Teaching Basics

I am a teacher.

I am a teacher of 382 Kindergarten through 6th grade students for 180 days of each year.

Every day I try my best with my kids.
Everyday I kindly greet them at the door.
Everyday I try to keep the expectations the same.
Everyday I try to create a fun and energetic atmosphere, to not only convince them that music is fun, but to convince them that they love music.

I try to keep my lessons organized.
I try to manage each student in a firm but loving way.
I try to use positive language to correct behavior.
I try to pull them in with enthusiasm.
I try to make them laugh.
I try and make them feel great about everything musical they produce
........... And I try to keep it cool when one, or all of these things don't work out.

I try all these things for 180 days of each year. Sometimes I fail and thank the good Lord above that no one was there to witness the tragedy, and sometimes I succeed to the point that I wish an administrator or colleague was there to watch.....just to prove that "See? I AM good at this!"

These are all the things that every teacher deals with on a daily basis. It soon becomes very obvious why teachers think and talk a lot about teaching. Let's face it. We try so hard and care so much about how our behavior/skill effects our kids, that it becomes personal and.....dare I say it.......emotional. I don't care how good you are at 'not taking your work home' with you. This is a fact, to some degree, with every educator in the world.

Unfortunately, this 'emotional attachment' results in a lot of competition.......especially in the music education world........and it is this innate competition that has had me doing a lot of thinking lately.

In the music education world ones 'success' tends to be all about what place your marching band got, about how your group did at festival, about how many of your kids were accepted to All-State, about if your group was asked to play at Conference, or just simply how many kids are willingly a part of your program.

The listed things above are literally topics of conversation at every music teacher gathering, no matter how big or small. Now let me be clear....I am not ignorant to the fact that all of these things are absolutely something to be proud of and excited about. I also realize that if one or all of these things are happening, the credited teacher is doing something right. Clearly their teaching results in these successes. I am worried however, that the basic importance of teaching is often pushed aside, or rather.....not emphasized enough. Please let me explain:

This is my fourth year of teaching, and while I feel much more confident about my skills, I know that I still have a long way to go. In my present position at Spanaway Elementary, (to the best of my knowledge) I filled a position that has had a series of mediocre music teachers for the past.... let's say.....few years. Selfishly, this was a great position to fill. As a result, everything I have done is 100x better than most of what they had before.....by default alone. After my first few months alone, I could confidently say that my kids liked me and even enjoyed coming to music- which rumor has it......was not the case before. I even had/have a historically large enrollment in my choir. Maybe it was because they felt that I cared about them and loved teaching.....but most likely was because I made my lessons fun and age appropriate. Either way, I should be proud of what I've done. While my accomplishments haven't looked fancy on paper, I would venture to say it has been the best 'musical experience' these kids have ever had.

And still... even after all this, I have recently felt terrible about my successes as a teacher. The competition that is integrated into the music education culture has left me feeling sub par, left me feeling...... less than adequate. Keep in mind that I've just explained how hard I try, how I give everything I know.....and still the culture of music education leaves me feeling not good enough.

One particular general music teacher comes to mind who is simply amazing. In our music meetings she shares techniques, ideas, excitement and the loads of success stories that come along with it. Since we have similar teaching styles, I really do love to hear what she has to say and I love gleaning new ideas from her. But I also find myself sad about the fact that I'm not getting the same results or upset that I was excited about what I was doing but it's clearly not as good as what's going on in her (or his...or whoevers...) program.

Now before you get all worried about my emotional health or state of mind, I do realize that these feelings or thoughts are fairly healthy......especially for such an emotional career. (yes. admit it, all you 'infallible' band teachers out there. This is fact.) Because we all know that if your thinking of these things, it means you're trying to learn how to become better. But, let's not forget that I really am trying my best everyday....... So the question still stands.....

How do I try so hard and not get results like that? How come they have such a clearer picture of how to teach this technique or grade level? How come my choir doesn't sound like that? .......Essentially we ask ourselves.........How do they do that????

Maybe it's innate. Maybe they spend every weekend in their classrooms planning. Maybe they spend every weekend at a clinic or workshop. Maybe they have higher expectations. Maybe their student 'clientele' is easier to work with. Maybe they spend every evening at school dealing with various performances that their groups have been committed to. Maybe they don't have a life outside of school.........or maybe, it just comes naturally. Either way, they're teachers, who for some reason get results. But in the end, am I any less of a teacher than the folks who kids are sent to all-state and whose bands win every competition? I would like to think not. and it angers me that people (including me) would even consider such a question.

In the end It should all come down to what the kids feel and more importantly........ how you make them feel. Do the kids love seeing you every day? Do the kids go out of their way to have a conversation with you? Do the kids respect what you teach in rehearsal? Do the kids still search for your approval even when everything went wrong in rehearsal? While I know that 'numbers' in your program and 'festival wins' sometimes reflect all these positive and wonderful attributes.....I think people forget that often times these things can happen even when your successes aren't obvious to the public.

So I propose a big fat 'cheers' to all the good teachers out there that don't get all the public recognition they deserve. Cheers to all the teachers out there who get kids to love music regardless.
And cheers to all the teachers who work their butts off everyday for the sheer benefit of kids.
Cheers to all you 'unknown' teachers out there.......
You've done good.

My 4th Grader's Nutrition Raps

Our school recently received a 'nutrition grant'. It's been super cool because it basically provides fresh fruit and veggie snacks for the entire school, every day. A lot of these kids have never tried some of the food- (blood oranges, green peppers, kiwi)- and they will literally run to the fridge every morning and after school and eat all the left overs. I've never seen kids so excited over fresh fruits and veggies.
So.....because of all the 'nutrition excitement', we had a 'nutrition family game night'. My fourth graders performed. I had them all write nutrition 'raps' about the food they've tried this year.
We talked about rhyming words and syllables.
These are the ones we performed, hope you enjoy : )

Cherries and Berries

Cherries, cherries
They're kinda like berries
Berries, berries
They're kinda like cherries.
Whicka, whicka Whack!
See you Mack!

Apple Rap

Apples, Apples, make my tongue POP!
Radish, radish makes my crunchin' stop!
Love the fruit, love the color (KUH-LAH)
Love the taste like I love my mother (MUH-THAH)
Here's the ending, which makes me sad,
But I don't like grapefruit, it makes me mad!

Raspberries

Raspberries, raspberries, they are sweet
Raspberries are such a good treat
They are red and just so juicy
I like them because they're fruity.
Man I like them, but do you?
If you don't then just FOO YOU!


And...this is why I teach elementary school. Talk about hilarious.

Snow Rant.

I hate to be the pessimist in all this ‘snow glory’, but really?
Is there no one who doesn’t like the snow?
It’s great for the first day, cause it’s a novelty. And honestly, no one can rightfully deny the beauty of the scenery.
I’ll admit. The first day (even two) I enjoyed it. School was canceled, I didn’t have to go anywhere, and I have a dog that has never seen the snow.
Yes, it was one of those ‘parent’ moments where you can’t wait to see your child’s (or in our case, our dog’s) reaction to something completely foreign and new to their lives. I wanted to see it. I wanted to play in it. Just to watch her enjoy it. ..and possibly look really silly in it.
We walked, we slid (with her pulling the dickens out of my arm and my traction-free rubber rain boots), we played. She pounced and bounced. She burrowed and searched. For her beloved tennis ball. We had a great time.
Then I was done.
I want to officially erase the snow.
I want it gone.
So I can drive without stupid people.
So I can finish my Christmas shopping without fishtailing around the road.
So I can simply walk from my car to the store without wet feet.
I hate wet feet.
When your feet are cold, you are cold.
When you are cold, all you can think about is being cold.
So, at the risk of sounding utterly negative and ruining the ‘let it snow’ happy moods of everyone here on the west side….. I must tell the truth.
I don’t want it here.
I wish it would rain.
And that’s that.
The end.

The Gabster.

So... those of you who know us....know that we have recently acquired (slash, purposely purchased) a dog.
Being our first pet.....she has come with a lot of interesting experiences. Which, I suddenly realized are pretty blog worthy.
I thought it might be entertaining to write 'the whole' story......and maybe a few more- of our dog, Gabi. The German Short-haired pointer.
So here it goes.

Gabi is a rescue dog.
She was passed around to about three different homes and two different shelters before we got her. She was supposedly found starving somewhere in the forest when she was first picked up. and probably was attacked by a dog somewhere along the line.

The family who gave her to us, was really nice and had two young kids. One was 6 and the other was a 6th grader. So clearly, they
wre already busy people. They were trying to find a home of 'dog parents' who could
"spend more time with Gabi"
and
"give her the exercise she needs"
(two phrases we later found out, should be red flags)
and we thought,
"well sure! we don't have any kids and we like to exercise, right?"
So we got really excited about the possibilities......
We were going to go hiking, running, play fetch at the park, go swimming. The possibilities were endless. We were sold before we even met the dog.
So the day came when they brought our new dog over to the house.
She was fun. we played fetch.We liked her, needless to say (cause she's adorable).
The family also liked us. So they just dropped her off and said “let’s just see how she does tonight. And we’ll bring over her stuff in the morning”
After a couple signatures, a check to the rescue shelter and some good-byes, the dog was ours. No trial period here.

The next couple weeks proved to be very stressful. She, (to our naive surprise) had pretty severe separation anxiety. She destroyed our blinds when I went out to get the mail. We locked her in the garage for an hour and she tore all the rubber from from the bottom of the garage door. We put her in the backyard (even in a dog run in the backyard) and she continued to jump both 6 foot fences and dig a couple holes.

I’ll never forget my phone call to the previous owners. Hoping and praying that the woman who had also been interested in Gabi would still be interested in Gabi.
Turns out, she just got another dog. We were too late.

A month went by and Gabi calmed down a little. We started crating her when we left (so we knew nothing would be destroyed when we came home). But- her anxiety and energy levels were so high that she was never satisfied with the tons of exercise we gave her (leaving us exhausted after a day at school)
I'd take her for a 5 mile run... 5 minutes later she was whining and barking at the door. then we'd go and play ball in the yard.....five minutes later, the whole she-bang all over again.
ON TOP OF THIS, we introduced her to both our parents dogs and she bit them both by the neck (apparently she had some dog- dog issues as well...surprise!)
Oh and did I forget to mention, that amidst all this chaos and stress and 'seeming nightmare'
......we fell in love with our dog. She had enough glimpses of sweet and good heartedness that we truly believe we can work through it.
My mother in-law said,
“She really wants to be a good dog, she just doesn't know how.” It was as as true a statement as any. And we really wanted to believe it.

So we are trying everything possible to make it work before we consider the alternative (getting rid of her).
I'm pretty sure we'd be very depressed if it came to that.

We enrolled her in obedience classes with other dogs- so we could become the 'alpha dog' and so she could get socialized (which has been pretty successful).
We also (this a rare case) got her some doggie riddalin. She is pretty badly OCD about a lot of things and this medicine has been helping. We are still on a trial though. We don't want our dog to be 'medicated'- but we do need her to be happy and satisfied.
Here's the upside- we have a friend to take to the park.
We have a friend to sit on the couch with (did I say, the couch? oh....I meant the floor....)
I have a running partner.
And we have a new member of the family.
She is honestly the most cuddly, athletic dog out there. And she is showing improvement every day. Almost.
So there it is. Our dog. Gabi. The German short-haired pointer.

All Things English

I love England.

Here are a few pictures that represent "All things English"

Hope you enjoy.

"until eleven bells"

England DAY 1!!!

London!!!!

DAY 1-

We landed in the UK this morning about 10 or 11 pm, our time. We arrived at Windsor at 9:00 am....bummer. Good thing we tylenol pm-ed it on the plane ride.

We drove through the countryside toward Windsor- the home of the Queen. We were fortunate enough to score the double decker bus, and from the larger-windowed top deck, we could see for miles. Gorgeous... (a word used a lot around here, to describe food, mostly), greenery, grass and deciduous trees separating the plots of pasture containting century+ old homes, horses and sheep.

 I couldn't help but notice there are no "housing developments" around here- and even when there are closely knit houses, they're built in such a way that respects the historical surroundings; sporadically placing factory lots and tall sky scraper-like buildings instead of clumping them together the "American city" way. 

We arrived in Windsor, England during what Adam likes to call, "the magical hour". The sun was still at a sharp angle, creating shadows that look straight from an Edward Hopper painting.

I've seen a few "river walk" paths along the Thames River and was in awe by their simple and elegant setup; sturdy wooden fences and lightly graveled paths. It seems that cement is America's material of choice and it's taking over, quite literally. If only America wasn't quite so aware of convenience. 

Upon our arrival in Windsor,

we headed to the castle and got our audio tour guides. 

It was oricinally built on a hill for defense purposes, so there are a lot of beautifully built (3 meters thick) stone wall with openings to shoot arrows out of.

How cool is that?

We went into the church (no pictures allowed, unfortunately), and stood on the grounds where many kings and queens of England are buried. Walking on top of and/or directly next to their graves was a bit surreal, especially in such an ornate cathedral. We were lucky today. The church organist was practicing during our walk through.....pretty big sound.

My brother Ryan and his wife Mariko asked a local where they could get some good, authentic English food. They were directed to the local cafe in......wait for it.....that's right.....you guessed it.....Woolworths. Walking past the random clothing, make-up and tylenol, I felt a little weird about eating there. But this was definately the local greasy spoon- and I was kind of excited to try it. Here was the menu:

Adam and I- 

Meat pie and chips. I was a little hesitant, being that we just watched Sweeny Todd, but where else can you order 'meat pie', I mean seriously!

It was super rich and beef brothy.....well worth trying, but I'll probably never order it again.

Dad- 

Brunch.... two deep fried sausages (bangers), 2 eggs, pork and beans, ridiculously thick bacon, and stewed tomatoes.

Interesting to say the least : )

Mom-

Fish and chips with malt vinegar. 

This was actually a whole fried fish, scales, head, and all. Very good though.

After the heavy meal, espresso was in order. .

2 double espressos w/brown sugar and 2 americanos, for HERE, please.

Absolutely, hands down, better than D & M, Pioneer, and Starbucks, COMBINED. Period.

 

Our city coordinator and tour guide, Trudy, is glorious. She could say anything to us with her accent. 

Imagine cute English accent.

"Alright, you little sausages"

"Angels,.....Angels...look to your left and you'll see...."

England Day 3- the Bloody Tower....OOOOOoooooo!

Yesterday we spent a lot of time on the bus with our sweet, sweet, tour guide, Trudy. It was a relief on our tired bodies. We did make a stop at the Tower of London- which was really interesting. 

She told us a version of this story while we stood in front of the infamous Bloody Tower. (imagine with a British accent)

"We have a family dog- a golden retriever. He goes everywhere with me- in fact, he is always by my side- even when I enter the master bathroom. But, I always thought it funny that he would never follow me into the family bathroom. 

One day, I walked out to get the mail and my dog was close behind, as always. My beautiful neighbors were out in their yard that day and they made a comment like "that dog follows you everywhere doesn't he?"

So I replied, "why yes he does, but I find it funny that he will never go into the family bathroom. He'll go everywhere else, but there."

Trudy continued and said her lovely neighbor's faces suddenly fell white and they replied, 

"Oh Trudy, didn't you know? the woman who used to live in your home took her own life in that bathroom.""

So it suddenly made sense why the dog would go everywhere but that bathroom.

So APPARENTLY, (keep this story in mind), every dog that ever has lived on the Tower of London premises, has gone everywhere on the grounds EXCEPT the Bloody Tower.

Royalty has been murdered there, people have disappeared there, ghosts have shown up in pictures.....creepy stuff.

So the moral of the story is.........dogs are smart and the Bloody Tower is creepy.

The End.

We also saw the grounds of many unjustified be-headings. Annoyed with your brother? What to be the Queen? Just plain bored? Just kill 'em! 

Here are some pictures you might enjoy:

We ate lunch at the Natural Sciences museum. Totally fun. I have never seen a real dinosaur display. It was claustrophobically crowded (as was most of the trip), but worth it (as was most of the trip). The building was also fun, very 'Night at the Museum'

The British Museum was our next stop. Greek mythology has always been a favorite academic topic of mine, so these sculptures in real life were a real treat. It was like being transported to another time.

I also loved the Egyptian displays....as do most people. It LOVE observing how each culture has its own distinct style, yet similar ideas and ways to create art. Fun stuff.

Dinner was authentically English- at an English pub with English Ale, and the English version of pub food. We asked a local where we should go (in fact, we asked an employee of another pub that didn't serve food). 

We were led to a corner pub that was super hip and filled with locals. Apparently the English don't typically eat food with their beer, so the bartender didn't even know if the kitchen was open.....luckily they were. : )

We had some 'pub food' (which in America would only be considered appetizers....) -  pan fried chorizo, warm bread, hummus, salsa, all sorts of goodness with a beer on tap. Craig's beer was uncarbonated and served warm- all the dark beers are. Ours was cold because they were wheat beers. I was glad. Pretty strong flavors in comparison to the typical American beer though. 

Overall our meal was brilliant....simply brilliant. 

A wonderful way to put a close to a wonderful country.