When I started updating this blog on my life back in February, I really just had one thing on my mind, but I felt like I couldn't let it out until I had thoroughly caught up on everything else. So here's the last of my catching up: My first year as a teacher came and went, I met many very talented kids, several who made my life misery, and worked with very friendly and supportive colleagues and administrators. I did a lot of things right, but I also made some mistakes and learned from them. I survived teaching 7th and 8th grade band, as well as a show choir - two things I never thought I'd ever have to do when I graduated from NAU. On the whole, I ended the year on a positive note, and with excitement for my upcoming 2nd year and the opportunity to get started off on more solid footing. I could go into more detail about the year's happenings, but you always hear stories about teachers getting in trouble because they let something slip that they shouldn't have, and I mostly just don't want to take the time that would require, so this description will have to suffice!
Okay, now on to what I have been trying to say since February. . . .
But wait...
It's not even really an issue anymore! Imagine a young 23-year-old college graduate and middle school teacher. Everyone tells her she's cute, talented, smart, successful, and funny, but all of this just sounds to her like empty, sycophantic reassurance. If all of this were true, then why haven't any men expressed any romantic interest in her entire life? How is it possible that she's lived this long without a single kiss or a hand to hold? "Everyone" says it will come when you least expect it, and it will be worth the wait, but that's easy for them to say.
Let me go back just a little bit further. In late 2010, I began to shift focus in my personal prayer. I don't remember actually praying for a man to come into my life before this, but I just wasn't even really praying for anything, just familiar overused phrases every night before bed because that's what you're supposed to do, right? Meanwhile I'd live my life feeling sorry for myself and feeling defective. It was then that I decided to make my prayers mean something again, and I think this is what made the biggest difference in my life: I prayed that I would be able to take the steps to become who I needed to be, and be where I needed to be, to someday meet my eternal companion. I knew that I needed to make changes in my life, because obviously what I had been doing wasn't getting me anywhere, and I wasn't happy.
I didn't realize until just recently, but about that time, little things started changing in my life in very subtle ways:
On October 5th, a hailstorm ripped through Phoenix and banged up my Saturn, and I got a new car a couple weeks later. Why does that have anything to do with this? Well, partially because I had to be a big girl and do grown-up things like file an insurance claim all by myself, and there's something very symbolic about making confidence-boosting changes in your life, like putting the 12-year-old $4,000 car that took you through the worst period in your adult life behind you, and having the freedom to start fresh and move forward with something brand new.
I remember specifically right around Halloween I began to make conscious decisions about food. I hated the idea of dieting, and I loathed the idea of exercise. I didn't want to weigh myself, because I was afraid what the numbers would tell me, but I knew that I didn't like what I saw in the mirror, and I was in the biggest-sized pants I'd been in my entire life. First thing I did? I walked past the bowl of Halloween candy in the kitchen. Ordinarily I would have picked through it over the following week until it was all gone, but I thought to myself, "I don't need that." Such a subtle little thought, but it was the first one that made all the difference. I still didn't want to exercise, but over the next couple of months I figured out what worked for me. I restricted my calorie intake, and found that I was able to do it successfully without feeling like I was starving myself, which was my biggest fear. I made sure to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, and not to eat after 8:00 PM. I also cut out all snacks. By Christmas I'd gone down a pant size, and I was even more motivated. I had started at a size 18, and made it my goal to reach 12 by my 24th birthday in June. I made it there by the end of May, and am currently sitting in a pair of size 13 (juniors) capris. The first time I actually got the nerve to weigh myself was in December or January, and I was at 195 lbs. I got all the way down to 158 purely on dieting, and I've maintained around 160 all summer. Once school starts again next month I hope to buckle down again and hopefully lose another 20-30 lbs by next summer. People tell you that "if he really loves you, he won't care about the weight," but really, how can he love you if you don't love yourself? Besides, it's not so much about the weight as the confidence that I've gained in myself that I was able to gain control of my own body, and I was able to do it without anybody else's help, and in spite of temptation.
I had been a floating unpaid member of an LDS dating website called ldsmingle.com for a couple of years, actually, but I wasn't incredibly active, and I didn't even tell anybody I was going for it. So many people have a stigma against online dating, and I was afraid of appearing desperate. In December I finally took the dive and paid for a year's membership. I figured I wasn't in school anymore, and I had a stable job in my chosen career - I'm finally ready to give it a try. Obviously the singles ward isn't getting me anywhere, and I've always been more comfortable meeting new people online than in person, so who's to say it's not the right path for me? It's all about being in the right place at the right time, and maybe, just maybe, this is both. I scanned profiles regularly, but mostly stuck to guys who lived in the Phoenix area. I talked to a few a couple times, then never heard from them again. A couple guys from out of state seemed mildly persistent, but I didn't feel like we clicked.
This was where my last entries here came in. I was making all the right decisions, figuring out who I really am, making these changes in my lifestyle, but why was everything taking so long? I was just in one of those down-in-the-dumps moods that everyone gets into now and again, and all I wanted to do was vent about how frustrated I was, but I just couldn't verbalize what I was feeling without sounding like another jaded-and-unlucky-in-love 20-something. I'm glad now that I didn't post anything about it back then, in the heat of the moment. Those times are always when I say things I regret.
Anyhow, where was I? Just living my life in my second semester of teaching, getting thinner, and staying active on ldsmingle. It was only a matter of time before I finally started making some friends on Mingle, and come April, I got my first date in about 5 or 6 years. We hit it off online and texted for a little while, but when we finally met in person he was distracted, and texted. the. whole. time. He said for about a week afterward that he wanted to "hang out" again, but things kept coming up, and that line fizzled. Another guy lives right by my school, and took me to dinner one night, and things seemed to go well, but I wasn't sure if I felt anything. I would have gone on a second date, had he asked, but for reasons I don't quite understand, that never happened and we didn't talk for a while, but there weren't any hurt feelings. Another guy took me out the very next day, but he talked the whole time and barely let me get a word in edge-wise. He said he had a good time, but I had no interest after our date, so I ended that one. There was one other guy from AZ who was about to graduate from BYU and move back to Tucson, and I feel a little bad about him, because I think I led him on a little bit longer than I should have. We talked for a while, but he was in Utah, and when he moved back to Tucson, a weekend trip to Phoenix kept getting delayed for one reason or another. I have a feeling I broke his heart when... other circumstances... caused our first meeting to never come to fruition. Oh well, life goes on.
And then there's Dustin. One day in April, a chat request popped up on Mingle. Whenever I got one of those, I first did a quick check of the guy's profile to see how old he was, where he lives, whether or not he's divorced and has kids, looked at a couple of his photos, etc. If he wasn't more than a decade older than I was, and wasn't divorced or had kids (the way I saw it, I was a 23-year-old girl, and therefore still had the luxury of time. I wasn't ready to be a stepmother) I usually gave him a shot and chatted for a little bit. 29 years old was pushing it, but Las Vegas wasn't too far away to be implausible. His picture didn't remind me of the type of guy I'm usually attracted to, but there was something in his smile. Then I read his short profile bio, which broke my heart - he had recently lost his wife, and was very lonely.
I still wasn't sure if it would go anywhere, what with living in different states, but figured at the very least, I could chat with him, and be a friend. I accepted the chat request, and we had a perfectly pleasant conversation about time zones and other silly things, and I went to bed feeling happy to be able to bring a little bit of sunshine to someone who truly needed it. It was Easter the next time he requested to chat, I wanted to, but it was already late (9:00... I wake up at 5:30 to get ready for school) and I was heading to bed. He claims I shut him down (sarcastically, of course), but I just wished him Happy Easter, but I needed to get some sleep. Over the next few weeks he'd regularly, almost daily, pop up on my screen and we'd chat until 9:00 rolled around. I began to look forward to our talks, and logged on as soon as I could when I got home from school in hopes that we could talk again. We had so much in common, understood each other's nerdy comedy references, developed inside jokes, and frequently typed the same thing at the same time. I didn't realize I was slowly falling for him, because I definitely didn't plan to. Perhaps it's better that it happened that way, because I didn't feel the pressure of evaluating him for time and all eternity, I was just making friends.
One day while we were chatting like usual, he mentioned that he would be coming out to Phoenix in a couple of weeks, but nothing more. Over those weeks Phoenix didn't really come up again, and I kept trying to muster up the courage to ask if he wanted to meet when he was in town, but I was too nervous. Finally when I was about to bring it up, HE asked if I'd like to meet for lunch that Saturday, and I knew I had to make it happen, even if that meant ditching out on my sister's birthday BBQ. This might have been my only chance to meet this guy, and Whitney will have more birthdays. :) We met at a central location in Phoenix, had a tasty lunch, walked around the same square block about a dozen times while talking, sat on a shady bench and talked, got Jamba Juice, talked some more... Before we knew it, five hours had passed and he had to get going to meet his sister-in-law and cousins for dinner. I know I had a good time, and felt perfectly comfortable in his company, and enjoyed every single nudge and side hug. It wasn't until that night that he requested to chat again that I had a feeling that this wasn't just any date. When we left that afternoon, I wasn't sure when we'd ever see each other again, but we couldn't wait to talk to each other next, and over the next few days it became obvious that we had to figure out a way to make "us" work. I still had a couple weeks left of school, so traveling was out of the question. He came down the very next weekend, we spent all of Saturday together, and church on Sunday before he had to drive back to Vegas. He was a perfect gentleman, and I finally got my first kiss. It was worth the wait. :)
Before I knew it, I was getting in touch with people from church in Vegas who I could stay with for 8 weeks during the summer, I made a short, yet memorable, trip up with Hannah and Zak the first week of June, and the next week I was up to stay. I'm now five days away from leaving for the school year, and it's been a bittersweet week so far. This summer has been the best time of my life and the long-distance relationship is going to suck, but it's the best decision in the long run - I still have one more school year to teach in Arizona before my teaching certificate is fully valid and accepted by Nevada, and if I were him, I wouldn't want to think about having to take the Arizona Bar just to practice law in Phoenix. The singles' ward bishopric and my host parents think we're not being as romantic as they were in their day, that I should just move out here and substitute teach, throw caution to the wind, etc... While I wish that this wasn't a decision we had to make, ten months isn't going to seem like such a long time in the grand scheme of things, if everything works out like we believe it will.
Life has a way of working things out, as I've noticed. Why did I have to wait almost 24 years to find someone? In hindsight, it's because the right guy for me wasn't ready yet, and nor was I ready for him. These changes I started making in my life began at the same time Dustin's world was turned upside-down, though I wouldn't find this out for months. No one ever wants to have to think about the death of a spouse whom they love so dearly, but had I not been at the right place at the right time, with the right frame of mind, I wouldn't have been there when he needed someone most. I'm not at all jealous of Marina for coming first. I know she will always be a part of him, and I am extremely grateful for her presence in his life that shaped him into the man he is today. I am proud of him for being willing to let someone else in, and I am proud to have been just the right person to bring sunshine back into his life, just by being little old me.
I could never have imagined how things would turn out, and I wouldn't have done a single thing differently, pity parties and all. It's all a part of the journey, and has made me appreciate what I have all the more.
I'd better wrap this up before I cry anymore. Hopefully I'll get around to writing more often. It's good for me. Thanks for reading!
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!
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.
So for about the past 5 years or so, I have been journaling exclusively online. No paper journal for me! I like it this way because it's something I can't lose by accident, and if I write knowing that anybody can see it, I won't have to worry that someone will find out something I wanted to keep secret! Anyhow, I'm the kind of journal-writer who likes to completely rehash as many details as possible about everything that has happened since the last time I wrote, not necessarily about one particular event. That's why when I finally get around to writing an entry after a long absence, it can get pretty lengthy... but then... I'm writing this for myself primarily, not you. :-P
My usual method to remember everything that's happened was to keep a kind of shorthand journal on my wall calendar, writing in events I participated in, trips I went on, etc., and this would be enough to go off of to recall all of the nit-pickier details.
Only problem this time around is... after I moved back home in May, I've neglected my wall calendar. I hung it back up in my bedroom, but I haven't written in a thing. We were also told to keep a weekly journal during student teaching... and I didn't... So of course, being the new year, I got into the mood to wrap up the old year with a nice pretty bow, but I didn't have my usual shorthand calendar ready to go. Then I had the thought, "Dude! Why don't I just take all of my status updates since August and make it one big Student Teaching First-Person Experience Journal Entry!”
And that's just what I did! The following is every Facebook status update, with timestamps, that I've posted since shortly before beginning my student teaching semester, to this morning, January 1st, 2010. I've also included selected comments from my friends on my status updates, the occasional miscellaneous post, photos and videos where available, and hindsight commentary. Enjoy!
AUGUST
Tess Gray is kind of worried that the actuality of starting student teaching next Monday hasn't hit her yet. Eep! August 4, 2009 at 2:10pm Summer was jobless for me, not for lack of trying, so I had fallen into a "do what I want, when I want" sort of groove, and I thought that once August came around I'd want to start preparing for student teaching: practice piano, read up on Teaching Methods notes, etc. That urge never really hit, though, so I really did start to wonder if I'd be frantic once I actually got to the classroom.
Tess Gray is enjoying a cool and refreshing Sonic® Cherry Limeade. All is right with the world. August 4, 2009 at 7:24pm Cherry Limeades are very tasty. That is all.
Tess Gray is... get ready for this... helping set up the choir room at Marcos de Niza tomorrow! Wee! August 4, 2009 at 8:11pm Turns out this was mostly just awkwardly sitting around in Shryock's office while the choir council held a meeting. We hadn't gotten to know each other yet, so I wasn't sure what my role was supposed to be. One of the kids, William, even asked, "So, why are you here?" Ayn Semmens marcos de niza?! that's my old high school! is that where you're student teaching?! August 4, 2009 at 8:20pm Tess GrayYeah! :) August 4, 2009 at 8:20pm Ayn Semmens with mr. shryock?! how fun! August 4, 2009 at 8:22pm Josanne Longshore yippee!! August 4, 2009 at 8:27pm Tess Gray Yeah, I'm so excited to work with him! ^_^ August 4, 2009 at 8:53pm
Tess Gray had a pretty good day. Unfortunately I won't be able to sleep in again until Saturday, because I've got teacher meetings for the next two days! Hooray! August 5, 2009 at 11:22pm Pretty much a lot of shadowing Shryock while going to different meetings/presentations. I'm glad I went, even just to have the "full experience" of the beginning of a school year. I believe that day I went to lunch with a few of the teachers from the Fine Arts department because Shryock had to go get his kids lunch, so that was cool. They were all really nice. :)
Oh yeah! So I believe it was on one of those teacher meeting days, during some free time Shryock, Chez (the drama teacher), and I were in Shryock's office, and it kind of became a "let's lay it all on the table" session. Long story short, Shryock would ask me questions like whether or not I drank alcohol or coffee (no to both, of course). The next question came rather directly, "Are you LDS?" "Yes." And this conversation would then determine how the relationship between the three of us would go for the duration of the semester. :) Made me laugh just remembering it. See, Chez and Shryock are pretty much "work spouses." I theoretically could have become the awkward third-wheel in the mix, but they both quickly found out that their sense of humor would make me laugh readily and heartily, and even though I'm Mormon I wouldn't be uptight about a lot of things.
There was a moment during that session when Shryock had to leave for some reason, so Chez started giving me a pep talk telling me to not be shy in the classroom and be afraid to discipline the kids or put myself out there, because Shryock's had bad experiences with student teachers who were too timid and he had to hold their hand through the entire process. I only heard a month or two later from somebody that they'd heard Shryock was really picky about his student teachers. I didn't know this, and just ended up jumping right in being myself and I fit in just fine. I think looking back I could tell the first week or so of school that Shryock was skeptical of me, but once I started teaching Chamber at their first Monday rehearsal he started to let his guard down. The rest is history! Tim Klingler Don't worry, you'll get plenty of sleep in those. August 6, 2009 at 1:14am
Tess Gray is pretty tired and would like nothing more than to take a nap right now. However, there are more teacher meetings tomorrow, and it would be greatly to her benefit to avoid napping and go to bed earlier. What to do, what to do... August 6, 2009 at 3:49pm
Tess Gray has one more day until she is officially a student teacher. Too bad I've actually been doing teacher-related stuff for the past four days now. August 9, 2009 at 1:40am Andrea Jones You'll be happy you did those 4 days when you start teaching by yourself, trust me. Good luck! August 9, 2009 at 9:47am Tess GrayVery true. :) August 9, 2009 at 10:56am
Tess Gray is gettin' ready for church! August 9, 2009 at 12:25pm
Tess Gray starts STUDENT TEACHING in the morning! At least I get to ease into it. I only have two classes to be at tomorrow, then I'm going to help set up the classroom at my Jr. High placement. Come Wednesday there will be 7 classes... Eep! August 9, 2009 at 11:23pm Matthew Flora Best of luck to you!! August 10, 2009 at 12:02am Ayn Semmens which junior high? August 10, 2009 at 12:17am Tess Gray Shepherd Jr. in Mesa... Yeah, I'm splitting between two districts. August 10, 2009 at 8:36am Celeste Weimer What are you teaching? I am super excited for you! I start student teaching next week too! August 10, 2009 at 10:26am Tess GrayI'm doing choir! (surprise, surprise) August 10, 2009 at 9:12pm
Tess Gray is back to school... only this time I'm both a student AND a teacher. Go student teachers! August 10, 2009 at 8:39am Melanie Openshaw It is a weird limbo though. August 10, 2009 at 6:01pm
Tess Gray just spent 12 hours at school... And only two of those hours were in a class. Most of the time was spent painting a mural on the back wall of the Shepherd Jr. High choir room! :) August 10, 2009 at 9:14pm
... and the time in class was mostly spent being introduced to each class, then standing quietly and observing Shryock's school-year introductory speal.
Tess Gray had the official tour of the Marcos de Niza auditorium catwalk in pitch darkness (twice), and was introduced to the auditorium poltergeist, Paco. Hooray for theater superstitions! August 11, 2009 at 2:39pm via Mobile Web Melanie Openshaw Awesome! August 11, 2009 at 2:48pm Paul Sanchez hahahaha that is frikn awesome August 11, 2009 at 2:58pm Ayn Semmens that auditorium is full of magic! August 11, 2009 at 11:26pm
Tess Gray is up to a full schedule tomorrow, 6:45 AM to 5:00 PM. It's going to be a blast, but boy am I crazy for piling on both schools at once! I barely have 3 hours to myself at the end of this long day! August 11, 2009 at 9:05pm Michelle Leavitt Man I wish I was done by 5. I might be a little less stressed then. Good luck tomorrow! You'll be so fantastic. August 11, 2009 at 9:32pm Tess Gray Haha... Well I've been going to meetings since last Wednesday, and my HS placement in Tempe started on Monday, though there were only two choirs I had to be there for, and mostly all I did was stand there and look pretty... At least we get to make some music tomorrow!
Good luck yourself with your own classes! Saw you get all recognized as a new teacher at that meeting on Friday. :) August 11, 2009 at 9:44pm
Tess Gray regretted today that she had taken the auditorium catwalk tour twice yesterday... All that ladder and stair climbing made my quads really sore! On a separate note, one of the boys in A Cappella wants me to teach him how to crochet. ^_^ August 12, 2009 at 8:38pm Oh, Samuel... Funny kid. Actually got around to starting to teach him once, but never got back to it.
Tess Gray 's car didn't want to start this morning. Once it did, before I got to the end of my street, a black cat darted across my path. The car wouldn't let me turn the key to start it for almost 10 minutes when leaving for lunch. I also had to walk under a ladder twice in the Jr. High auditorium. Good thing I'm not superstitious. August 13, 2009 at 6:58pm Car is still acting up to this day... I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the starter, and not necessarily the battery, because why else would the clock stay on all night then reset when I try to start the car? Also, if it was a dead battery, why would I have to physically shake the car while starting to get the engine to turn? Otherwise the car runs fine, and hasn't ever stalled once it's gotten running. That's the first thing on my list once I've got a job and my first paycheck.
Tess Gray Phillip Goldblatt... I have to tell you how hard it was to restrain my laughter today when I was at my Jr. High and my cooperating teacher began to teach the Beginning Women's choir "Scotland is Burning." I didn't know she was going to be doing this until she started singing it, and I reeeally had to hold back a snort.... All because of your "impressions". :P August 13, 2009 at 6:52pm Phil Goldblatt That's hilarious! I probably wouldn't be able to constrain myself...I would probably teach them using the impression! Did she do the movements too?? So how is student teaching going?? Isn't it fun to actually work with students as opposed to TALKING about working with students? :-D August 13, 2009 at 10:48pm Tess GrayYes, she did the movements! She used it to teach the 7th grade girls about rounds, and reinforcing the fact that parts 1 and 2 (she doesn't use SA in the beginning girl's choir, so they all get to do harmony at some point) are no different from each other in range.
And yes, it is much more fun (and much less stressful!)... to be in front of the kids as opposed to other college students pretending to be kids. Sooo much less stressful. August 14, 2009 at 6:53am
Tess Gray had an amazingly fantastic first week of student teaching! This is going to be good. Really good. August 14, 2009 at 6:10pm Don't think you've read something like this for the last time in this entry...
Tess Gray needs to come up with her game plan for Monday to teach a song to high schoolers from scratch for the first time! ^_^ This is going to be exciting. August 15, 2009 at 4:52pm This was for my first teaching video to upload to Facebook for Dr. Holder to evaluate. He originally told us we would be making four videos... This ended up being the only one. :) He always tries to be a grown-up and responsible at the beginning of a school year, then never fails to relax expectations as the year progresses...
This is just one still shot from the end of the teaching video. There are more stills on my Facebook "Fall 2009: Tales of a Student Teacher" photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138798&id=27707813&l=bbe36aa488
Tess Gray thinks it must be a good sign that she's getting tired earlier. Adjustment to teacher sleep-schedule: Accomplished. August 15, 2009 at 10:39pm Not only did my sleeping schedule align, but my eating schedule resembled something normal for the first time since high school, only this time I usually had breakfast too.
Tess Gray was up before 7 AM even though she didn't have to be. That's how dedicated I am to cure myself of my nocturnal tendencies.... Does make me feel like an old fart, though, to have to turn down fun times because I'm tired. August 16, 2009 at 9:15am
Tess Gray loves student teaching, and loves the kids she student teaches. Life is wonderful... except for that $130 I had to shell out last night to a locksmith because of the one brief moment of stupidity wherein I locked my only set of keys in my car. August 17, 2009 at 9:37pm Brittany Miller Yet entertaining to watch for the full ten seconds he was there August 17, 2009 at 9:44pm Tess Gray Very true. I think I should have charged you all admission. :P August 17, 2009 at 9:46pm Hunter Hendrix you should have hired a thief to break in for you. August 17, 2009 at 10:15pm Tess Gray Well, Matt Duke was going to break my window with a large rock, but I think I was better off with the locksmith. It just sucked that my parents' AAA termed June 30th and my mom never paid our membership fees, and since it wasn't during business hours she couldn't do it then. That would have cost her less than it did for me to pay the locksmith with a foreign accent. August 17, 2009 at 10:19pm
Tess Gray now has two songs to teach (one for HS, the other for JHS), both arranged by Mac Huff. ;) Life is still good. August 18, 2009 at 9:19pm
Tess Gray just can't get over how amazing teaching is. I especially love how only the good memories stick with me when I leave school. Hooray positivity! August 19, 2009 at 9:41pm This was kind of in response to my fellow student teachers who seemed to focus more on the negative aspects of the classroom. It surprised me that they would be frustrated by such things so easily, but I just look past them or don't let them bother me as much. Whitney Gray Sherwood Awesome! I'm glad that you finally have something to occupy your time...though Chloe misses you immensely. August 19, 2009 at 9:48pm Sarah Brown That sounds awesome. I can't wait! :) August 19, 2009 at 9:50pm
Tess Gray thinks junior high kids are cute, even at their squirreliest, high school kids are awesome, and high school drama teachers are HI-larious. ^_^ August 20, 2009 at 8:07pm I don't remember what Chez did that prompted me saying he was HI-larious, but he really is a funny guy. As I said earlier, he noticed really quickly that I would laugh at all his jokes (because I really did find them funny. I wasn't being fake at all).
Tess Gray thinks that if these first two weeks have already flown by like this, the best semester ever is going to be over before I know it! :( August 21, 2009 at 10:27pm Truer words ne'er were spoken... or... typed.
Tess Gray is accompanying three songs for Shepherd Jr.'s choir concert in just a few weeks... Time to hit the piano! August 22, 2009 at 11:01am One of the more proud things I was able to accomplish during student teaching. I used to say that I wouldn't be a good enough pianist to accompany, probably being too over-modest, but I found that if I have enough time to practice, I can be pretty good! It takes me a bit longer than most good accompanists, but I blame that on the fact that I never had formal private piano lessons, and I definitely didn't do very much two-handed sight-reading.
Tess Gray 's Jr. High choir boys told her she had a pretty voice today after modeling the Loch Lomand solo for them. ^_^ August 24, 2009 at 7:18pm This was seriously so funny. I sang it for them in my octave, and you could see the jaws drop. One kid actually said, "Where's the radio?" After that, about half the choir decided they wanted to audition for the solo. :P
Tess Gray rediscovered the secret of getting Jr. High girls to pay attention in sectionals. August 25, 2009 at 7:57pm Hunter Hendrix and what is that? August 25, 2009 at 8:17pm Tess Gray Circling around the piano. The 7th grade girls called it their campfire. ^_^ August 25, 2009 at 8:32pm Hannah Gray cuute... they will soon learn the arrogant nature of high school choir... August 25, 2009 at 11:11pm Says my baby sister who was still in high school choir herself. Tess Gray:P August 26, 2009 at 7:17am
Tess Gray had a great day today. I laughed so hard I cried, I got the Jr. High boys to sing a great pianissimo on Loch Lomand, and the 7th grade girls are finally starting to sing out and learn how to sight-read! Yaaaay life! August 26, 2009 at 8:09pm Okay, so the laughing so hard I cried thing... I don't know why I was in such a slap-happy mood, but Shryock told me this story about how a dog head-butted his car, dented the door, and ran away... and I could not stop laughing. The best part? I had been feeling a mild cold coming on that morning. After laughing so hard, I didn't feel any symptoms return! Yay!
Tess Gray thinks it's ironic that the only church activities she goes to at her single's branch are Enrichment nights. For those of you don't speak Mormonese, those are activities just for women. August 27, 2009 at 9:42pm Tawnie Leal HAHAHA you are TOO Funny! I love it!!! August 27, 2009 at 10:10pm Tess GrayWell, I'm going to a singles branch in the San Tan stake because Greenfield stake doesn't have one, but I'll go to the Greenfield stake activities when I can, and I hang out with a bunch of guys every Sunday night after firesides and such...
Almost defeats the purpose of going to a single's ward/branch, but I guess I mostly subconsciously didn't want to go back to my family ward and deal with the stupid questions I inevitably get asked by the RS (some of them I seriously think don't get out too much, because they don't really know how to interact with anybody younger than 30 or older than 5.) :
"So what was your major again?" (When I begin to explain it takes a mere three seconds for their eyes to glaze over)
"You went to BYU, right?" (NO I MOST DEFINITELY DID NOT!)
"So do you get paid to student teach? Do you student teach for a whole year?"
"Do you like it at NAU?" (Do you think I would have stayed four years if I didn't?!)
and the dreaded "So are you dating anyone?" August 27, 2009 at 10:46pm Can you tell this is a long-standing pet peeve of mine? Tess Gray I know they're just trying to be nice and "welcoming", but I would much rather only talk to people who are sincere about wanting to know how I'm doing or not have them try to talk to me at all. August 27, 2009 at 10:48pm Brittany Miller Oh hey I know this story! Lol. Yeah I've considered a singles ward but I know it's a huge no-no especially since I'm a YSA rep and I have to set an example August 28, 2009 at 10:00am
Tess Gray couldn't have asked for better student teaching placements. These first few weeks have been a blast. On a side note, I'm way excited for this spontaneous vocal jazz ensemble. We're gonna rock it... or... swing it. August 28, 2009 at 8:44pm Spontaneous vocal jazz ensemble only lasted one rehearsal, as our bass couldn't meet on weekends, and the rest of us couldn't decide on a day to rehearse. I still have the music Andrea sent out, but we haven't revisited the idea in a while.
Tess Gray had an awesome and productive day! Got an oil change and my coolant topped off, got a haircut, had a vocal jazz jam session, babysat my niece and nephew, had a good chat with a sister, and made it home in time to catch an amazing live Rhett & Link show with an amazing chatroom. Love my R&L Peeps! August 30, 2009 at 12:14am Been having more long chats with Whitney as we both get older. I'm glad we've become friends. :) Also, yes, I am a huge Rhett & Link (a YouTube-based internet comedy duo) fan, only most of my IRL (in real life) friends just don't understand, so I don't bring it up much off the internet.
Tess Gray finally made it to ward chorister. I've been waiting long enough, dudes! August 30, 2009 at 6:10pm
SEPTEMBER
Tess Gray hopes the Jr. High girls will be on task for rehearsal today! Fri. and Mon. were devoted to dress fittings, and boy do those girls love to chatter. September 1, 2009 at 7:12am Katie Wolpa not likely my dear. September 1, 2009 at 8:49am Tess Gray You know, they were actually pretty good today. ;) September 1, 2009 at 8:33pm
Tess Gray had a pretty good day. Marcos had a half day so I got to play with the women's choir, got my haircut fixed (hopefully... truth will tell when I straight-iron it), and bought brown loafers that are exactly the same as my black ones, only they were on sale for less than $7! Woot! September 1, 2009 at 9:20pm This would be one of, like, three times I'd ever get to work with them during their class. All I did this time was warm them up and put on the accompaniment tracks for their Broadway Show music and have them perform for me. I played parts on the piano if it sounded like they needed help. I never quite understood why, but Women's Ensemble all loved me with our limited contact. Almost half of the students who would end up friending me on Facebook to date would either be from Women's or Drama... Classes I never really saw.
Tess Gray had another great day today. Well, two choirs at the HS were doing choreography and I wasn't informed that the Mesa district had a half day today, so I only ended up with 2 choirs that I needed to rehearse. I did get to write some nice "PAY YOUR FEES" notes and go to meetings, though. September 2, 2009 at 7:01pm
Tess Gray thinks that all is now right with the world now that Live Rhett & LinKasts are back! Too bad I only have one friend on Facebook who actually understands this and why I'm soooo incredibly and giddily excited that my Summer CBE entry got an honorable mention live on the air (with discussion on how to pronounce my SN)! I can die happy. ^_^ September 3, 2009 at 9:36pm My SN (screenname)? Tegalto. TEG for my initials, and alto, because I've always sung alto. Put together, it sounds like a cool word in Spanish. Apparently it looked so Spanish that both Rhett and Link consistently want to pronounce it as "Tel gato", which sounds like "el gato" or "the cat." This has happened just about every time I'm mentioned on the Kast, even though most of my R&L fan friends at the Kommunity just call me Tess.
Tess Gray is having fun doing a completely frivolous collab video with a fellow R&L fan. :D September 7, 2009 at 1:45am http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fylGL1FRBnE This is the collaboration that would cement Teresa's and my friendship as "twinners" in the Kommunity. We're only a month apart in age, both were concurrently student teaching choir, and we even found out that we almost met in real life because we were both in Oklahoma City back in March for the National ACDA Convention, and rode the same bus at least once. We got to talking and she remembered that she had sat in front of a bunch of NAU kids on a bus at convention, though she didn't talk to us... just overheard our conversations. I then checked out her profile picture and immediately recognized her flaming curly red hair. I had a flashback to that bus, and remembered noticing her hair, and had a mental picture of where she was sitting on the bus (left-hand window seat, if you wanted to know). The rest is history.
Tess Gray just bought her first concert conducting suit! And it was marked off 50% at Macy's from $200! September 7, 2009 at 6:58pm
Mom had to get pictures on her iPhone...
Tess Gray is loving High Altitude's recording of Modern Nature. Thanks, Holder! September 9, 2009 at 10:14pm See the YouTube video of our recording session in my previous blog post.
Tess Gray is "subbing" tomorrow, 'cuz Shryock is muy sick! Good thing all but two of the classes are having the choreographer take over rehearsal. September 9, 2009 at 10:26pm All told, Shryock was sick for about three weeks. I count it a miracle that I didn't get more than a sore throat until Winter Concert week. Seriously. He was miserably sick, and I was the only one he'd let in the office at times.
Tess Gray has had a couple busy days in-a-row, and a yet busy Saturday to come. September 12, 2009 at 12:07am
Tess Gray just got her car washed by a dozen awesome Marcos choir kids, and had an improv scat session with them while the car was being dried. September 12, 2009 at 12:06pm
Tess Gray is a mythical beast. September 12, 2009 at 10:57pm Christy Erickson Unicorns?!?!? lol September 13, 2009 at 1:58am Melanie OpenshawI don't think I want to know. September 13, 2009 at 9:02pm Jeez, Melanie. You have a way of responding to things I say or do that you think are out of character for me that rubs me the wrong way sometimes. Remember that textual communication has a way of coming off not quite how you may have intended. Especially sarcasm. I don't think you would have commented if you weren't curious as to why I would say I was a mythical beast. For your information, that night on the live Rhett&LinKast it was decided, after much debate, that we hardcore Rhett & Link fans would from henceforth refer to ourselves as Mythical Beasts, in reference to a song R&L wrote about the true story of how they met in first grade.
Tess Gray keeps forgetting to do her laundry... I guess that's what happens when you don't get home until 6-7 PM and you start getting ready for bed at 9. But dangit, I'm running out of clean black socks! September 16, 2009 at 9:59pm
Tess Gray can't believe that she just finished her 6th week of student teaching! It has been amazing, every minute of it! September 18, 2009 at 11:10pm So I don't remember exactly when this happened, but it was sometime between my 4th week and this post that Shryock came to me after I had run yet another entire Chamber rehearsal one morning and said something like, "It looks like you've really integrated yourself into this group. As far as I'm concerned, they're yours now." And just like that he handed over the rehearsal of his elite performing ensemble. I didn't know that he really meant that I would be running all of their rehearsals for the rest of the semester until the next morning when I asked him what he wanted me to do and he gently reminded me, "They're yours!" That was my first real confirmation of his faith in my ability, and it still means a lot to me.
Tess Gray is sleeping with two additional fans blowing at high blast tonight, because the upstairs air conditioning decided to stop working. Boo. September 20, 2009 at 10:18pm Yeah, that sucked. I hardly got any sleep that night, and my room was over-warm until about November when the season finally started to change.
Tess Gray just conducted at her first ever clinic with Ed Hughes! Wee! September 21, 2009 at 5:31pm That was pretty cool! It was a district in-service meeting and the choir people from the district all decided that instead of having a dry meeting they'd bring their top groups to perform in a low-key festival together and have a clinic with Dr. Hughes. I was the only student teacher to conduct (Robin was the only other student teacher there), and mind you, I conducted two pieces that we were preparing for Broadway Show, so they're choreographed and not usually conducted. One of them, "In Whatever Time We Have" I had practiced conducting with them a couple times before this clinic, and the other, "I Believe", the kids decided right before we went on stage that they wanted to do in place of the National Anthem (which they were going to do un-conducted), so my first time conducting that piece was right there, on stage. Not that Dr. Hughes knew the difference, and of course Shryock could just accompany them without warning or practice. Jerk. :P
Just one shot of the Chamber girls before heading into the auditorium for our mini-festival/clinic! :)
Tess Gray's HS cooperating teacher told her today that in his 25 years of teaching choir, I'm on his list of top 5 student teachers, and rising. The students who were in the room at the time agreed and started telling me about all the things I do that they like. I love my life. ^_^ September 21, 2009 at 10:13pm Entirely true. I think it was after school on the half-day when we were waiting for Chamber to show up to leave for the festival, and he said this in front of all the students who were there in his office, without even trying to be candid about it. Not only did the kids start talking about the stuff they like about me, but they started comparing me to their previous student teachers and how much better I was. The kids couldn't even remember the name of last year's student teacher, and when they asked Shryock, he couldn't remember either. Now THAT was funny. Seriously, I think this single moment is what stands out the most from the whole semester for me and gave me the most confidence, how Shryock just point-blank stated his confidence in my ability. Then at the end of the festival Dr. Hughes told all of the kids to make sure they told their director how much they appreciate them. I had forgotten about this until the next morning when Shryock had the kids all gather chairs in a circle, then had them all volunteer to say nice things about me. It was great to hear what they had to say, and that they actually put thought into it. :) Jessica Browning Barnum That is the best feeling EVER! September 21, 2009 at 10:14pm Ryan HolderThat's great! See you thursday morning. September 21, 2009 at 10:29pm
Tess Gray has a busy day ahead of her! Teaching from 6:45-3:50, Holder's observation, and CONCERT at Shepherd Jr.! If anybody would like to come, it's on Higley & Brown (east of Higley, north on Alta Mesa) at 6:00PM and 7:15PM! I'm directing and accompanying! September 24, 2009 at 6:16am Yeah, lucky me, started my day with my very first observation, had a full day of teaching after that, and two back-to-back jr. high choir concerts to end my day. I was so drained.
Tess Gray is le-tired after such a busy and awesome day yesterday, but at least today will be a day of relaxation. Observation went well, and the back-to-back Jr. High choir concerts were great! (I only messed up the accompaniment once, and nobody noticed!) September 25, 2009 at 6:44am Yeah, I barely had any energy all day. I guess it was a good thing that the Marcos choirs were on choreography in the auditorium and it was "watch the video of the concert" day at the jr. high.
Tess Gray just had her first ginger/lemon tea (can you believe I went three years in Gundy's studio without even sampling it?), and it tasted like crap. Let's hope it helps me keep from getting sick! Woke up yesterday and today with swollen glands and sore throat. Otherwise I feel fine! September 26, 2009 at 4:56pm I blame the stressful concert day. I mean, it's not so much that I felt stressed, but the constant demand of energy and adrenaline really was draining, as I said before. Lucky for me it never became more than a throat annoyance, and only lasted about three days.
Tess Gray is ready for another week of fabulosity! Student teaching rocks! September 27, 2009 at 10:10pm I told you you'd see a lot of posts like this. :) This was a pretty dang happy part of my semester!
OCTOBER
Tess Gray had an awesome Saturday helping set up for Broadway Show, and is now enjoying a relaxing Sunday watching conference and creating art. October 4, 2009 at 2:01pm And by creating art, I meant I was creating a time-lapse video of me drawing Lynn the E-Ministrator's mythical beast for the Rhett&LinKommunity. Lynn is R&L's assistant of sorts, and she came up with the description of her original beast. You'll see her pop up again later on in this post with a comment on one of my status updates.
Tess Gray had a great day at school today! You know you're doing something right when kids from the choir you aren't even there for in the afternoons are sad you're not going to be around in the spring! October 5, 2009 at 8:47pm Tess Gray ... and the 7th grade girls were finally able to (mostly) hold their attention through the whole hour today! Wee! October 5, 2009 at 8:48pm
Tess Gray has a nice long day ahead of her: Broadway Show Dress Rehearsal! Woot! October 7, 2009 at 7:11am I really was excited. :)
Tess Gray had a great time at the Marcos Broadway Show! The kids put on a great show! :) Weee! October 8, 2009 at 11:49pm
"In Whatever Time We Have," the first song I got to rehearse from start to finish, and one of the two I conducted at the clinic with Ed Hughes. This was the only song in the whole show that Shryock accompanied. The rest were choreographed to a canned accompaniment track. Why was this the only one? Because the track they provided was entirely too fast, and when we tried to slow it in Audacity and Garage Band it ended up sounding like it was underwater, or like a really old recording with an annoying clicking over everything. I think the piano on stage gave a nice ambiance, though, don't you? :)
Meanwhile, during the entire show I ran the accompaniment tracks and half of the soundboard to cue the solo microphones:
Tess Gray was greeted by her jr. high choirs with applause and cheers today because they missed her yesterday. (I stayed at Marcos all day to get ready for the Broadway Show, which was aMAzing) October 9, 2009 at 4:20pm This was seriously hilarious. It was the boys' choir that applauded for me. Those boys are awesome. Love them!
Tess Gray got to direct MdN's Chamber Choir in the National Anthem at the pink-out Breast Cancer Awareness football game (the football team all wore pink jerseys) tonight all by her lonesome. They rocked. :) October 10, 2009 at 12:25am
Tess Gray is in Flagstaff for the weekend. Whaaaat? October 10, 2009 at 7:45pm My first time back since Four-Corners, for the first Shrine concert of the year, and also to be on a student-teacher/new teacher panel for the NAU ACDA student chapter to ask us all kinds of questions. It was a lot of fun! Over this weekend I uploaded my Broadway Show videos and had my first student friend me on Facebook. I'd get about 8 friend requests from students over fall break the next week, most of them from students from Women's, which, as I said before, I don't even teach. :)
Tess Gray thought the NAU choirs put on a great concert this afternoon. It was a little bittersweet watching Shrine from the audience, but I wouldn't trade what I'm doing right now for anything. October 11, 2009 at 6:18pm True. That.
Tess Gray just got back from a great weekend in Flag. ACDA Student Teacher panel went great, choir concert was bittersweet, and I got to sit through three choir rehearsals today and hang out in Choral Studies! Wee! October 12, 2009 at 8:43pm
Tess Gray feels weird not having anything to do this week. It's not even 10 AM and I've already paid my insurance and credit card and cleaned out my email inbox. What next? October 13, 2009 at 10:50am And thus begins a series of status updates on how bored I was during Fall Break.
Tess Gray is BORED! I don't have any high school or jr. high choir kids to keep me entertained for a whole week! October 13, 2009 at 3:35pm
Tess Gray will probably spend her morning cleaning and practicing piano. Come ooooooon, Wednesday. October 14, 2009 at 9:57am Lynn Erhorn cleaning the piano...or just house cleaning? October 14, 2009 at 10:01am Tess Gray Ha ha, Lynn. :P I practiced a piece on piano that I have to accompany for my jr. high kids next week, and I put on a movie while cleaning my room... I got as far as putting away laundry, hanging up other clothes I'd left draped over my love seat, and putting my comforter in the wash before I got distracted by the movie: "He's Just Not That Into You" October 14, 2009 at 1:38pm
Tess Gray has edited a video, played through "No Time" for the first time without stopping or making any noticeable mistakes, and is dressed and ready for a day with no plans. I guess I could actually finish cleaning my room... October 15, 2009 at 11:31am
Tess Gray is tired? At 9:40? During Fall Break? LAME! October 15, 2009 at 10:37pm
Tess Gray just selected Chorale's winter rep... and is going to conduct Lauridsen's 'O Nata Lux'... WHAT?! October 17, 2009 at 3:39pm Yeah, I just thought I would be rehearsing Chamber's caroling stuff and all of Chorale, so I focused our session at the Music Store on SAB music for the Winter concert. Shryock kept handing me SATB octavos and asking my opinion on them. Then last thing before we left the store he handed me Lauridsen's "O Nata Lux" and Eric Whitacre's "Lux Aurumque" and asked which one I wanted to conduct. Me? Conduct A Cappella? I've performed both of those songs a couple times before, and I was having a hard time deciding. I was leaning towards the Lauridsen, though, but I was a little intimidated by all of the score prep. Well, bring it on, I suppose!
Tess Gray finds it interesting that when she finally is about to give up on her single's branch, it is being combined with her home stake. Woot! October 18, 2009 at 12:24pm
Tess Gray is way excited for Templeview Ward! It's a miracle! Woot! October 18, 2009 at 10:27pm Correction, it's Temple View, two words, not one. Anywho, this really was a momentous occasion, because for years our stake presidency has refused to implement a single's ward in our stake, which is why I had been going to the single's branch of a neighboring stake since I moved back from Flag.
Tess Gray is glad school is back in session today! Fall Break was too boring! October 19, 2009 at 7:09am Josiah Sanchez You are so weird! =P October 19, 2009 at 9:48am Andrea Jones Yeah, I agree with Josiah October 19, 2009 at 7:51pm Tess Gray See, Andrea, the difference between me and you is, I'm still single and living with my parents (until I get my own teaching job)... You're married and living with your husband. October 19, 2009 at 8:34pm
Tess Gray was quite surprised to learn today, in front of the choirs, that she will not just be taking over the beginning Chorale starting this week, but all three of Marcos's morning choirs... Pretty cool to know that Mr. Shryock has that much faith in me... and now this is where things are going to get interesting. October 19, 2009 at 6:01pm Yeah, so Shryock had given this speal to Chorale about how the next few days would be transitioning from him being their teacher to me, and I was expecting that. What I wasn't expecting, was for him to give the same speal to A Cappella, almost verbatim. I thought I was just going to conduct the one song. As time went on, though, it ended up being more of a team-teaching scenario. I ran warm-ups almost every day, and I had two songs that were entirely mine. Shryock had one that was his, then there were the two versions of the Hallelujah Chorus that are traditional every year at Marcos that we took turns rehearsing as necessary. This ended up being pretty cool, and gave me bragging rights amongst my fellow student teachers. 3.5 choirs (also counting Beginning Women's at the jr. high) all to myself. :) I had a pretty lucky circumstance, because a lot of other choir teachres are really possessive of their programs. After getting a feel for my teaching style and classroom management, Shryock easily gave me control of his rehearsals.
Tess Gray had a great day today! Sectionals, sight-reading, uniform-fittings, and "subbing" three Jr. High choirs... all with a splitting headache. At least I was able to end the day with a smile! October 20, 2009 at 5:53pm Andrea Jones I don't think you're human October 20, 2009 at 6:00pm Tess Gray ... maybe that's my problem... October 20, 2009 at 6:32pm Melanie Openshaw I kind of want to vomit. October 21, 2009 at 9:38pm Melanie Openshaw :) October 21, 2009 at 9:39pm Tess Gray Wow... apparently it's a crime to be optimistic towards life. :P October 21, 2009 at 10:45pm I was actually pretty ticked at Melanie's comment. Do not appreciate the sarcasm. Just because I'm genuinely happy doesn't mean you have to rain on my parade.
Tess Gray had a great afternoon/evening/night chaperoning the 8th and 9th grade choir girls at the Mesa district festival! They sang great, and I did pretty well accompanying, if I do say so myself. October 21, 2009 at 11:11pm Yeah, that was pretty cool. I accompanied them on "Lux Aeterna" and "No Time", and did a pretty good job! I felt all professional, because it was in this really nice performance hall at the Mesa Arts Center. Craig Peterson was our clinician. He teaches at MCC, and is actually part of the same vocal jazz ensemble that Shryock sings in, Phoenix Vocal Jazz. :)
Tess Gray really hopes that Marcos's winter music comes in tomorrow, because we're definitely running out of things to do! I'm gonna have to get really creative... October 22, 2009 at 10:27pm Yeah, we spent the week in Chorale working on a music theory packet, and A Cappella had dress/tux fittings and played Ninja (the latest game craze amongst the choir and drama kids).
This was a drama club meeting, not choir, but seriously... These kids play ninja all the time.
Tess Gray had a long, yet fulfilling day! Directed the National Anthem at Marcos's homecoming game, and then actually stayed through the whole thing! Barely paid attention, but I stayed! First time ever! October 24, 2009 at 12:17am Bought over-priced popcorn, soda, and cotton candy, met alumni, got a tour of the announcer's booth while Shryock announced the Homecoming royalty... Good times, good times...
Tess Gray missed the AEPA registration deadline by mere hours... and had to pay a $30 late fee. Boo. October 24, 2009 at 5:20pm LAME! All-told I spent about $200 to take this freaking test. Better be worth it. (stay tuned to see if it was!)
Tess Gray is surprised at how consistently eventful her Saturdays have been. Yesterday I actually spent time at both of my student teaching schools. Hooray parent booster meetings, play rehearsals, donut runs, and Saturday performances! ... and good times were had by all! October 25, 2009 at 8:38am Yup, came to part of the booster meeting and sat in on the rehearsal for Glass Menagerie, the fall play directed by Shryock's wife, after getting donuts. :)
Tess Gray had a great time at church (Temple View YSA Ward's first official meeting!), and is eagerly awaiting lasagna. Yay! October 25, 2009 at 6:09pm
Tess Gray finally updated her journal/blog after over 6 months of procrastination: http://tegalto.blogspot.com/ ... and I was only able to get through the end of my summer, so there will be another entry to follow sometime soon, hopefully, chronicling the events of my student teaching semester! October 25, 2009 at 10:54pm ... or just wait until New Year's... No biggie.
Tess Gray now has her Facebook language set to Pirate English. Yarr, mateys! October 26, 2009 at 11:40pm That lasted all of a day. It was pretty annoying, actually.
Tess Gray has yet another day of Holiday music awaiting her! October 28, 2009 at 7:12am
Tess Gray had a pretty good day, all told! Was getting frustrated with those Jr. High boys and their short attention spans, but they really stepped up today! Yay! October 28, 2009 at 6:37pm
Tess Gray has mixed feelings about Friday today... On one hand, this is the last day I'm "subbing" at the Jr. High and teaching six choirs a day (my voice gets reeeally tired by the end), but on the other hand... it's the day before Halloween, so there's definitely not going to be the attention to get a whole lot done. October 30, 2009 at 7:07am Ah, yes, this was the week when I "subbed" for Mrs. Turley at the jr. high all week because she stayed home to watch grandchildren since her daughter just had a new baby. There were definitely some frantic moments for me that week.
Tess Gray had quite the week. Good experience-building all around, teaching six choirs (7th-9th graders) virtually all by myself for five days! No wonder my mind is nowhere near Halloween festivities right now... October 30, 2009 at 11:03pm
Tess Gray almost forgot it was Halloween today until she drove into her neighborhood at 7:30 after a long day hangin' with her Marcos peeps and saw the streets flocked with trick-or-treaters. October 31, 2009 at 8:37pm This was the day of All-State Jazz/Show Choir auditions. I kinda chaperoned, and kinda shadowed Shryock. Watched some entertaining dance auditions and networked myself into signing on as a sight-reading judge for Regionals! So that was cool... After that we got some lunch and went back to Marcos for more Glass Menagerie rehearsal, and I spent my Halloween nice and quiet in my room. I had enough excitement for one day.
Just one shot of the Marcos kids at Jazz/Show auditions waiting for Kenny to get out of his Jazz audition.
NOVEMBER
Tess Gray loves hanging out with her niece and nephew... Can't wait for the next nephew to join the bunch in the spring!!! November 1, 2009 at 9:09pm Christi, my sister-in-law, is pregnant for the first time with a little boy, due in March! He'll be Finnigan Casey (Finn for short, Casey after my brother, Finn's daddy).
Tess Gray is distressed by the fact that after taking out her contacts, her right eye's sight is over 10x worse than her left, when only yesterday they were about equal. This is no bueno. November 2, 2009 at 9:13pm Tess Gray Whew... I don't know what it was, but after sleeping it's all better. November 3, 2009 at 5:06am Yeah, that was only mildly scary...
Tess Gray is glad Mrs. Turley is back this week. Love those Jr. High kids, but going from 6:45 - 3:50 and teaching 6 choirs ranging from 7th - 12th grade does a number on my voice. November 3, 2009 at 5:11am Ryan Holder Welcome to the life of a full-time, traveling music teacher. Vocal health is important. November 3, 2009 at 5:58am Tess Gray Yup yup. Never lost the voice, but by the last period of the day, my 7th grade girls, it felt thoroughly abused. November 3, 2009 at 6:09am Andrea Jones Voiceless rehearsals. They're awesome, and the kids get that they have to be silent and listening to figure out what you're trying to say. Only give nonverbal cues-it's amazing! November 3, 2009 at 6:44am
Tess Gray has finally figured out a name for her car: The Sistine Chapel. November 3, 2009 at 7:17pm Tess Gray Yes, there is a story behind this. November 3, 2009 at 7:18pm Christi Cluff Gray Did you splash something on the ceiling? November 3, 2009 at 8:17pm Tess Gray Haha... nope. Good guess, though. November 3, 2009 at 8:22pm Christi Cluff Gray So what's the story morning glory? November 3, 2009 at 8:30pm Tess Gray So glad you asked!
Well when I bought it back in May, the ceiling fabric was already droopy, which was the most notable cosmetic defect. I got tired of the droop skimming the top of my head, so I went to Staples this evening on my way home from school and bought 400 metal thumb tacks.
I ran out of daylight today, but come tomorrow evening I should have a lovely completed mosaic of organic curlicues. November 3, 2009 at 9:00pm Christi Cluff GrayYou're going to take pictures right? November 3, 2009 at 9:26pm Of course, Christi, of course. This didn't get done until the end of the week, as you'll see in a couple of posts, but here's most of the finished product:
Tess Gray hopes everything goes well for her observation today! There are a lot of variables involved with a room full of thirty-two 7th grade girls. November 5, 2009 at 5:14am Another observation from Holder. Woot. This time he tallied every time I shushed or asked the girls to be quiet.
Tess Gray had a great day full of creating fall musical props (mostly four giant composition notebooks), and finally finished her car ceiling thumb tack art. Car is now significantly de-ghetto-fied from droopy ceiling fabric and tightened grab-handle screws. Now time to clean up for closing night of Glass Menagerie! November 7, 2009 at 6:14pm Tess Gray ... now to get the black paint out from under my fingernails. :P November 8, 2009 at 11:12am Yeah, I made these:
Tess Gray had two late nights in a row, and was finally able to get a decent amount of sleep! How did student teaching make me a morning person? November 8, 2009 at 10:17am
Tess Gray A student turned me on to these guys this week. Awesome.
November 8, 2009 at 11:17am Thank you, James Munzer, for introducing me to Pomplamoose.
Tess Gray is kinda fairly sore from helping strike Glass Menagerie last night. Didn't realize I'd worked that hard! November 8, 2009 at 9:09pm Christianne Wendt Gray Glad this volunteer labor didn't sacrifice a toe;0) November 8, 2009 at 9:50pm Tess Gray Believe me, the thought definitely crossed my mind before we started. November 9, 2009 at 5:15am For the background on my toe accident, see my last blog post. Don't want to be a tease, but you know you want to see pictures of a big toe that's missing a nail. Lovely.
Tess Gray will never again doubt the power of keeping herself busy to clear her mind. Just get right back on that horse. November 9, 2009 at 8:49pm Yeah, there's a LOT more behind this update than I wanted to say at the time. So a lot of the kids had gotten into a mid-semester funk, and Shryock had talked to A Cappella council and kind of pep-talked them into giving a care again. One council member decided this was something all of the choirs needed to do, and got Shryock's permission to implement it. This was supposed to be a therapeutic writing activity to vent some frustrations, then bring it back to remember why we're all here, and why we like choir. This wasn't explained well, though, so it ended up being a "write down on a piece of paper anything that's bothering you" session, and since the papers were anonymous, the kids in Chorale, and some of A Cappella weren't shy about saying just how much they disliked me. One kid even wrote, "Ms. Gray is NOT a teacher." Burn. I was sick to my stomach the next couple of days, but I didn't let myself wallow in it.
Once I started to snap out of it, I realized that a lot of the complaints were only directed at me because they didn't like how slowly I had to take rehearsal to accommodate all of the kids in Chorale, and they needed someone to blame for their boredom without taking into account that when first learning music, it'sgoing to be boring, especially when compared to the high-energy Broadway Show rehearsals they were previously used to. They only thought they were mad at me, but they were really just mad at the situation. Yeah, I think they were also mad that I reseated them and they were no longer sitting next to friends. I'll admit, though that I had gotten into a rehearsal rut, and obviously something needed to change if this was the attitude of at least half the class. This was the wake-up call I needed to make rehearsals more interesting for the kids. I also asked Shryock if he would actually sit in on a rehearsal and give me critique, because he would usually sit in his office and get other things done, and not worry so much about what was going on out in the classroom. Another testament to his faith in me, but after this incident, I thought it would be a good idea to re-evaluate some things.
Instead of letting this beat me into submission and giving up, I took the opportunity to up my game and came back the very next day with an engaging lesson for Chorale which started to turn their attitudes around, and we ended up having a really great rest of the semester! Hence the above status update. If you just keep busy, it will take your mind off of the bad things.
Tess Gray had a great time at the Young Lions concert last night! My Jr. High kids are too awesome for their own good. November 11, 2009 at 8:35am This was a fun concert held at Red Mountain High School in their amphitheater outside, because the auditorium seats had been gutted to put in new ones. It was a concert made up of one choir each from Red Mountain, Fremont Jr., Shepherd Jr., a combined men's choir with the HS and jr. high's, and one combined elementary school choir. I accompanied No Time for the advanced girls again, and as I was coming on stage, our boys started cheering for me. Love those boys. That was one of the best times I played No Time too. :)
Tess Gray says "Bring it on, AEPA!" November 11, 2009 at 8:22pm Rachelle Richter Tess you are going to do just fine, I have all the confidence in the world that you will pass the test with flying colors! Hope your student teaching experience is going great! November 12, 2009 at 7:21am Tim Klingler AEPA is a joke, you'll do fine November 12, 2009 at 4:19pm Jillanne Ulep haha be prepared for the most random questions about world music. You'll do great. No worries! November 12, 2009 at 6:38pm Tess Gray Melanie Openshaw and I went through all the study questions for both exams yesterday during our day off, and we're not worried, really. It's just dumb that I have to miss my Jr. High kids' retreat/party to take it. Boo. November 12, 2009 at 7:06pm FYI, the AEPAs are the Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessments, which all Arizona teachers are required to pass before they can become certified teachers. There are different tests for your specific teaching focus, for example, I had to take two exams, one for my professional knowledge of music, and another for general secondary education knowledge.
Tess Gray went from volunteer set painter to page turner to page turner & triangle player to page turner & triangle/slapstick player to page turner & triangle/slapstick/slide whistle player over the course of a week. Now I'm in the program as auxiliary percussionist. Bahaha... Come see Marcos de Niza's "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" this week, Wed. - Sat.! Ask me about tickets! November 14, 2009 at 6:22pm So I usually would stay at the jr. high with Mrs. Turley into the early evening, but since they began rehearsals for their own production of Charlie Brown (pure coincidence), I didn't need to stay after school, so I came back to Marcos to help out in any way I could. It started off with helping paint set and prop pieces on the weekend, then I volunteered to turn pages for Shryock, and that opened the gate for him to give me all of these auxiliary percussion instrument parts, you know, since I'd be there anyway. It was a lot of fun. :)
Tess Gray can't believe she volunteered herself to play flute obbligato for one of the jr. high choirs... The key of E sucks to play. November 15, 2009 at 8:50pm Jared Young Oh my goodness..I know how you feel... Although f sharp is the worst! :D November 15, 2009 at 9:00pm Tess Gray Oh barf. I had to write in every sharp... I mean come on... D#? There's even an A# accidental. I wrote Bb above it. Hehehe.
The fingerings in that key are just so dang awkward for me right now, especially since I haven't really played in over 8 years. It's coming, though, like riding a bike. November 15, 2009 at 9:22pm
Tess Gray is a page-turnin', triangle/slapstick/slide whistle/duck call/siren-playin' machine! Take THAT, Charlie Brown! Man, we three "orchestra" members (consisting of electric piano, drum set, and auxiliary percussion) sure get slap-happy back there. Toooo much silly! November 17, 2009 at 6:01am For example:
Tess Gray is excited for Charlie Brown opening night! It's gonna be a hoot. :) Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD! November 18, 2009 at 6:07am
Tess Gray says congrats to the cast of Charlie Brown on a great opening night... despite certain mishaps due to the mentioning of Shakespeare's Scottish play... *grumblegrumble* November 18, 2009 at 10:41pm Mollie Heiden i was so mad! >:| November 18, 2009 at 10:53pm Tess Gray Did you hear the random cymbal crashing in the second act? Teehee... Shryock went for some Twizzlers that were sitting on the same music stand that was holding the drum set lamp, and he knocked the lamp over onto the cymbal. Drummer James and I were laughing so hard (silently) that we were crying. November 18, 2009 at 11:05pm Mollie Heiden hahahhaha i actually didn't here that. hahah i think i was worrying too much about the cloud ahah November 19, 2009 at 11:42pm
Tess Gray just finished writing a music theory quiz for her freshman choir tomorrow, and won't even be there to give it, because of Charlie Brown youth matinee! November 19, 2009 at 11:33pm
Tess Gray thought Charlie Brown had a great show tonight with a fantastic audience! Now time to get to bed so I won't have to sleep through my AEPA (!!!) tomorrow morning! November 20, 2009 at 11:46pm Was I crazy to jump into the production of Charlie Brown with my AEPA looming? If anything I think it was very effective at taking my mind off it so I didn't put in too much unnecessary worrying.
Tess Gray feels good about the Music Knowledge test, but has no idea how she did on the General Knowledge test. The wait is now on. In other news, Charlie Brown is officially over, and the cast party was a lot of fun! Now I can't wait until I get my copy of the DVD so I can finally actually see what happened on stage! November 22, 2009 at 1:33am Tess Gray My position in the "orchestra" was such that I could only see what happened at the very front of the stage or amongst the audience. November 22, 2009 at 1:34am
This was our little zone behind a dividing wall. There was another wall to my right that I could touch if I reached my hand out. This wall extended to the opening of stage left, and I really could only see the front of the stage. That mirror on the end of the piano I brought in for Shryock so he could more easily see the stage and match his cues to the kids, especially when he had to match Schroeder's piano movements. This photo was taken by one of the kids' parents (Collin/Shadmo, who played Schroeder) on opening night during the post-show audience exit music. See those Twizzlers on the music stand near the drum set that also has a lamp on it? That's the lamp that fell on the cymbal in the middle of the show that I mentioned a few posts ago. And there's my little array of instruments set on a towel so they wouldn't make noise when I set them down. Both of those lamps were mine too. The three of us really did get silly back there, especially during the dress rehearsals.
Tess Gray is finally going back to her regular schedule without Charlie Brown. Oh how I'll miss it. At least it's a short week! Thanksgiving kind of snuck up on me! November 23, 2009 at 6:05am It really did take me by surprise!
Tess Gray thought that life without Charlie Brown would be boring... Little did I know I'd find something else to keep me busy! November 23, 2009 at 9:38pm That something being me realizing that my scholarship and Pell grant money was beginning to run out, and putting in hours helping a family friend clean her house in preparation for the holidays to make some extra money so I could actually pay my car payment come January. It worked out well - she needed the help, and I needed the money.
Tess Gray wonders how Thanksgiving crept up on her. Isn't it still September? Did I miss something? Well anywho, Happy Turkey Day to all! November 26, 2009 at 7:04am
Tess Gray tried Google Chrome for about two hours... it crashed when someone sent me a FB chat message. Back to Firefox! November 26, 2009 at 10:45am Lesson learned. I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Firefox.
Tess Gray is enjoying a relaxing Turkey Day. Spent my morning cleaning my room (still in progress...), watching Mythbusters, collecting blue-printed grocery bags, and going to the movies with the fam. :) November 26, 2009 at 3:18pm Collecting blue-printed grocery bags (from Albertsons) for the purpose of crocheting a new purse. See my last blog post for a picture of the one I made over the summer. I've had enough blue bags for a while now, but I have yet to get started on it. I'll get around to it soon.
Tess Gray just took a look at the requirements for her TaskStream assignment for Student Teaching... Guess who's going to be spending hours upon hours of quality time with Microsoft Word during her holiday weekend? ... eep. November 26, 2009 at 10:03pm Melanie Openshaw me? :) November 26, 2009 at 11:12pm Tess Gray You know, taking a closer look at this, it doesn't look all that bad. The "tips" pretty much walk you through the whole thing, and the only one who will be seeing the final product is Holder. Two 5-page papers answering questions about a series of lessons we've taught? Easy. ... and if I've read through the whole thing correctly, we don't even have to write the lesson plans! November 27, 2009 at 7:56am Melanie Openshaw wait, are you sure we don't have to write a lesson plan? November 27, 2009 at 9:46am
Tess Gray says, "Student Teaching Candidate Work Sample, prepare to be written!" November 27, 2009 at 7:58am Tess Gray Halfway through paper #1 and on a roll! November 27, 2009 at 1:17pm Tess Gray(This is based on five single-spaced pages per paper, so I see this as a decent accomplishment for five hours of work) November 27, 2009 at 1:19pm
Tess Gray spent a little more than seven hours at her laptop writing the entirety of her first student teacher candidate work sample, with breaks for mealtime and periodic Facebook checks. Planning on getting the other one done tomorrow in less time, now that I'm back in the mode of paper-writing. For now, though, it's time to practice piano like crazy for Shepherd's concert next week! November 27, 2009 at 6:10pm
Tess Gray is finally done with her TaskStream assignments (I hope)!!! That really takes a load off. Now it's just smooth sailing to the end of the semester... Oh yeah... Should probably practice piano and flute so I can accompany Bel Canto at the Jr. High concert and Women's at the JV concert (maybe), and conducting so I can get those blasted meter changes on Fum Fum Fum! Eep! November 28, 2009 at 6:22pm Yup, and thus ended the short saga of my one writing assignment for the entire semester. Turns out that Holder only required us to do one anyway. Even with no evaluations completed by Mrs. Turley and Shryock only doing one of them, I still managed to pass my student teaching. And that's why I'm glad I had Dr. Holder as my supervisor.
Tess Gray wishes she had Shryock's mad piano skills about now. Four days until Winter Concert #1 and I'm sooo close to having the accompaniment down, but really need a break from practicing. November 29, 2009 at 9:15am
Tess Gray can't believe this semester has gone by so fast! Are there seriously only two weeks left until I'm finished with my bachelor's degree?! How did I get here? November 29, 2009 at 11:16am Melanie Openshaw Time... and some effort I guess. It is weird to think about though. We're big kids! November 29, 2009 at 1:22pm Robin Neelyseriously, agreed November 29, 2009 at 8:44pm Wow... it's hard to believe that this was an entire month ago. It still feels to me like I'm still there, wishing it didn't have to end. I know it just feels like a state of suspended animation right now because I'm waiting to hear back from a job, and the schools are on their last couple days of winter break anyway. I'll probably have some weird-out moments next week thinking about how I could just go visit if I wanted to, but I dare not, because it will just be me hanging on to something that I have to let go. Once I get situated in a new work schedule I'll try to talk to Shryock again about volunteering. He's really just trying to play the tough love approach and helping me to move on, so I'm trying to respect that and keep my distance, even though coming back to help is always on my mind. I think about how he can always use my help in the classroom, but the way the semester ended between us makes me think twice and realize that my intentions would be selfish in trying to hold onto something that is no longer rightfully mine, and if I'm around too much, it would just become awkward. More on this later.
Tess Gray is gonna get one last round of piano practice in before hittin' the hay. I'm that sleepy. November 29, 2009 at 8:10pm
Tess Gray needs to get her Jr. High kids out of their winter funk. Concert Thursday and zero energy. What gives? November 30, 2009 at 5:12pm Seriously. They were giving me zero energy, when before Thanksgiving they were doing so well!
DECEMBER
Tess Gray got a little emotional today. Really? I only get to student teach for two more weeks? T_T (<-- that's a crying face, btw) I'd like to suspend this moment in time. Please and thank you. December 1, 2009 at 5:59pm
Tess Gray just wants tomorrow to be over. December 2, 2009 at 5:22pm ... because the way that day's rehearsal went, I could only imagine what a train wreck the concert the next night could be. Seriously, when I pulled into our driveway after leaving school that day, I sat with the engine and radio off for what felt like a good 20 minutes just racking my brain for how to turn this situation around. I couldn't think of anything, and I was in a funk for the rest of the night. Melanie Openshaw Me too!!! What do you have tomorrow, I have a concert. It will be nice when that is done! December 2, 2009 at 5:52pm Tess Gray Same here... Jr. High concert. Thanksgiving break just really through off our groove. My 7th grade girls have been giving me NOTHING all week and I just want to move on. December 2, 2009 at 5:57pm Tess Gray I meant "threw off" not "through off"... December 2, 2009 at 6:31pm
Tess Gray really needed a reason to smile after a rough day at the Jr. High, and found it after reading through 3 pages of MLIA.com: "Today, I found a fan page on facebook that said "I like watching raindrops race across my window and silently cheer for them". I'm glad I'm not the only one. MLIA" December 2, 2009 at 6:43pm Tess Gray This one made me laugh out loud. :D December 2, 2009 at 6:43pm
Tess Gray hopes that a Christmas miracle happens tonight. I've done all I can do. It's their time to step it up. December 3, 2009 at 6:04am Tess Gray ... and they were doing so well before the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend threw off the flow. That's what kills me. December 3, 2009 at 6:05am Melanie Openshaw My kids too! Yesterday they acted as if they had never heard the music before!!!! AHHH!!! I hear you. A miracle needs to happen tonight! December 3, 2009 at 2:51pm Glad to hear I wasn't the only one.
Tess Gray is... well, one Winter Concert down, six more to go! Seriously... Six more... and that's counting both of tomorrow's assemblies as one and not including all of Chamber's caroling gigs. December 3, 2009 at 10:06pm Something about it being concert day brought a little bit of energy back to the choir, but it was still like pulling teeth in some cases.
Tess Gray has two assemblies and a caroling competition to be at today. Yaaaay choir! :) December 4, 2009 at 6:14am
Just a video of the end of "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" at the Peoria caroling competition. They ended up taking second, but not because they weren't the best ones there (which they were). We went early on, and they picked the last group to perform as the winners. Well, at the very least we left with $500 more than when we got there, so that's better than a kick in the face.
Tess Gray walked 5k to save the arts this morning. You're welcome, arts. December 5, 2009 at 10:39am Shryock really wasn't expecting me to actually show up to this, but he was just happy that I brought him coffee. :-P It ended up being a really good time, and I even got hooked up with a voice student!
Tess Gray is in Flagstaff... Sittin' in the Dub... Just waitin' for Holiday Dinner! Woot! December 5, 2009 at 5:10pm via Mobile Web I had just gotten into town, and instead of going to someone's apartment to sit around for an hour and then battle traffic in the parking lot I just decided to come straight to the DuBois center, lovingly referred to as the Dub ("doob"). It was pretty boring at first because I was really early, so I sat there by myself, updating my Facebook from my phone. While I waited for the rest of our table to get there to the lobby I got to say hi to NAU people passing by whom I hadn't seen in a while who were there to help set up for the night.
Tess Gray thought Holiday Dinner was awesome and a whole lot of fun! Two words: Pumpkin Cheesecake. Best $65 ever spent. December 5, 2009 at 10:56pm
Our alumni table, right in front of the Shrine risers! :)
Tess Gray Pet Peeve: When hanging out with 'friends', one person starts to bring something up, notices you are in their company, then says to just one other person, "Oh, I'll tell you later." Seriously? It's incredibly rude and exclusionary and makes me wonder why you even bother calling me your friend sometimes. December 6, 2009 at 8:09am Brittany Gregory Sorensen Rude! December 6, 2009 at 9:01am Jared Young :( December 6, 2009 at 10:44am Paul Sanchez I would just perpousfully make sure im driving in a car with them and lock the windows and just fart. Because that what people like that deserve, they deserve what they act like, and thats thats. they act like Stinky fart. December 6, 2009 at 2:20pm Morena Sanchez HOLY COW! Some people are just jerks! December 6, 2009 at 3:10pm Is a little bit of tact too much to ask for?
Tess Gray is back in town after just a short trip up the hill for Holiday Dinner. It was a fun night, but I'm glad to be back where it's slightly warmer. December 6, 2009 at 11:55am
Tess Gray is mentally preparing herself for her last full week of student teaching. Am I seriously graduating college on Friday? Whaaaaa? December 7, 2009 at 5:56am Andrea Jones Have fun! December 7, 2009 at 6:42am Tim Klingler Enjoy it. I was shocked when it ended. kids who I thought hated me came up to me in tears and hugged me and told me not to go. Kind of gratifying. Treasure it! December 7, 2009 at 3:51pm Josiah Sanchez I get to sing at your Graduation! Well the one you would be at. lol December 7, 2009 at 5:22pm Tricia Caudle Ubrig So excited for you :-) December 7, 2009 at 8:45pm Tess Gray Haha... too bad I already walked in May, Josiah. I won't be walking this Friday, that's just the official day I'm done with college. I'll actually be sticking with my student teaching placements through the end of their semester, just one week longer. December 7, 2009 at 9:45pm
Tess Gray thinks it's lame NAU is cancelling finals due to snow when we had crazy snow last year during finals week and still had to go. Meh, whatever, I'm over it. December 7, 2009 at 9:56pm
Tess Gray has JV concert at Marcos tomorrow! ... and I've caught a cold. Well, it was bound to happen sometime. Boy is it windy outside. December 7, 2009 at 9:59pm Of course the time I finally catch a cold has to be during concert week. It was pretty funny, I showed up at school with a box of tissues, and since I was running late, I came in after Shryock had begun rehearsal without me, and didn't get the chance to explain why my eyes were all watery. I sat behind Chamber as Shryock ran rehearsal of some jazz charts for Jazz/Mad, and I was having a small amount of amusement imagining Shryock's perspective, wondering why I was crying. I could tell he was assuming that something was wrong emotionally because he'd glance back at me sympathetically, and always made sure I had a copy of the music they were looking at, kind of as a, "I'm really not mad that you were late, if that's why you're crying" gesture. We had a good laugh after rehearsal ended and I explained, "It may look like I'm tearing up, but it's really just that this cold just hit me and my eyes just won't stop watering, and I brought the tissues because my nose is runny too, and you don't keep tissues around... But it was amusing to see the cogs in your brain turning, trying to figure out why I was sad while running a rehearsal."
Tess Gray is conducting Chorale and playing flute for Women's at Marcos de Niza's JV winter concert tonight! Good times to be had by all! December 8, 2009 at 6:10am Melanie Openshaw Holla! Way to be! December 8, 2009 at 8:59pm
Tess Gray had an awesome time at Marcos's Freshman/JV concert tonight! The kids were awesome, and thank goodness adrenaline was enough to make this blasted cold subside for a few hours. Now time to knock myself out with some NyQuil and sleep what's left of the night away. December 8, 2009 at 10:24pm Note to self: NyQuil doesn't work for me. If anything, I slept worse than I would have without it. Tammy Roche Well done! And hope you feel better, Tellll-GATO! Tel..gato! Teg-alto! December 8, 2009 at 10:29pm This is what I was talking about earlier with the confusion on how to pronounce my screenname. It has kind of become an inside joke with my R&L fan friends. Mollie Heiden you did a great job on the flute!we wouldn't have sounded the same without you!(: December 8, 2009 at 10:32pm Well I was happy to do it, especially since I didn't have enough time to learn their accompaniment well enough to play for them. At least the flute part for that one song was in a flat key (with a couple key changes), and it wasn't too fast. I always like to see the looks on the kids' faces when they realize that I play another instrument. The kids in Chorale had no idea. Tess Gray :) Thanks Tammy and Mollie! December 9, 2009 at 5:45am
Tess Gray, after her 2-day absence from the Jr. High, had one of her 7th graders say, "We missed you! We all love you, Ms. Gray! Even when you tell me to stop talking all the time, because I know it's good for me." December 9, 2009 at 7:08pm Seriously, that's almost exactly what she said. Oh, Logan M., one frustratingly ADD girl, but still funny as heck. Tim Klingler Hope I hear that when I go back Friday December 9, 2009 at 9:36pm Marc Wagner ha ha....thats awesome...i need to become a teacher... December 10, 2009 at 12:00am
Tess Gray has another concert tonight! This time, Varsity concert at Marcos de Niza, 7:00 PM! Come one and all! It'll be a blasty blast! December 10, 2009 at 6:06am Tess Gray In other news, I'm sort of officially graduating from NAU tomorrow... December 10, 2009 at 6:07am
Recognizing A Cappella after my last song conducting, before I left the stage and cried. I probably wouldn't have if Shryock hadn't announced my entrance to the stage as this being my final concert at Marcos de Niza. Up until that point I was strictly in concert mode. I hadn't thought about the fact that this really was the beginning of the end.
Tess Gray wants to congratulate all of the Marcos de Niza performing ensembles on two great Winter concerts this week. It's been a blast working with such great kids and exceptional faculty... Now don't think you can get rid of me THAT easily! December 10, 2009 at 10:31pm Tess Gray Not gonna lie, I cried after A Cappella's set, and halfway through the orchestra's. December 10, 2009 at 10:32pm
Tess Gray is kind of really sad she has to miss the "day after the concert" rehash in A Cappella today to be on a Jr. High choir field trip. In other news, I woke up with a sore throat feeling as though I wouldn't have a voice. Turns out it's only lost my voice at the top of the treble clef, D# - E-ish... Good thing my speaking voice usually hangs around right below the treble clef... I'm such a music nerd. December 11, 2009 at 5:30am Seriously... I would have much rather just been finished with the jr. high after their concert week but they needed me to accompany and conduct on this field trip. This was the only time I was sad to have to miss something with one school because I had to be with the other school for something else. There's only one "day after the concert", you know?
Tess Gray is... whoa... wait... I'm officially graduating from freaking COLLEGE today! Whaaaaa? December 11, 2009 at 5:41am
Tess Gray wore her NAU alumni pin she got back in May all day today... because she could. December 11, 2009 at 11:45pm Tess Gray Also spent the day with a bunch of Jr. High choir kids traipsing about the elementary schools of east Mesa, and went to the AZ high school football state championship game. Padres lost, but hey, they made it the furthest they've ever been in over three decades! December 11, 2009 at 11:46pm I'm so glad I went to that championship game! Chez and I got in free because we came with Chamber, for whom Shryock had pulled strings to get to sing the National Anthem. It was really exciting because they all dressed nice, even Shryock (hehe... it 's a long-standing fact that I was nearly always more dressed up than he was, especially at the football games), and we entered the stadium while the stands were still empty, and, as Shryock didn't fail to point out, it was just like the movies, Shryock and his entourage entering the football stadium as VIPs. ;)
Tess Gray had fun with the Chamber kids tonight. :) P.S. - Don't ever try Key Lime flavored Apple Chips. Blech. December 12, 2009 at 11:36pm It was the annual Chamber Christmas Party that had been postponed twice because of football games. We had a secret Santa gift exchange. Sean Mushro had me, and got me an apple-cinnamon scented candle, appletini mix (he didn't know until that night that I was Mormon and didn't drink. Don't worry, there wasn't any alcohol in the bottle, just the mix flavoring), and Key Lime flavored Apple Chips. All apple-themed things because he was sad I don't get to go with them to the BIG APPLE in the spring. Haha... ha... get it? Big Apple? Because A Cappella is going to sing at Carnegie Hall in New York? Huh? Huh? Yeah, I love those kids.
Tess Gray feels like she's in a weird state of limbo... My official student teaching semester is over, but I've committed to finishing out the school's final week... Trying to fill out substitute teacher application, but am still waiting on AEPA results to become certified... Oh well... off to church! December 13, 2009 at 1:09pm Heck, I still feel in a weird sort of limbo. Even though I now have my AEPA results, I still have to wait until my degree is posted to actually get certified, and degree posting was delayed due to that snow day that NAU had during finals week. Lame.
Tess Gray has procrastinated going to bed long enough... Just two more days of zero hour left in the semester... crazy. December 13, 2009 at 9:48pm
Tess Gray is wondering if she should give her contacts another shot yet... They kind of killed her eyes on Saturday... In other news, MdN Chamber Caroling Concert tonight, 7PM! December 14, 2009 at 5:46am Seriously, I don't know what was going on that day, but I put in new contacts that morning and as soon as I got driving I was having the darndest time keeping my eyes open because of those dumb contacts. It was really dangerous.
Tess Gray would like to congratulate Chamber on a great Caroling Concert tonight! Great turnout! :) December 14, 2009 at 9:28pm It really was a good concert! I got to create the program and show order, conduct the first part of it, and met a lot of kids' parents. It was fun, and probably the last real official thing I was able to do with Marcos. Everything else was either proctoring the guitar final, grading the guitar final, sitting in on the choir final projects, and hanging around at caroling gigs, because I felt like I should be there.
Tess Gray finally fulfilled her last obligations to Shepherd Jr. High. Woot! Concert at the temple lights went well, but the kids kept saying, "Why can't stay?! You didn't get paid this whole time, so why not just keep it up?" and "Is it true??? You're not coming back?!" Bahahahaha... December 15, 2009 at 8:47pm Tess Gray There were even some girls from Red Mountain High who had been told about me by my Shepherd kids and were excited to meet "Awesome Miss Gray". How well I have them fooled... ~_^ December 15, 2009 at 8:50pm Melanie Openshaw
That is my favorite. "Just stay!!" You don't need to make money or have any bills to pay or anything!! According to my high school kids I will be taking up residence in a practice room. My next door neighbor will be another kid who is moving to China next semester. We're going to have block parties. December 15, 2009 at 9:03pm Gary L Gray
Melanie? China? December 15, 2009 at 11:18pm Melanie Openshaw Haha, no, a kid in my choir is moving to China and they want him to stay just like me so they're telling him he is going to live in a practice room too... I wish I was moving to China! December 16, 2009 at 5:50am Tess Gray Gah... one of the kids from Shepherd Jr's men's choir just auditioned and got into the Phoenix Children's Choir touring choir, and is going to China this summer. Punk. I mean literally, he's a punk. Mohawk and all. December 16, 2009 at 6:50am
Tess Gray is excited... No more splitting my time and loyalties between two schools and two cooperating teachers! Just Marcos from here on out! Yaaaay! -But wait... That's all of two half finals days. *le sigh* At least I've got caroling and holiday parties to look forward to! December 16, 2009 at 6:55am
Tess Gray is heading off to Marcos for her last day of student teaching... But then there's the A Cappella party, the Jeffery's party, and caroling on Saturday, so plenty more fun awaits! December 17, 2009 at 7:03am Yeah, not so much on the Saturday caroling thing. See a couple entries down.
Tess Gray feels like there's something missing... and there is. Why did this semester have to end so quickly? December 18, 2009 at 8:20am
Tess Gray thinks there should be counseling for student teaching withdrawals. I'm really, REALLY sad right now. Is there anybody out there who can cheer me up? December 18, 2009 at 1:02pm So basically this day was a teacher work day, so Shryock had the council kids come to help clean the room and get the library emptied out for the installation of new cabinetry. I could tell that for the past couple of days Shryock was trying to find the right time to say what he would say to me the first time it was just the two of us in his office that morning, which was, "So are you going to the Jeffery's tonight?" "Of course!" "Okay, then here comes tough love time. (I'm thinking... Oh great)... I think today should be your last day." He said some other stuff that I don't quite remember because that hit me really hard and my head was swimming. I wasn't mentally prepared for this, because I had thought I was invited to finish out the caroling season with the kids, and I had planned on going to the last two caroling gigs the next day, Saturday. In hindsight I know that he was right, because it wasn't anything I would really be of much use for, I had just gotten used to making sure I was at any choir function he was, because if it was my program, that's where I would be too. While I now understand his reasoning and know that this wasn't by any means shafting me, I just wish he had taken the time earlier in the week to sit down and have this conversation instead of just announcing it to me. I immediately started tearing up, and kept myself busy helping clean for the rest of the morning, and avoiding any conversation that would make me cry.
As it was I bawled on my whole drive home... But I had to put my brave face on to come back for the Jeffery's party that evening. As we were waiting in the Jeffery's kitchen before performing for their party, Shryock presented me with a small gift of a bamboo plant (for luck and prosperity) and a card from him. I was actually surprised, and that really made me feel better about the whole situation. I had been feeling abandoned, and that was a nice reminder that it's all for the best, and I just have to keep moving forward. We had fun that night, the kids put on a good performance, despite missing three of the four tenors, and we went to go see some cool Christmas lights. Before we left for the night and I said my final farewells as Marcos de Niza choir student teacher, I wanted to make sure I got at least one group picture to send me on my way:
Don't let anyone tell you that taking tough love is easy. It's not. It's really hard. And it sucks. Saying goodbye always does.
Tess Gray hopes the "falling" chapter in her life will only last a short while. For an explanation on what I mean by this, see my latest note, http://www.facebook.com/notes/tess-gray/the-fledgling/210169512073 wherein I wax philosophical, metaphorical, and all-around verbose. December 19, 2009 at 2:25am
"The Fledgling Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 1:03am
This was originally just going to be a status update, but I ended up having a bit more to say than I thought I did. Here goes:
I am not a fan of this stage in life where chapters are constantly closing. It seems as though everything is temporary, but lasts just long enough for me to become attached, making each new severance hurt all the more.
I cried one of my best cries when I left Flagstaff back in May. A great four-year chapter ended then. Ever since, my life has been in a perpetual state of transition. Half of my worldly possessions are sitting in my parents' garage, just waiting for me to be living on my own again. In the meantime I live in my 10' x 12' fortress of solitude which has been my only haven, the only thing that is all 'me' through all of this, even though it, too, is only temporary.
I enjoyed myself this past semester of student teaching so much that I failed to mentally prepare myself for the emotional roller coaster I'd be on when it finally came time to end. I really do feel as though I've found a new family. I think Shryock put it best when he said after I started to tear up about tonight's Chamber caroling gig being my final hoorah, "We've turned her into a Padre." I love all the awesome kids I've gotten to work with these past four months. They have taught me more than they know, and I'll never forget them. I love the community of kids' parents I've gotten to know, and I absolutely love the amazing, talented, funny, and supportive faculty members I now count as friends.
I cried one of my best cries today, and I'm not ashamed. It's yet another chapter in my life that has drawn to a close - the best chapter yet, in my opinion. Much too short, but oh so satisfying. I know that there is much more to come for me in the future, but please allow me to use an extremely sappy metaphor to explain my feelings at this exact moment in time:
Up until this August, I was inside the egg. Seventeen straight years of sterile classroom learning, attempting to prepare for, with only theoretical knowledge, the so-called "real world." Student teaching was the hatching of the egg, and ensuing fledgling state of being. Finally, I was able to put my life's work into practice. I was safe inside the nest, with someone to catch me if I fell, and someone to let me fall if that's what was best for me. (Yes, I just compared Shryock to a mother bird.) All in the matter of one day, today, I was pushed from the nest. I have a feeling that the next chapter in my life is going to be tough, because if I know a bird metaphor, that's the falling chapter. I'm falling, and it sure is scary, because now it's up to me to spread my wings and fly for myself. When that will happen, only time may tell.
Thank you all for taking his journey with me. Don't be strangers!
-Tess AKA Ms. Gray
P.S. - It occurred to me about two-thirds in that this would make a great monologue. Somebody make that happen. :P" Shadmo Mulligan Perhaps we'll be seeing you... in all the old familiar places. December 19, 2009 at 3:01pm Tess Gray Perhaps? There's no perhaps. You all haven't seen the last of me!While I'm at it, let me just say that I finished this note about 2 AM... I get pretty philosophical the later I stay up. ;) December 19, 2009 at 5:07pm Malorie Danielle Aralica awwwww:) December 20, 2009 at 11:22am Haley Winward you're amazing ms.gray i've learned so much from you :) December 20, 2009 at 12:49pm I think that just about says it all.
Tess Gray just had some fun adding her mark to a traveling Styrofoam head. Now to send it on to Maine! December 19, 2009 at 5:11pm So earlier in the year one of my online friends over at the RhettandLinKommunity decided to implement the Sisterhood of the Traveling Head. Long story about why we picked a Styrofoam head, but we got 18 of us chicks over at the Komm to join in the fun, and the head and we take turns mailing it to each other, signing it, writing a note in the accompanying travel log, and sending it on to the next person. Once it's gotten to all of us, we're going to send it to Rhett and Link for their fan submission area. A bit of frivolity, but fun nonetheless.
So the very day after all of this depression went down, the day that I originally thought was going to be my last day, the head arrived at my house, a welcome surprise to take my mind off of being sad for a little while:
Tess Gray is hoping for the best but hates all of this unsurety and sadness... Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all, I suppose. December 20, 2009 at 8:06am I probably read that corny "Fledgling" note that I wrote a dozen times over this weekend, and cried every time. I would tear up over anything. Seriously. I've gotten better, but I still fight the urge to cry whenever I talk about my last day.
Tess Gray is one day out from getting her AEPA results, and is starting to get nervous. December 20, 2009 at 6:20pm Eric Olsen Oh man! December 20, 2009 at 6:20pm Tess Gray "Oh d-d-d-dear!" - Piglet, Winnie the Pooh December 20, 2009 at 6:22pm Eric Olsen "/facepalm" - The Internet December 20, 2009 at 6:23pm Tess Gray "/headdesk" - also The Internet December 20, 2009 at 6:23pm Eric and I are nerds. We know this. Tammy Roche I have faith! You have been studious--not wasting time on FarmVille like me!! :o\ December 20, 2009 at 6:26pm Tess Gray Hehe. I took this test on Nov. 21, and depending on the results I get tomorrow, Arizona may or may not allow me to get my teaching certificate! Well, it takes an 80% to pass, and if you don't pass you can always take it again... It's just kind of expensive and really stressful. December 20, 2009 at 6:28pm Tammy Roche I await the good news! I just know you got this one! :o) December 20, 2009 at 6:31pm Tess Gray Okay, well if I don't pass I'm blaming you now, Tammy! :P December 20, 2009 at 7:24pm Krisy Hafford Oh my goodness I'm so excited!! I can't wait to hear your results! YAY. December 20, 2009 at 10:55pm I really had been feeling pretty indifferent about waiting for the results, because worrying about them for a month just makes it worse. It wasn't until I knew I would get to find out the next day that I started to get nervous, thinking... Oh man, what if I have to take it again?!
Tess Gray Is it sad that this is the first thing that has really gotten me to laugh since all this sad, sappy, "I can't believe I'm done with student teaching" crying? Now I'm going to think about this every time I babysit my niece and she wants to watch Yo Gabba Gabba.
December 20, 2009 at 10:05pm Laughter really is the best medicine, and sometimes you don't remember that until something like this makes you genuinely laugh.
Tess Gray passed her AEPA!!! Wooo! December 21, 2009 at 11:50am via Mobile Web Yay! Teresa Ulrich GO TESS!!!!1!1!1!!!!!!!!!!!!1111!!!!! :) ********************** and ^^^^^^!!!!!!!!! December 21, 2009 at 11:53am Tammy Roche Mmmm hmmm! :o) Congrats girl!! December 21, 2009 at 11:56am Tim Klingler See, no reason to be nervous :-) December 21, 2009 at 12:14pm Tess Gray Ooo... Applause AND high fives from Teresa! :D December 21, 2009 at 12:22pm Josiah Sanchez CONGRATULATIONS!!! Now go teach to the world! =D December 21, 2009 at 1:14pm Tammy Roche So happy for you new grads! December 21, 2009 at 1:15pm Christi Cluff Gray And you did all that worrying for nothing. I knew you could do it! December 21, 2009 at 1:31pm Christianne Wendt Gray Yay for you!!! I'm proud of you! December 21, 2009 at 1:57pm Rachelle Richter I knew you would!! Congrats Tess! :) December 22, 2009 at 8:21am Debra Jo Borden Congratulations! In many ways that was one of the most exhausting tests I've ever taken. I'm happy for you! December 22, 2009 at 8:41am Tess Gray Seriously, Debra Jo! I took the Music test and the Professional Knowledge - Secondary test. The Music one was no sweat... I actually enjoyed taking it... But the Secondary one was soooo stressful! I left with no idea how I might have done, and that's usually not a good sign. Glad it's over, though, and I don't have to retake it! Yaaay! December 22, 2009 at 12:18pm
Tess Gray has submitted over 20 apps/resumes in the past four days... Tess needs a job! December 22, 2009 at 7:08pm Still do!
Tess Gray just thought this looked cool --> ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ December 23, 2009 at 8:43am Well... it does...
Tess Gray is spending her newfound free time using wrapping paper in creative and artistic ways to wrap her mother's Christmas presents. Perhaps I should do this for a living? Pictures to follow. December 23, 2009 at 7:19pm Still haven't gotten around to getting those pictures off my camera, but I'll update the post when I do. I was really proud of my little works of art, since I couldn't really afford gifts for anyone this year. Jasen Evoy Ah, yes - I have been known to even break out the hot glue gun. December 23, 2009 at 8:11pm Tess Gray Awesome... Why does this not surprise me? December 23, 2009 at 11:49pm
Tess Gray is finally looking forward to time with friends. Friends? I still have those? December 23, 2009 at 11:51pm It's true. After a busy semester all around for all of us, the game night gang spontaneously got back together. On the 23rd we went to the Mesa LDS temple to see the Christmas lights, went back to Gumby's afterwards and began planning to make a short video. Just something silly to give our lives purpose during winter break. I hadn't hung out with these guys in a long time, so it was good to fall back into the groove.
Tess Gray had fun today. Sometimes all it takes is a bit of structured silliness... :) December 24, 2009 at 5:54pm And here is the final result of our movie-making! The stop motion was Eric's idea, which he had used in another video with Gumby just a few days previously, the music video was my idea (inspired by Eric), and we each kind of came up with our own intro sequence. Eric and I did the directing. 'Twas a lot of fun!
Tess Gray is glad Christmas was all about family togetherness this year. Low pressure on gift-giving and -receiving really takes the stress off. December 26, 2009 at 12:43am Seriously... I know I couldn't afford anything, what with my scholarship money running out and needing to save everything I have to make my January car and insurance payment.
Tess Gray likes how the graphical representation of her official AEPA results for the music test consist of six completely filled-in horizontal bars. Yes, that's right, official AEPA results have been mailed and received, so now I can go become a certified teacher! Woot! December 27, 2009 at 12:18am Teresa Ulrich Yaaaaaaaay!!! December 27, 2009 at 12:19am Robin Neely Recieved???!!!! Mine should be here soon!!!!!!!!!!! Hooray! December 27, 2009 at 12:30am Robin Neely and, more appropriately, congrats on your passing with flying colors, and on receiving your results! =) December 27, 2009 at 12:31am Tess Gray Haha... Thanks, Robin. How did you do? You got the unofficial scores emailed on Monday, right?
Haha... So while my Music scores were awesome, my Secondary Knowledge one had four bars in the graph: Awesome, Awesome, Good, and Weak. The "weak" was for the essay section... Apparently my BS-ing didn't fool them! Hahaha... Well, at least that constitutes a passing grade, and I never have to write those stinking essays again! December 27, 2009 at 10:52am Rebecca Schmidt Awesome! Now you can come subfor us when shryguy wants to take a day off. :) December 27, 2009 at 1:12pm Tess Gray That's the plan! ;) Now if only I can get my substitute application with TUHSD pushed through so I can sub for him next week... December 27, 2009 at 6:18pm
Tess Gray needs to get In the Heights out of her head and stop having dreams about student teaching... Kinda hard to get over it when my subconscious can't. December 28, 2009 at 4:36pm Seriously... I finally begin to emotionally accept that I'm finally done, and I start having dreams about being back at Marcos and student teaching, or volunteering, or just sticking around in general and not letting go. Happened like, three nights in-a-row before I posted this status. I also had "Sunrise" from In the Heights stuck in my head that day, which was one of the songs that A Cappella did in the Broadway Show. Heck, right now I have "Peter Rabbit" stuck in my head from Charlie Brown. Stupid subconscious. Can't let me let go. :P
Tess Gray has an interview on Wednesday! In the meantime, should I apply for an early morning baker position? 3 AM just seems a little ridiculous. December 28, 2009 at 6:19pm I decided not to apply for the early-morning bagel baker position.
Tess Gray is bored. Might actually clean my room again and get started on my Albertsons bag crocheting... December 29, 2009 at 5:20pm Did clean the room, did not get started on the crocheting...
Tess Gray has two interviews today! Wish me luck! December 30, 2009 at 8:44am
Tess Gray had two interviews this afternoon. First one: so-so, Second one: Pretty good! I even got to show off my mad typing skillz. 92 wpm, zero errors. That's right. I'm hard-core. December 30, 2009 at 3:27pm Sean Varga that is up there in the ranks of court reporters....awesome. December 30, 2009 at 3:29pm Tess Gray ;) Maybe I've missed my calling in life. December 30, 2009 at 3:29pm The first one was for an after-school musical theater class teaching position for elementary through junior high-aged kids. While this at first seemed like something perfect that I could put my degree to use for, it turned out to be mostly teaching kids repertoire by rote while teaching them dance moves (would have loved to see me do that, wouldn't you?), and this lady basically wanted to train someone to be her replacement and be super dedicated to the program and process. Definitely something I don't want to get roped into for an indefinite period of time, especially since I don't know if I'll be able to find a teaching job in the area come next fall.
The second interview was at a small family-run office to be a part-time office assistant and transcriber, hence the typing test. I seemed to really impress them with my uber typing skills, and we had a few laughs. I really liked the feel of the work environment, I'm fine with part-time, and it's totally a coincidence that the office is just a few miles away from Marcos, making it all too convenient to substitute and volunteer... Meh, anyhow, I find out on Monday if I got the job, and I'm really hoping I do, because the craigslist postings seem to have started to dry up over the past week, though I keep checking back. If I do get it, the job will start on Wednesday! Eep! I'm really hoping for this one!
Tess Gray is kind of indifferent about the new year... 2009 was a pretty good one for me. It'll be hard to top it. On a different note, who's ready for some New Year's Eve fun? December 31, 2009 at 7:56am Despite the country being in economic turmoil and everyone calling 2009 a crappy year, it really was the best year of my life so far. I graduated at the top of my Choral Ed. class from NAU, I student taught with the best kids I could have hoped for, and worked with some of the most talented and fun people I know. Who cares about the money? I found purpose in my life.
Tess Gray is depressed to learn that since NAU is pushing back posting of degrees due to the finals week snow day, she cannot complete her certification until the end of January. Sorry Marcos kids, that means I can't sub for you guys until February. :( December 31, 2009 at 9:24am Melanie Openshaw I thought that would be the case. Sucks for us. Really badly. December 31, 2009 at 9:56am Emilie Doering Well at least you can sub in time to cover Shryock during tour! December 31, 2009 at 10:19am Tess Gray True, Emilie. Just stinks because he'll be needing a sub next week. December 31, 2009 at 12:14pm
Tess Gray wants to know: Have you ever had a headache so excruciating that you've considered getting your left eye amputated, just to remove the pain, or is that just me? December 31, 2009 at 5:22pm Seriously, it was baaad. It stuck around for two days.
JANUARY
Tess Gray had great sisterly/aunty New Year's fun tonight, even though this durn headache never completely went away. January 1, 2010 at 1:23am Had a Wii night at Whitney's. We played Super Mario Bros. and this one new card game, and made confetti because this was the first year Chloe's stayed up until midnight for the New Year's countdown. She was so cute! :)
Tess Gray is wondering why her internal clock won't let her sleep a full 8 hours, even though it's later in the morning than usual. At least the migraine appears to have subsided... Oh well... Happy New Year, one and all! January 1, 2010 at 8:56am Seriously though... I wanted to sleep! Well, it's kind of in part because I'm house sitting again right now, and sleeping in a bed I'm not used to just doesn't work well for me. I wake up several times during the night, and can't find a comfortable position to sleep in. I usually fall asleep on my stomach, and it weirds me out that I turn so much in my sleep in an unfamiliar bed that I wake up in the middle of the night on my back. I can't fall asleep until I turn back to my stomach again. Strange, I know.
So... It took me three days, but I did it: copied all of my FB statuses chronologically, formatted the text, put in my hindsight commentary, added any pictures or videos that fit in, and basically relived my semester several times. Well, now you're all caught up with my life! Today is Sunday, January 3rd, 2010... Like I said before, I haven't really been excited for a new year or anything. It's just another month that I've been scrimping and saving to make a car payment for. I think the thing that makes me most excited about it being a new year is that all of the Christmas decorations come down and life gets back to normal. Don't get me wrong, I like to be in the Christmas spirit, but when you're a choir person you get Christmas music starting in October, if not earlier, and there's so much build up and preparation for the holiday concert/gig extravaganza that the ending of the season is more a relief than a downer. Life forges on.
This is also the first new year since I was four that I haven't had a school semester to look forward to that would plan my life for me for at least the next five months. I'm uncertain as to what 2010 will have in store for me. Will I get this office job I interviewed for? I find out tomorrow! Will I finally be able to substitute? I sure hope so! Will I get my first teaching job in the fall? Only time may tell. In the mean time, I leave you with my current Facebook Status:
Tess Gray sometimes feels like she should carry a FAQ sheet with her wherever she goes. January 3, 2010 at 11:18am Tess Gray
...With answers such as, "No, I didn't do distance learning from NAU, I just came down from Flagstaff for my student teaching." "No, I don't automatically have a teaching job lined up. I'll probably be working in an office for at least the next 7 months. Thanks for reminding me." and "Yes, I'm aware that music education doesn't provide as many job opportunities as other degrees, but I'd appreciate you not being an insensitive jerk by suggesting I get a job at Wal*Mart." January 3, 2010 at 11:18am Josiah Sanchez WOW! That's good questions to have answers to. Was that last one really mentioned? lol January 3, 2010 at 11:24am Allison Romero You tell 'em, Tess. January 3, 2010 at 11:24am Melanie Openshaw amen. Especially to the last one. January 3, 2010 at 11:27am Tess Gray Yeah, Josiah... There's a reason it's on the FAQ. That's what you have to look forward to! January 3, 2010 at 11:40am
