I haven't had much time since my last post. So much for an "update"... I will update my update....
No more boyfriend... Oh well... Still looking :P

No more teaching elementary school music for a while. I was hired on as a full-time middle school band and choir director. My elementary job was only a half-time deal. The middle school job is full-time... I could go into a rant about how music teaching positions should NEVER be cut to half time, but I'll get into that some other time.

I had a really good recital at the end of May. It was just for the fun of it. All of my recitals prior to this were really stressful because they were for a grade. It's nice to know that beneath all of that stress, I can still have fun with it. It was a lot of work, and many hours of practice, but so worth it because it was laid back and I really made MUSIC. I didn't just play the notes. I put my heart into it, which is what it is all about.

I'm a little nervous about this new teaching job. OK... I'm a LOT nervous about this new teaching job. I have been involved with band for about 10 years, so most people would think that I would have it down, but I have never been a director. I'm not worried about the music. I'm worried about the directing part. I feel the same about choir. I can sing, read music, play piano, etc., but just the organization of it all is a little overwhelming. I'll survive, I'm sure (I hope).

HOT HOT HOT... That's the weather for West Virginia right now. It is so hot that I do not go outside much. I watered the trees and shrubs we planted last week in the front yard and that's about it. Next summer, I am traveling.

Life Update

I am a teacher now. I teach elementary music during the day, and piano lessons in the evenings. It all happened very quickly. I graduated December 15th, and woke up on the 16th nice and early for my first day on the job. This isn't a substitute deal, either. I have a contract! Any other time I have is spent practicing piano for a recital I plan on having in May.
New nephew--- Levi Shawn, January 8th, 2012...
New boyfriend
Other than that, my life has been pretty uneventful, which is OK with me.

I lost 15 pounds over a period of a month without trying... I hope it's just from teaching and not eating like a college kid.

My 23rd birthday: May 4th
Glenville State College Commencement: May 5th
Mary Sue Bailey: 3.72 GPA= MAGNA CUM LAUDE!!!

2012 recital selections:
Haydn's Piano Sonata in D Major Hob. 50
Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2, Prelude Op. 24 No. 28, Grand Valse Brillante
Satie's Gymnopedie
Grieg's Hochzeitstag auf Troldhaugen, Schmetterling---from the Lyric Pieces
My very own "Procellae Pacis", and perhaps a new premiere (haven't decided at this point)

Reflections from student teaching at FES

Monday,
October 17th, 2011
Today was the first day in my second placement at Fairdale Elementary School. Compared to the
schools near Glenville, this one is huge. We have 4 kindergarten classes, 3 1st grades, 4 2nd grades, 3 3rd grades, 3 4th grades, 3 5th grades, and 2 Pre-K classes. I see half of the school on Monday/Wednesday, and then the other half on Tuesday/Thursday. M/W and T/R groups alternate on Fridays. All together, I have 497 students (or at least that was the last official count). The Raleigh County school system is very large. There are 19 elementary schools, 6 middle/Jr. High schools, 3 AA high schools, and 1 AAA high school. I have a feeling that I will have plenty of subbing opportunities next semester.
Fairdale is now in a new school building that opened in 2010. EVERY classroom has a
SMARTBOARD!!!!!! This is elementary school that I attended (in the old worn down building, of course). I know a few of the teachers. Both of my 1st and 2nd grade teachers still work here. It was nice to be able to re-introduce myself and update them on my life. I thanked my 1st grade teacher for her great job teaching me to read. The look on her face was priceless. My partner teacher, however, has only been at this school for a few years. Her class is probably the most organized that I have ever seen. Everything has a place, and when the students walk into the classroom, they are quiet and go right to their seats. I can tell that she has a very organized routine that she sticks to.
So far, I believe I am going to enjoy my time here. All of the other teachers I have met are very helpful, and the students seem great.

Wednesday,
October 19th, 2011
During my first two days in the elementary setting, I began to realize how much I missed
my band students from my high school placement. I still miss them, but that all changed today because I taught Kindergarten music classes! They were great. I taught them a new song called “Jack-O-Lantern”. I have also been team teaching with Mrs. Furey while the other grades are in the classroom. We decided that I would pick up one new grade each day until I have them all.
Tomorrow I will add 1st grade. While we were teaching the 1st grade class today, one student began tattling on another. Mrs. Furey said that she did not want to hear tattletales in her classroom. After she said that, the entire class said “tattle and tale makes tattletale” (on their own). Then, another little girl added “that’s a compound word!!!!” I can tell that this placement is going to be quite comical. I really like teaching this age group so far. I realize the perks of teaching the high school, and I realize the perks of teaching elementary students. I do know that I now have about 4 extra hours to myself each day, since this elementary school is much closer to where I live, and I do not have after school band practice. At the same time, I liked working with high school students because they are at an age where they really start coming into some interesting personalities. I also really enjoyed working with the band, mostly because I just love band. At the same time, I love how my Kindergarteners sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks when they sing their little songs and how they all wave (as excitedly as possible) when they see me in the hallway. I do, however, plan on visiting my high school students this Friday at their home football game. My HS partner teacher invited me to travel with the band to the Tri-State Marching Festival at Marshall University on Saturday, and I also plan on going to that.

Week 2 Reflections
October 25th, 2011
The students this week seem to be much more talkative. I learned today that if you give elementary school students an inch when it comes to talking out of turn, you run the risk of having the classroom turn into a zoo. I am now teaching Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
grade by myself, and my partner teacher and I are team-teaching with the 4th and 5th graders because they are preparing for a Christmas variety show. Overall, I really enjoy teaching at the elementary level because of the students’ enthusiasm. They already seem to know a lot about music because my partner teacher is a stickler for covering CSOs. The first graders already
understand ABA form, and everyone in the school knows what “forte” and “piano” mean. The 2nd and 3rd grade will be starting on treble clef lines next week. I applied for the PDS mini-grant, and will be receiving two sets of chromatic hand bells in about a week.

October 27th, 2011
Today the 4th and 5th graders seemed to work much harder on their music than they have since I have been here. My partner teacher and I have been using our planning period to audition soloists for one of the variety show songs. The students seem very enthusiastic about
it, and there were about 30 that tried out. We also received boomwhackers and kazoos yesterday. There will be more students chosen for special boomwhacker parts, and others will play jingle bells for a few songs. The most difficult part about putting together a show is not the music. Planning everything, like keeping up with t-shirt orders, instrument parts, solos, and the little things are the most difficult. The students are well on their way with learning their
songs.

Reflections, Week 3
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
About a month ago, I had the idea stuck in my head that high school music teachers put in many more hours than elementary school music teachers, and that if I ever want a family, or time for a family, I should probably teach at the elementary school level. That opinion is gone. This
elementary placement is taking nearly just as much time preparing for performances as my high school placement. My partner teacher puts in so many extra hours---much more than I ever thought an elementary music teacher would. I like to think that this is because she seriously cares about her own quality of teaching. Since I attended the elementary school I am at, I began thinking about the music teacher that was at the school before my partner teacher was
hired. Ironically, that teacher was probably the worst teacher I ever had. I hate to talk negatively about anyone, but I realized this week that I was deprived of a quality music education program in terms of public school. I am not sure why she was ever hired and never fired. My memories of that teacher’s class only involve the song “Elvira”, Scooby Doo movies, an old record player
with some sort of listening activity that did not involve music and was probably intended for a reading class, and a very intimidating classroom environment. I remember more yelling than anything. Looking back, that teacher had NO sense of classroom management. If she did get out the tambourines, cymbals, and rhythm sticks, there were no rules and the room was just a loud mess. The only “discipline problems” I had while I was in elementary school occurred in the
music classroom. It wasn’t that I misbehaved purposely; I just did not want to participate because the class was complete chaos and I did not want to add to it. Her idea of behavior management involved threatening to cut students’ tongues off with a paper cutter if they talked, or threatening to cut off fingers if the students fidgeted around too much. I was shut down from fear. I am so thankful that my parents realized what was going on and enrolled me in private piano lessons. Had it not been for that, I would have never had the notion to major in Music Education. Although I feel an extreme sense of distaste for that teacher, I can at least thank her for teaching me what a bad teacher is, and being so worthless that my parents thought private lessons were
a better option. In the end, it worked out well for me. This led me to think further about the students at my placement. I have a kindergartener that already says that she wants to be a
music teacher. She definitely shows potential. She comes to school showing off her 8th note earrings, and always has a big grin on her face when she is in the music room. She jumps around and dances and sings with more enthusiasm than her peers. Seeing that makes my day because I know the music program has made a complete turn-around. My partner teacher has a great
classroom routine. She expects the students to walk in quietly to their seats. If they fail to do so, she makes them go back into the hallway and re-enter the classroom like they are expected to. When we use rhythm sticks, the rule is that they do not play at random. If they tap their sticks when they are not supposed to, their sticks are confiscated. “Elvira” has been banned, and the
song list contains well over 100 songs from an actual music textbook. I am happy to know now that if a student from that school wants to take private lessons, it is because they already have a firm foundation in music and they are excited about it.

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
Today the handbells that we ordered from the GSC PDS Mini-Grant arrived. I believe that the 5 days of waiting for them to arrive were the slowest I have had in my entire student teaching. I plan on starting the 1st graders next week with them. This process makes me a little nervous because I have never introduced handbells to elementary students before and neither has my partner teacher. I am thinking that just showing how they work, where the note names are, rules for taking care of them, etc. will be the first lesson with them. My next lesson will involve the color coded cards. The set of flash cards have 12 copies of each bell color. Instead of handing out
the bells, I am going to hand out the cards for 3 different colors. On average, 8 students will have yellow, 8 will have orange, and 8 will have red. If they can hold up their card at my command, we can move on to bells. I was only able to get two chromatic sets of bells, so the students will have to take turns playing the bells. I believe this will be OK, since we have already played some
songs that involve cymbals, and have had to take turns playing those. Our first song will be “Mary had a Little Lamb”, which involves only Yellow, Orange, and Red. We will practice with the cards first, then the students will get the chance to play them by rotation while the other students use the cards. I hope my plan works….

Reflection, Week 5
Monday, November 14th
Few things went smoothly today. I suppose the first step in fixing a problem is admitting that I have one. I am addicted to classroom technology! I realized this at lunch today, after spending the morning without a properly functioning Smart Board. I sat there, eating my ravioli, looking
around the room at everything I use every day. If it all quit working, I would have to revert back to a marker board and acoustic instruments. We use the iPod every day, and if that were to fail, we would use the piano, which is electronic as well. This placement has spoiled me. After the Smart board went nuts, I had to use some sort of writing utensil from the dark ages called a
“marker”. Then, to my astonishment when I circled what I wrote on the board and tapped it, nothing erased! 3 more days until our “tech lady” comes to visit… OH, the
agony!!!
Thankfully, the hand bells will always work. I introduced them to the 2nd grade. I am amazed with the difference between grade levels in getting the hang of playing them. 2nd grade is ready to
move on to another song. We had a spider incident in the classroom today. A student
pointed it out to me while they were singing a song. It was under the speaker table and more towards the corner, so since it did not pose any imminent threat to anyone in the room, I just figured I would keep an eye on it and wait until the students left before I killed it. Actually, this creature was a beast of a spider, and I did nothing because it was out of reach and my typical reaction to spiders is nothing short of embarrassing. It was actually quite frightening, because it was nearly the diameter of an oreo cookie. I just kept an occasional eye on it. After a little while, I forgot about it, but the student didn’t. He quietly pointed it out to my partner teacher, and she ran straight to the storage closet. I wasn’t sure what she was doing, and she came out with a
broom. She went after it with no reserve. It took about 7 whacks before it finally died. The students and I thought it was pretty hilarious, and my partner teacher told me that she was worn out after it!

Friday, November 18th
This placement is nearing an end. Today was “Thank a TeacherDay”. I can tell that I am going to miss these students when I leave. I received a lot of pictures and letters that the students made for me. It also turns out that I may already have a lead on a half-time job at a different
elementary school in Raleigh County. Even though it is only a half-time position, and not where I would prefer to stay for my entire career, it would be a great way to get my foot in the door. It is in a location that is a little “out” in the country, and the county has not been able to find anyone to take the position because it is only half-time. The good news is that when I talked to the RCBOE member about it, she said that one of the middle school music teachers is planning on retiring, which would open up another half-time job. I hope this is not too good to be true.

Reflections from Student Teaching at NCHS

August 26, 2011

Today was my first day in my first placement. After sorting out a few issues involving my partner teacher being on leave because his wife recently had a baby, it turns out that I now have two partner teachers. In the long run, I think this will be more beneficial, since I will be able to teach music appreciation, choir, and band. My day was great. For first block, I went with the choir director to music appreciation. Right now, the students are working on an instrumental unit, and they rotate at stations for keyboard, guitar, violin, and hand bells. This was a team-teaching experience, since the teacher and I were around the room at different stations. By the end of the period, about 20 students were able to play a simple version of “Ode to Joy” on the keyboards. They still have a way to go in terms of reading music, but I had a fun time with teaching keyboards. Since my partner teacher had a sub, I ended up teaching on my own for a while today. It was not the most ideal situation because I was unable to make my own plans. The sub offered to teach, but I looked at the lesson plan and decided that I could handle it. The lesson was on Latin American rhythm, and I taught them a clave pattern. We also had a few vocabulary words that I promised a pop quiz on by next Friday. The lesson went well. I spent the beginning of third block in music appreciation, and since there was a sub in the class, my partner teacher had plans made for them to watch “The Sound of Music” and they were already half way through the movie. The remainder of third block was spent with the choir. Around 80 students are in the choir. I played piano, while the teacher conducted. Most schools only have one music teacher, so I am glad that I have this experience of teaching so many different classes. I fixed a clarinet, to my surprise, during band. One of the key mechanisms came completely off because a few screws came loose. I had no clue where the screwdrivers were, and I did not want to dig through my partner teacher’s desk, so I used my thumb nail and a bobby pin as repair tools. It worked, and the student was able to play for band class and after school rehearsal! My biggest problem right now is just keeping up with little things. There is a student here with an allergy to apples so bad that apples are off limits to the school. There is some sort of “advisor/advisee” class period that I suppose is like study hall, but the scheduling overlapped and confused me quite a bit.

9/1/11
Today was the first day for my music appreciation class to begin learning the fine art of playing instruments. I did not give them instruments, however, because I told them that they must "earn them" first by mastering the art of counting rhythms. This worked, and that statement got their attention because they know that if we are unable to move to playing instruments, then they will be stuck with book work. I told them that since I went to school for music, I will teach music, not book work. My main goal as a music educator is to get students to appreciate music, not hate my class. Music should provide them with a mental break from classes like algebra or language arts that they spend writing in for an entire block. I created a pre-test based on the CSOs I feel are the most important to cover in the short amount of time I am here. The CSOs involve reading music, understanding musical concepts, like rhythm and pitch, relating music history to world history and culture, American composers/jazz, and world music. I recorded the number of times questions on the pre-test were missed, and I plan on focusing on those concepts as much as possible. I was so sad to see that the students wrote answers like "Miley Cirus" and "TuPac" when I asked them to name an American composer. Not a single student answered the answer in terms of non-pop music. I was hoping for "George Gershwin" or "Aaron Copland", or even "John Williams". My overall plan for the 90-minute block involves the first 20-30 minutes teaching a short lesson on history, genres, reading fundamentals, etc. and then spend the remainder of the class with instrument rotation groups. The students will learn simple songs on piano, violin, guitar, and percussion. I believe that this is the best way to instill an appreciation for music in my students because they will realize the challenges of learning to play an instrument first-hand. The rhythm lesson was wonderful, and at the end, I wrote rhythms to songs like "Jingle Bells", "Mary had a Little Lamb", etc. and let them guess the title of the song after we clapped the rhythms. They really seemed to like that. If I can make it a game, they will not realize they are actually working! The only aspect of the lesson I would change would be that I would slow down while explaining concepts. I tend to get overly excited when I can tell that some students are understanding a musical concept, and this makes me talk really quickly.

9/7/11
I learned the value of a seating chart. The students complained about it at first, but I stood my ground and did not give in to students that begged to sit in the back (my rowdy ones). Tomorrow is the first day of students actually getting instruments in the music appreciation classes. I have them on a rotation plan, so they can work at their own pace while I go around the room helping the students that struggle. I will also have playing tests starting next week on the simple songs they learn. I have almost learned all of the names. I have 113 names to learn for my own classes, plus I will work with my other partner teacher in Choir and Strings on every once in a while for the experience.

I also learned today that homework requests from students show up about an hour (right while I am in the middle of class) before they are due to the office for the students that have been absent for days. Nice timing *insert sarcasm here*...

So far, I have only had one rough day, which was remediated with the seating charts.

9/10/11
Today is Saturday. We had a courthouse lawn performance and parade today in Summersville. Yesterday was another home game, and the band has improved. We still have a lot of work to do before competitions, but the students are well on their way.

One thing I have noticed about a band director's job is that they rarely have an open weekend. I have some sort of event to attend with the band every Saturday for the remainder of my placement, along with Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday after school rehearsals. Band for me when I was a high school student was never this involved because we did not take competitions seriously. I like this idea of constant hard work for high school students. I knew that this profession involves a lot of weekends when I chose to major in music, so it isn't too much of a shock. Some folks tend to forget that Saturday is also a "school day" for band students in the fall. My band students are some of the hardest working students in the school. I am lucky to have such a diligent group. I wish I could say the same about my music appreciation students. They seem to give up before they even try to play a simple song. If anything, I hope I can teach them that any skill worth having is rarely easy to develop.

Music appreciation is coming along, other than a few students that just do not care and took the class for an "easy A". I am determined to make them work for it. I am waiting for drum practice pads to arrive in the mail. If they come in this week like they are supposed to, I can organize my instrument rotation to involve that as well and the class will work more efficiently.

9/14/11
I have a student in one of my music appreciation classes that really surprised me today. The first day I taught, my impression of him was that he would fail the class because all he wanted to do was sleep. He would not participate in rhythm activities like everyone else would, and would try to sit off to himself when we had group work activities. I was constantly after him for something. At times he ignored me completely, but I made sure to stay persistent (even annoying until he participated). This student appeared to be careless, even in his appearance. After a few days, I created a seating chart and put this student and other extroverted (possible problem) students in the front row so I could keep an eye on them.

Currently, the remainder of the class tends to excel with keyboards, violin, percussion, and music-reading worksheets, and they all hate guitar because they complain that it makes their fingers hurt. I remind them on a daily basis that they have to start on the first page of their books and master certain skills first before they move on to the next page. On a daily basis, they seem to forget that. Today, the student I expected to fail was the first student out of both blocks of the class to play through the first song test on guitar. Also, he has a 98.2% average on his worksheets. He doesn't complain, and now I rarely have to remind him to work on something. I was totally amazed and it made my day to see him interested in something.

9/20/11
The band here is preparing to go to their first competition of the season this Saturday. I am beginning to realize that a balance is necessary for everything in life from bank accounts to band. I have worked with bands in the past that were non-competitive, 70% fun, 30% work. On the other hand, I have also worked with a band that had a week-long camp in 90 degree weather, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. with breaks for lunch and dinner. They worked about 90% of the time and had fun 10% of the time. Both of those bands were about the same size, having about 25-30 students. I have 61 students on my band roster. I feel like this band I am working with has a nice balance of work and play. The students have a good time, but at the same time, they are very dedicated. I feel like this attitude my partner teacher has about competing with band is the most beneficial for students because it reaches more students. It is not so relaxed and entertainment-prioritized that it pushes away the harder working students, and it is also not so demanding that it pushes away students that may be slightly less dedicated. We have a nice balance here in those terms.

I had a band booster meeting last night. This band is lucky to have so many helpful parents. Then again, we still have a lot of parents that will not answer the phone if the band booster president calls asking for help with something. There is really no middle ground in terms of the parents. Some give as much time as they possibly can, show up to every game and competition, while I have yet to even be introduced to some parents because they simply are not around.

Music appreciation is coming along. I have to start working on being a little more commanding in the classroom. A small part of the problem is that I am only 5 years older than some of my students. The remainder of the problem is my fear of "being the bad guy". I do not want to be mean, but at the same time, I do not want to be too friendly either. I have a few students that tend to get rowdy. I did learn that switching the instrument rotation groups in shorter intervals tends to maintain the student's attention better, so perhaps that will help if I continue.


9/22/11
A number of other faculty and staff at the school have asked me what grade level I ultimately want to teach. I never have a definite answer, and my thoughts on this vary on a daily basis. I like the innocence of elementary students, and their enthusiasm. I like the middle school environment because most students begin band at that age. I like the high school environment because of their skill level in band, and the creative ideas they come up with. I still have trouble deciding.

I feel like I am mostly qualified in terms of content, but sometimes I am weary of classroom management. My organization skills in terms of maintaining worksheets, grading and recording grades, and keeping up with all of my students is still developing. I have established a “make-up work” folder, but still have trouble convincing the students that it is their responsibility to see me to get the work they missed if they were absent. I sometimes forget to put enough worksheets in the folder for absent students. GradeQuick is a breeze. I remember when the schools began using it when I was a high school student, and quite a few of my teachers complained about it. By now, I suppose that the glitches my teachers complained about have been worked out, which is probably why I am able to use it. My organization system works well only if I keep at it every day.

10/4/11
Last week was homecoming. Between rehearsals, performances, and classes, I somehow missed sending any reflections via email. I have been reflecting, on just about everything. I have noticed that if something fails to work, or just does not go as well as I intended it to during my 2nd block class, I have created some sort of solution by the time 3rd block rolls around. I suppose that coming up with solutions on short notice is one of my better traits.



Band directing involves much more drama than I ever thought it would. A few squabbles came about in a section of the band. This section argued all week over petty things, and my partner teacher and I finally sorted everything out by Friday. Most of it involved high school romance and being too enthralled with significant others during rehearsal time....Love is grand, but not in the band. My partner teacher and I had to step in and fix the problem before it became worse for the band as a whole. Everything was sorted out by the competition this weekend.



The competition was interesting. It was raining and about 40 degrees outside. We arrived and unloaded the trailer. In the meantime, I walked toward the field to get a glimpse of the ground conditions since I knew it was not artificial turf. Much to my dismay, the field looked like a mud-wrestling arena. I believe that it was the worst football field I have ever seen. It was in such a terrible condition that the competition staff had to spray new yard lines after each band. Still, our band warmed up. When we were lined up to go on the field, the band that had just performed was exiting the field through the same gate where we were standing. I looked down at their feet, and they had mud up to their knees. Quite a few of them were missing shoes, and some of them were also missing socks! The other band's flag twirlers followed, covered in mud, carrying a load of muddy shoes...

What did I learn at that competition? "Kids, make sure your shoes are tied tight". I stood on the sideline during the entire performance, ignoring everything musical about it. I was so nervous about someone falling and breaking something, or that someone would lose their shoes to that muddy abyss that someone decided would serve well for a band competition. The majorettes could not keep a good grip on the batons, which seemed to be flying all over the place. Out of 60 students, we only lost 1 shoe, and not a single person fell. We have six majorettes, and the last move for them involves throwing the batons up high and across a good distance from each other. 5 of the batons went up as normal, and the last one went a little higher. I believe the girl supposed to catch it took everything she had in her to get to it in time. In the most slow-motion-style movement I have ever seen, she slid through the mud with absolutely no grace whatsoever and CAUGHT it! What looked to be absolute chaos (well, it was) turned out to get us 1st place in our class for general effect, 1st runner up out of all classes, 1st place percussion, 3rd in marching, and a few other awards. I was very proud of them, given the conditions.



Today was ISE day, so I did not have students. I attended the faculty senate meeting. I believe I was the only person in the room that had actually taken the WesTest that everyone loves so dearly. The idea of changing block scheduling came up. As a music teacher, I like block scheduling because it allows for enough time to rehearse for band and even go outside to practice the show. I remember being in high school and hating block scheduling because I found it difficult to sit still for 90 minutes in math and English classes. It was great for science classes because we had enough time to complete lab activities. The math and English teachers seemed to like the idea of having their students all year because of testing. A survey with 5 different options was handed out for teachers to choose from. I came up with an option that was not on the survey. Split one block and have math and English all year. All of the teachers could still have their 90 minute planning period, required amounts of class times would be met, and the music and science classes would not suffer.

May/June Update

My time as a student at Glenville State College ended this May. This time was bittersweet. I was just getting used to the place by the time I turned in my last assignment. I have one more semester of internship, and I will be finished by December 10, 2011. Finally... college is over. I believe the only part of college that I will not miss is living a "low-income" lifestyle as a poor college student.

A few select people from the music department ended the semester with a tour around the Parkersburg area with the Percussion Ensemble. I was happy to go on this tour, because I thought that my time in Percussion Ensemble was over after our regular concert. We were able to play for a lot of people, outside of Glenville, for the first time in years. It was tough having 1 concert each day. I couldn't imagine 2 concerts a day like they used to do back in the day. A few times we were soaked by the rain, we lost our set player because of a family emergency (thank God for alums), and really didn't get a lot of sleep. I'm glad the hotel had free cookies.

After the Percussion Ensemble tour, I returned to Glenville to prepare for a day tour with Brass Ensemble and Chamber Singers. We visited Lewis Co. High School and performed for the music students there. I was feeling great for most of the day, until the end, when I noticed that I had a slight sore throat. I ignored it, thinking that it resulted from singing too much without warming up enough. Wrong. After I went home, it began to get worse. A few days later, I had nasty white spots on my tonsils. The worst problem was that by the time I thought I needed to go to the doctor, it was already Friday evening and the doctor's office was closed. I had to wait until Monday. I ran a fever for a few days, and by the time I made it to the doctor, whatever infection I had was beyond normal. By then, my lymph nodes were swollen, my neck looked huge, and I discovered that humans have lymph nodes on the back of the head because I had two huge knots on the back of mine. The PA said that my throat was the worst she had seen in a while, and prescribed a really strong antibiotic with phenergan. They also gave me a shot of the antibiotic in my hip to boost the medicine. That was a Monday. I began taking my antibiotics regularly and did not see improvement until Friday. In the meantime, I lost about 5 pounds because I couldn't eat or drink like normal. This was one of the most horrific cases of tonsillitis I have had. I was out for over a week and all I did was sleep. I lost count of the number of ibuprofen pills I took for swelling. The lymph nodes in my neck are no longer swollen, but I still have two knots on the back of my head. Apparently, those can last up to a year after the infection.

My sister Anna informed us that she is pregnant. She was so upset on Mother's Day because she had been wanting to get pregnant for so long. A few weeks later, she learned the good news, and realized that she was in fact, pregnant on Mother's Day and just didn't know it. I am now right in the middle of everyone around me either getting married or having babies, and I am still so far from that part of life. I am happy for the people around me, but at the same time, it is torturous.

I began my third year at Energy Express in June. This year, I am a mentor, which means I have my own class. I have grades K-2, and all girls. I switched to a school closer to home, and I am having a great time with this teaching experience. I really can't say much more due to confidentiality rules, but I am having a wonderful time.

About a week ago, I learned that I am allergic to wasp venom. After 11 days, I still have a darker spot on my arm about 2 inches by 3 inches from the poison. Thankfully, the swelling is completely gone and I can play piano again.

I am still not sure where I am going to be for my internship.... We are supposed to start August 24th.

March/April 2011 update (because I'm a copycat!)

This is mostly for my far-away friend in Canada. :) March--- I took the Music Content exam for teachers...I was certain that I failed, but I apparently beat the minimum requirement by 22 points! My dad had surgery on his back. He had problems with his sciatic nerve because of a ruptured disk. The surgery worked, but he is still recovering. Percussion ensemble...We sold out 1010 seats on March 1st in 4 or 5 hours. This was my last time performing in that ensemble. I'm a little sad, but glad to be moving on. Big news--- New boyfriend! His name is Jared. We have been friends since he came in as a first-year music major in 2008. He plays trumpet and has a lot of the same interests as I do. I really enjoy spending time with him. April--- I'm finishing up my last semester of classes. I had 40 observation hours for my curriculum and assessment class, and 10 hours for a special education class. I get to teach in the 40 hour observation, and I am working with middle-schoolers. At first, I hated it, but I have gotten used to it and the kids seem to like me. I am still unsure of where I will be for my teacher internship next semester. My sister is trying to get her boys to share a room. Joseph is 4, and Easton turned 1 in January. She said that Easton wants to carry on conversations, which keeps Joseph awake and annoyed because he can't quite understand Easton's jibber jabber....I believe Joseph was bribed with $5. Anywho, that's all. I finally got skype to work on this computer, so perhaps we should actally set up a time to chat since everything works!

2010 in retrospect...

January...

*Began my 6th semester of college.

*was hopelessly falling in love with a guy that I thought was "the one"

*Hated classes like Classroom Management and SPED

*Loved classes like Brass Pedagogy, Music History, and Conducting

*began working very diligently on my composition in preparation for my senior recital jury

*my nephew, Easton, was born

February...

*Nothing significant or out of the ordinary...for once...

March...

*yet another Percussion Ensemble season of rehearsals began. This was the 30th anniversary of the group.

*busy busy busy with piano, still. began really working up the literature.

April...

*30th anniversary of Percussion Ensemble

*finished what I thought was the final version of my composition

*donated blood.

*experienced extreme sadness upon hearing the news about the mining tragedy in southern WV. I was thankful that my uncle took that day off. He lost all of his crew members and hasn't been the same since...

*everything was going well. Piano was progressing well, classes were progressing well...my romantic relationship was on a great track

May...

*turned 21, celebrated with the boyfriend by going to Morgantown, where I tried my first Indian cuisine, visited a small jewelry shop, had some ColdStone icecream, then went back to Glenville.

*had a senior recital jury....They passed me on everything, but wanted to share their suggestions for my piece. I considered some of them.

*attended a good friend's wedding

*finished the semester and said goodbye to my friends for the summer

June...

*training for Energy Express...I spent a weekend with a friend from college and realized we had more in common than we originally thought

*played piano at another good friend's wedding

*began really working on adding to my composition

July...

*Energy Express. I met a 9-year-old that could read on a 10th grade level. She was amazing, but her parents were unaware of that.

*mostly took a break from piano to let some tendinitis heal

August...

*finished my piece...or did I?

*taught at a very challenging band camp. I had some sort of heat exhaustion that caused extreme chest pain. My resting heart rate was 140 for about a day and a half, then dropped to 120 for a few days, then to 90, then back down to about 70.

*school began again... began the senior recital countdown

*donated blood

*began my last season of marching band

September...

*babysat for my band director and his wife, while she was in the hospital having their 3rd child

*still stressfully counting down until the recital

*rode in the front of an ambulance when a fellow student broke his ankle.... that was BAD.

*studied for my biology class and liked it a little bit...

*"finished" my piece (yeah right)

October...

*attempted to donate blood, but my iron was too low

*celebrated my oldest nephew's 4th birthday

*marched with the exhibition band at the Lewis County TOB

*"finished" my piece again...

November...

*made the decision to finalize my piece and not make changes between November 4th and my recital

*had a sudden, unexpected breakup with my boyfriend. This was exactly one month before my recital and one day before our 1st anniversary. I haven't talked to him since...I lost a lot of sleep and weight.
*finished my last season of marching band as a student...cried quite a bit

*began REALLY counting down for the recital...

*realized how much my friends cared...

*attended my first opera.

December...

*finished up a great semester

*lost my temper on some people I shouldn't have lost it on. Appologized 10 minutes later....

*Had a great recital and great cake afterward (see previous post)

*finally got to pick out my own music to play on piano

*began talking to a new guy

*spent a great Christmas with my family....

That's all! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!