A Zach Update and other news
Zach is doing much better. He doesn't seem to be in pain anymore, the swelling has almost completely gone down and he can open his eye nearly all the way. He's also stopped hiding under my bed, so he must be feeling better. He hates getting the goo put in his eye. Every time I do it he wriggles and tries to get away for a minute and then goes completely submissive and floppy after it's done. I feel guilty every time I do it, but as I explain to him, it has to be done.
In other news, I'm going to meet with a guy from a music school next week to discuss potentially teaching there on weekends. It's in Canning Vale, which is quite far away, but it looks like they have a well structured program which includes early-childhood (2-5 year olds) lessons. I'm a little skeptical about how one would go about teaching music to a two year old (I think it may be more of an activity thing rather than actual classes), but it would certainly be interesting to be involved in this and see for myself how much the kids get out of it.
I'm looking forward to getting back to the schools this week. I think I developed a lot of teaching techniques on the run last term and didn't really have time to consolidate properly. Now that I've had a chance over the holidays to reflect on what did and didn't work, and to develop some ideas a bit further, I think that this term will be much more fun and much less hectic.
Also, I won't be teaching at my least-liked school (the one full of snots) until week three since that's my Monday school and there public holidays/pupil free days in weeks one and two. It's good not to have to think about a few headache kids for an extra couple of weeks, but it will also mean that I'm basically going to be starting from scratch again with some of the younger students who I know will not have practiced over the holidays. Two weeks may have been salvageable, but four weeks will be a disaster.
I've been composing piano pieces again. It seems to help me sleep better when I spend an hour or two writing in the evenings, and since it has started to become a habit, my mind has started automatically switching to composition mode around eight o'clock each night. I just finished a piece which I have titled "Sunrise" and am quickly growing fond of. Now I'm working a few kinks out of "Zach's Day Out", which is my first truly jazzy composition.
I'm seeing the doctor about my finger next week. I smooshed it with a keyboard stand about a month ago and while the swelling and bruising is gone, it's still painful (particularly in the mornings for some reason) and hurts to bend too far. I'm sure it wasn't broken, since I imagine that to be infinitely more painful than this, but there's something not right with it and I (literally) can't afford to have a finger out of commission.
In other news, I'm going to meet with a guy from a music school next week to discuss potentially teaching there on weekends. It's in Canning Vale, which is quite far away, but it looks like they have a well structured program which includes early-childhood (2-5 year olds) lessons. I'm a little skeptical about how one would go about teaching music to a two year old (I think it may be more of an activity thing rather than actual classes), but it would certainly be interesting to be involved in this and see for myself how much the kids get out of it.
I'm looking forward to getting back to the schools this week. I think I developed a lot of teaching techniques on the run last term and didn't really have time to consolidate properly. Now that I've had a chance over the holidays to reflect on what did and didn't work, and to develop some ideas a bit further, I think that this term will be much more fun and much less hectic.
Also, I won't be teaching at my least-liked school (the one full of snots) until week three since that's my Monday school and there public holidays/pupil free days in weeks one and two. It's good not to have to think about a few headache kids for an extra couple of weeks, but it will also mean that I'm basically going to be starting from scratch again with some of the younger students who I know will not have practiced over the holidays. Two weeks may have been salvageable, but four weeks will be a disaster.
I've been composing piano pieces again. It seems to help me sleep better when I spend an hour or two writing in the evenings, and since it has started to become a habit, my mind has started automatically switching to composition mode around eight o'clock each night. I just finished a piece which I have titled "Sunrise" and am quickly growing fond of. Now I'm working a few kinks out of "Zach's Day Out", which is my first truly jazzy composition.
I'm seeing the doctor about my finger next week. I smooshed it with a keyboard stand about a month ago and while the swelling and bruising is gone, it's still painful (particularly in the mornings for some reason) and hurts to bend too far. I'm sure it wasn't broken, since I imagine that to be infinitely more painful than this, but there's something not right with it and I (literally) can't afford to have a finger out of commission.