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Well, today is Founder's Day and I am nominated for a Founder's Day Award so I get to take off school. Woo!
... But actualy... nope. I am sad. I miss my high schoolers. The day seems to go by so much slower when I am not teaching (which is great on the weekends). I seriously miss those kids. Gross. I've become one of those sentimental student teachers and I've only been there for about 3 weeks now. Ugh.
Seriously though, I love my students. I cant say it enough. Sure, some of them go out of their way to test my limits: I.E. Tyler who keeps trying to convince me that his mom died in a car accident (not true... and totally immature) or Davy who loves to talk and play his damn tenor sax way too loud. But even those two stand outs are exceptionally genuine and fun. Tyler works well with me in percussion because I can do creative attention things with him and Davy loves every one so he goes out of his way to help me.
Yesterday, I went shopping for jazz band swing music with Steve. It was fun going through the stacks, and he purchased all of the music I picked out. I felt ultra-awesome about that considering I have little jazz background. However, I technically cheated, because I just picked out all of the swing music I used to sound design Much Ado freshman year. (WHAT... I won an award and an ACTF nomination with that design! People like my musical choices!)
I also did orchestra warmups for the first time, which didn't go so hot. For some reason, I have a hard time tuning the strings by ear. I am just not used to hearing the sound. With orchestra, I feel totally lost, but the kids are really patient and can translate my band lingo into string terminology. I just hope I get better at it with time. I've been practicing strings and percussion to keep up with my students, and it seems to be helping at least my understanding of what they have to do. As for my brass chops... not so much, but I know enough to tell them when they are playing the wrong partial, how to fix band tone quality, etc.
And of course, I sent out my FIRST resume and letter of inquiry today! It was to a school near my hometown. I dont think I have a shot, but it was exciting none the less. I've actually applied for two positions online so far, but this was a snail mail thing, which I prefer. I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on how my search goes. But I should be hearing back from Teach For America within the next two weeks on if I get to go to the third interview or not. I have my fingers crossed on that one!