), and feverishly crammed an 8-week online US/AZ Constitution course into 8 days so that I could finally get that stupid deficiency off of my teaching certificate. I was incredibly depressed after not even getting an interview for one job that I really wanted, and all of my friends who applied did. The only thing I could think of to set me apart was that I had that deficiency at the time I applied. I did have an interview for a middle school job in a nearby district, and for three elementary schools (in the same interview) in my home district. Didn't get the elementary job, but they did call back to let me know that I interviewed very well and was barely beaten out. The middle school job didn't even call me back for a couple of months to let me know that I wasn't selected... Good thing I'm good friends with the person they DID select, so I knew that it was taken already, and didn't stress over it.
Then I applied for a middle school job in Paradise Valley... a good hour's drive during rush hour.... The listing was for a half-time choir teacher, but I figured I should apply, because a job's a job. Then I get called for an interview, and I get asked on the phone if I'd be interested in interviewing for the half-time band position as well. I'd be a fool to say no (unless I had absolutely NO band experience... at least I can say that I've had 7 years experience being in band). So I interviewed, I was offered the job, I accepted the job, and the rest is history! Yes, the drive is far, and no, I didn't move closer to the school, even though I had originally planned to. I quickly discovered that I'm a pretty patient driver, and if I leave 2 hours before school starts I have plenty of time to prepare for my day, and if there's horrendously bad traffic, I can still be at school before 1st period starts (and twice I have cut it really close). The cost of gas per month is way cheaper than rent would be, and this way I was able to get a new car (bye bye '98 Saturn SL1! You were a good little car, I decorated your headliner with thumb tacks and adorned your dashboard with origami cranes made from candy wrappers... Alas, the hail storm that tore through Phoenix in October pummeled you, broke your driver's side mirror and left rear tail light, and the insurance money I got from you was enough to make a decent down payment on a 2011 Ford Fiesta), pay off my credit card (which just happened a couple of days ago, actually), and start a savings account to build up funds for what I hope to be the down payment for my first house. I tell you what, it's nice for the first time in my life to have a salary, and not have to constantly be counting my sheckles for every single purchase I make. I love that I'm able to have a savings account now. Love it. I love that for Christmas I was actually able to buy gifts for my family, instead of crocheting scarves and hats that they never use.
Alrighty, I think I've reached an okay stopping point, and all that took me an hour. Time to get some sleep, and I hope I'll be able to get myself back to this before the week is up.
Good night!
So the first few days after finishing student teaching I was really down. I really felt as though leaving Marcos and all of the teachers, students, and parents I'd grown to love was like what I imagine a really hard breakup would be like. I say imagine, because, of course, I've never been in that actual situation before. There was a scramble to get all of my teaching certification done, and a near fiasco with having the wrong kind of fingerprint clearance card. Even after getting all of that taken care of, there was not a choir teaching job to be had, mid-school year, and thus began the grueling weeks of constant Craigslist job scanning and online application filing. By the end of January I got a job helping teach an after school song/dance program a couple afternoons a week, and at the beginning of February I began doing personal assistant work a couple hours a day for a lady in Scottsdale, whom I would love to forget... Even though I did leave with many amusing stories. For a little while on the side I did a couple voice lessons for Marcos students (and I quickly determined that private voice lessons are not within my realm of comfort), sat in on the MdN musical audition process (never having been through it before), helped kids work on Regional solos for a week, etc. It was hard knowing that I wasn't spending my days doing much, and it would be oh so easy to go back and visit, but there's a time and a place, and frankly, it's just as sad to hold on as it is to let go... Though arguably I guess you could say that it's sadder to hold on, because you just prolong the agony, and watch all of the relationships go sour as you overstay your welcome. Well, anyhow, I digress.
Now how about the bright spots in the otherwise dismal time? I participated in, and saw come to fruition, the Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir "Lux Aurumque" video. You can check it out on YouTube. It got quite a bit of press, and Dr. Holder even called me a couple days after it went live and asked if that was me. :) I guess I didn't really think of it as that big of a deal when I entered my video, but everybody seemed really awed that I was a part of it, so I guess that was cool.
I got back to arranging and composition. Sometime between spring and summer I arranged another Sondre Lerche song, "Words & Music", and composed a new piece called "Underwater," the text for which I found on an online poetry website by a young artist who lives in the UK. Neither of these has been performed, but I hope to hear them someday outside of midi form. It was cool, one day I was walking through the grocery store with my mom, and I could hear a choir in my head singing "Underwater," and I hope that it sounds nearly as cool in person.
My brother Casey and his wife Christi had their first baby that March, a beautiful baby boy named Finnegan. The Grays were all taken aback by his blond hair (What? A blond Gray?), but we love him all the same. His hair grows straight up, and Casey likes to give him a fauxhawk. Silly boy.
Can't think of a whole lot else that happened during that time. It was a lot of scrimping and saving my pittance to make payments on my Saturn, credit card, and insurance... And the Saturn I only used to get to my jobs and church. Spent quite a bit of time with the parents just hanging out around the house, getting lunch at Costco... you know the drill. Not a whole lot going on socially, because everyone else was still in school. There was a period of time when the old game night group would get together on Sunday nights to watch movies, TV, or internet videos... May have been over the summer. That kind of fell out after a while, though.
I guess that brings me up to the beginning of summer, when I continued applying for ever music teaching job I caught a whiff of (You should see my "favorites" tab and the list of school districts I checked multiple times daily for new job postings since the spring time), and feverishly crammed an 8-week online US/AZ Constitution course into 8 days so that I could finally get that stupid deficiency off of my teaching certificate. I was incredibly depressed after not even getting an interview for one job that I really wanted, and all of my friends who applied did. The only thing I could think of to set me apart was that I had that deficiency at the time I applied. I did have an interview for a middle school job in a nearby district, and for three elementary schools (in the same interview) in my home district. Didn't get the elementary job, but they did call back to let me know that I interviewed very well and was barely beaten out. The middle school job didn't even call me back for a couple of months to let me know that I wasn't selected... Good thing I'm good friends with the person they DID select, so I knew that it was taken already, and didn't stress over it.
Then I applied for a middle school job in Paradise Valley... a good hour's drive during rush hour.... The listing was for a half-time choir teacher, but I figured I should apply, because a job's a job. Then I get called for an interview, and I get asked on the phone if I'd be interested in interviewing for the half-time band position as well. I'd be a fool to say no (unless I had absolutely NO band experience... at least I can say that I've had 7 years experience being in band). So I interviewed, I was offered the job, I accepted the job, and the rest is history! Yes, the drive is far, and no, I didn't move closer to the school, even though I had originally planned to. I quickly discovered that I'm a pretty patient driver, and if I leave 2 hours before school starts I have plenty of time to prepare for my day, and if there's horrendously bad traffic, I can still be at school before 1st period starts (and twice I have cut it really close). The cost of gas per month is way cheaper than rent would be, and this way I was able to get a new car (bye bye '98 Saturn SL1! You were a good little car, I decorated your headliner with thumb tacks and adorned your dashboard with origami cranes made from candy wrappers... Alas, the hail storm that tore through Phoenix in October pummeled you, broke your driver's side mirror and left rear tail light, and the insurance money I got from you was enough to make a decent down payment on a 2011 Ford Fiesta), pay off my credit card (which just happened a couple of days ago, actually), and start a savings account to build up funds for what I hope to be the down payment for my first house. I tell you what, it's nice for the first time in my life to have a salary, and not have to constantly be counting my sheckles for every single purchase I make. I love that I'm able to have a savings account now. Love it. I love that for Christmas I was actually able to buy gifts for my family, instead of crocheting scarves and hats that they never use.
Alrighty, I think I've reached an okay stopping point, and all that took me an hour. Time to get some sleep, and I hope I'll be able to get myself back to this before the week is up.
Good night!
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