Spite Singing

It's been an interesting week. Yesterday was a good end to that week.

Did some rhythm and movement warm-ups with the sixth graders during first hour, and for the last half of class Lizzy had them watch Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey. She interjected every few minutes to draw their attention to different aspects of the world music being performed.

One of the observers from last Friday came in again yesterday. Let's call her Maria Lucas. Maria and I had a wonderful conversation about student teaching, teacher ed programs, and Harry Potter. I'd like to keep in touch with her and see how her experience goes!

I only stayed through fourth hour yesterday so I could have time to come up to Mount Pleasant, but all the seventh graders were just dragging yesterday. Fourth hour in particular was just going slower than molasses. There was a great moment in third hour, though.

The girls just weren't giving me the tone I knew they could, and they were just sort of giving up. Lizzy said something about not worrying about getting a good tone since they obviously didn't want to give it today, and just moving on and learning notes. She then announced that she had to get some paperwork redone at the office, and ran out.

We all watched her leave. As soon as she was gone, I turned to the choir, leaned in, and quietly asked, "Do you want to prove her wrong?"

"YES!"

"Then show me."

From that point on in the rehearsal, those girls gave me everything they had. Their tone was free and soaring, and their pitches were ten times more accurate. When Lizzy came back, they eyed her to see if she would notice. I didn't look over, because it didn't matter. The point was that they were trying.

Now, I wouldn't make that a regular practice, but it worked for the time being. Unfortunately, fourth hour didn't step up as much, and even though I tried to keep the pace going, they dragged me into the ground. Oh well, Monday is another day.

It was wonderful to be able to sing in my friend's graduate conducting recital on Friday night. The repertoire was beautiful, and I could just relax and enjoy singing. I miss singing in a choir under someone else's direction, so it was nice to go back to that for a short while.

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Now it is Sunday, and while I do have lesson plans to get in order, the main project today is to write up a classroom management plan for seminar. Thankfully I have some wonderful resources, and it shouldn't be too painful. Lizzy has loaned me a few books on the subject, and while I panicked at first, she reassured me that they are mainly for browsing; she doesn't expect me to read them cover-to-cover.

I'm feeling much better about today's work for school than I did last week. I have everything written out in a checklist, and when it's all finished I will write it in a journal, shove it in a drawer, and watch last week's episode of Downton Abbey before bed.

I'm convinced it will be a good day.