Life of Larberg v.22
The funny thing about my mom coming to visit is that it always results in a mass amount of food suddenly appearing in my house. It's magical. A poof of smoke and BAM my fridge is suddenly stocked with food.
The food looks so uncomfortable in the fridge, too. I feel bad for it. There's no elbow room in there.
I suppose in a few days it'll be back to normal. She'll be back in Vermont and my fridge will go back to the solitary days of Soy Milk, Orange Juice, Ketchup, and Parmesan Tomato Sauce presiding over the barren land of my top shelf.
Her visit's been good though. Things were a little out of the ordinary on Sunday when she got here. I had a lot of things on my mind (ooooo... being elusive.. I know I know...) but Mom and I went over to Valerie and Ahmad's to see Mina. We've had some quality time together. It's nice. I love my mom.
The big news of my life approaching is the inevitable coming of MPA: Music Performance Assessment. All the middle school choirs in our district are adjudicated publicly. It's nerve-racking. Does my choir match up? Am I a bad teacher? Are there things I haven't taught them??
It's a tortuous race of questions in my mind. But today I had a boost of confidence when Greg LeFils came in to workshop with them. MPA is Friday and he came this afternoon. He liked their sound. Loved their sight-singing. And overall, was very helpful. I feel MUCH better after his rehearsal with them today.
I also enjoyed sharing all the new things I've come up with for my class with him. He's a music teacher - so he got it. It was so much fun to share. (Beware: Music Teacher Uninteresting stuff in next paragraph - skip if necessary.)
But I have so many neat little systems I came up with! and it was neat to hear someone else get excited by them. Like how I start the day with Theory Journals on the board and then they stand for rhythm. Each part of the day is repeated every day so they're almost programmed to know what to do each day. They always learn something new and they're always on their feet and moving around every 15 minutes to the next "section" of class. After rhythm they walk to the board for solfege, I give them until the end of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 to get water, then we sing, and then we end the class period with a game in the fun room. I have a "diva desk" for students who don't want to sing and a "potatohead pass" for students have to use the bathroom in the middle of class. It's a very active and unique classroom setting and he liked it.
Another thing I did last week which I would HIGHLY recommend was have a completely SILENT DAY. Oh my God it was awesome. I lost my voice (which, yeah, sucks) because I was suffering from overall exhaustion, lack of sleep etc. However, I wasn't sick. So instead of calling in sick I decided to just go to school and have a completely silent day. ALL day long I communicated with whistles and signs and by writing things down for the students. It was theee beeessst daaaay everrrrr. We had a lot of fun AND the classroom was nearly always quiet. Not a peep. Absolutely quiet.
They really got into it. Except my autistic kids. They thought that just because I couldn't speak, I also couldn't HEAR so they would write down questions and comments and bring them up to the front of the room in class. Oh goodness, I love that class. They're adorable.
Mikado opens next week. I need to memorize my lines in Act II.
I went to a neat Theatre Conference in Eustis this past week, too. Jeffrey let me sit in on the meeting and listen to various theatre administration discussions in a roundtable setting. I didn't contribute but I appreciated being able to go. It was fascinating. Just a ping-pong of ideas.
Our Broadway Revue concert went well last week at school. Parents were pleased. I'm relieved.
I'm reading Breakfast at Tiffany's now. I lost my copy of David Sedaris' NAKED which I sense is going to be announced boldly and loudly the next time I go to the library. Like, they just sense my incoming embarrassment as they lean into the microphone to announce that MA'AM YOU HAVE A LATE FEE OF $50,000 ON AN ITEM CALLED......scrutinizes computer screen... NAKED.
It's not a book actually about being naked.
I swear.
Anyway, hope all is well.
Love and Adjudication,
LaraLouise