My turn...

Well, the same sickness that has quickly been taking all of my students out of school these past weeks unfortunately did the same to me, guess its my turn. I definitely feel and identify with the students that have been hit by it.....its awful. So between coughing myself into a stupor and passing out or just being achy I have tried to get some work done. We have a concert next week on tuesday, and then we are starting our next concert literature. I really need to get my proposal finished up now that we know what music is going to be used. Hope it all works out.
Hope everyone is staying healthy!!
Hang in there in this snow too, and see everyone soon.

The Merry-go-round

I have been writing in a journal since school started. I found it more relaxing and reflective to do it in a book rather than on my computer. Tonight I happened to think I should start back up on here, so here I am.
Right now I am working on getting MAT homework done before I get insanely busy. The week of our next classes I also have the opening of my show Doubt at Eastern. It will be a delicate balance but I am really looking forward to both, the classes and the show. Luckily the people I am involved with in the show are being very understanding about the MAT program being my #1 and the show a close #2, its been working out great and its a good outlet to have after an intense day at school.
I hope everyone is enjoying their placements; the classes, the students, the exhaustion, the teaching, the learning.....all of it!!
I Would love to know what people have been doing as an outlet in their personal lives outside of school?? I have found that doing things like biking, painting, cooking, watching a Movie!!! to be treasured time as well as my time at school is also treasured as an amazing opportunity to learn from all time spent there even if its walking the halls, or going to a pep assembly, and of coarse the opportunities to teach. It is an interesting and delicate balance keep these to parts of your life balanced and both thriving. Hope people are finding ways!!
Take Care

Ist day of official buisness, which for teacher is still always a hoot.

So, today started out with a long row of tables covered in the largest amount of doughnuts I have ever seen gathered in one place, at the same time, in my entire life.
We then proceeded to mingle, and listen to some introductions and jokes :). There were union meetings and a few business details to discuss and then we heard about the DI plan that looks to take place over about 3 years. It was surprisingly familiar due to the fact I think we covered a lot of its goals and ideas in our first 3 weeks of class.
We then had staff meetings at our school we would be teaching at, and discussed a lot of things that were either pretty standard or were new due to the new principal and changes and growth in general that always take place.
I had a special situation in that I didn't get to see my cooperating teacher yet. His wife had a baby yesterday and so gladly he is with his family and wasn't able to make it to the meetings today. I hope all is well with the new baby and his family and I am looking forward to starting up school!!!

Reflection

Week two just finished yesterday. In action research I realized how fast these three weeks are going by and it makes me think about how fast this year will go. Taking time to pause is going to be so important if only to slow things down to be able to appreciate it more. I can tell that there will be times when all you want is for weeks to be weekends and school to be breaks. But I don't want to get caught in the count down and loose details in the blur.

Classes/Action Research

I meant to get on here last night and write about how I was feeling about Action Research and classes so far. I have to admit I am a bit overwhelmed in action research. I always get foggy and a bit overwhelmed when reading research and things that seem to be over my head.
Feeling lost and a bit under qualified is stressful but taking breaths....
:) I listened to some Sigur Ros last night and just tried to relax and enjoy the the stars.
Hope everyone is finding ways to relax and deal with all of this information and our classes so far!
Sigur Ros is wonderful, listen to it a bit.

Inspiration

Each day, I find things in life and meet people who inspire me to look at things in new ways and learn new things. In staring this new journey, I know I will come across amazing finds, new experiences, moments of excitement and success and moments of frustration. I hope this blog is a wonderful collection of life long remembered experiences, new finds, and creative thoughts about teaching and life that come about from working with students in music and in the school.
Randomness-
A beautiful piece of art I came across today: