I am thick into the third week of school now and I find myself constantly comparing this year to last year. I have done a Venn diagram ("Venn" being the Final Jeopardy answer tonight which I knew by the way...) in my head several times just for the heck of it. Mostly though I ask myself if certain things are better or worse.
Better: my teaching. All around, I think I can credit my improved teaching to an extreme increase in patience. I'm not constantly frustrated because I haven't been cramming too much information into one lesson and expecting way too much from my students. When kids are being kids (e.g. talking, plucking, being stupid, asking too many questions, not using common sense, etc...) I don't feel as annoyed as I used to. I am very good at waiting for quiet before I give instructions and I've been better at letting kids do things themselves even though I could do it faster.
Worse: my overall physical being. Well, I guess it depends on how I look at it. Yeah yeah, I have the miracle of life inside me. However my feet are swollen, my back aches, and I am way slow. It is also hard to squeeze through chairs and stands to reach a student's collapsed violin wrist without whacking some poor twelve-year-old's scroll with my jigungous belly. Or ass, let's be honest.
Better: my 8th grade. Holy smokes I love working with these kids. They are my babies that I started last summer and they are rock stars. I lost about twelve kids who decided to drop orchestra. A couple of them were decent, none were outstanding. All of my core players stuck with it though and now the group is stronger than ever. We're playing some tough literature and they are just eating it up!
Worse: the level of talent in the 7th grade. In general last year's bunch, my current 8th graders, were more talented I think. I have a lot of "special" kids this year that need plenty of TLC. It still astounds me that many of them can't open their instrument lockers. Seriously. I've been patient and helpful, but for real, how can you still not open your locker??? I had two kids sit for a half hour of class practicing opening their locks. They had to open them five times before they could join the group. And it took a half hour. Another kid that was really grinding my gears who I was sure would not show up with an instrument this week, which was the cut off for getting moved to a different class, walks in with an instrument, starter kit, and brand new shoulder rest! I couldn't believe it, I was ready to send him to guidance to change his schedule. The kicker is that he wants to play viola but he got a violin. Lord, beer me strength...
Better: my social life at school. Bottom line is I have more friends, people greet me with smiles and "Hello's" in the hall, and I enjoy lunch time. I think maybe people just like a pregnant lady, I dunno. Or I baked them into a quasi-friendship last year and they're just hoping for sweets. I brought banana bread today... What? I want everyone to like me!
Some characters:
A chubby violin boy with a stutter who comes and lightly taps me on the shoulder repeatedly until I acknowledge him. Sweeter than cherry pie. But stop poking me.
A four-foot nothing round-faced kid who had to drop orchestra because he couldn't get an instrument who walked all the way down to guidance but forgot why he was going them so just sat down under the stairs until some teacher discovered him. I got a phone call asking why he was there...
The smallest bass player I've ever seen who rubs his belly and asks, "How's Graham cookin'?" every time I see him. He also is never where he is supposed to be and I'm 90% sure he is going to break an instrument before the semester is over. Probably by "helping someone" across the room. I caught him trying to teach some violinist how to use their bow. Seriously, go back to your seat and stop messing people up.
Lenny from "Of Mice and Men" whose name is actually Lenny. Plays the cello.
My girl who gives me pictures every day. And describes how she sketched each line of each drawing and why she loves this character and have I seen "Legend of the Guardians?" No and you're weird. But go tape up your picture next to the last one you gave me.
A funny kid story to round off my first week:
One of my special kids, a cellist from this summer, cracked me up last week. I announced to the class, "Anyone who remembered their signed performance agreement and information sheet come form a line up here and you get a Jolly Rancher!" So the kids line up, hand me their paper, and pick a candy. My special cellist gets to the front of the line with no paper and he whispers, "I don't know what we're doing, I just got in line because everyone else was..." I tried not to burst out laughing. It turned out he actually had his paper and was able to retrieve it and get a piece of candy. A happy ending.
