Alpha Dog/Staph Meeting

Every day it seems like the days before it are all blurred together.

Yesterday, I played the name game and led warm-ups for all the choirs. Lizzy commented that I could be more commanding in my gesture (conducting), body language, and inflection. Today, for the sake of time, I just played the name game with the students, and the rest of the class period Lizzy worked on sight-reading with them.

During one of the larger classes, when I asked all the students to change seats so I could truly test my name memory, there were quite a bit of students climbing over chairs. The problem was in my wording: I had said, "Please move to another seat," and by the time I was saying, "responsibly and safely," they were already on the move and chatting. Now, the chairs are velcroed together in sets of two and three, but it was still wildly unsafe, and clearly against the rules of Lizzy's classroom.

"Excuse me!" I projected, "Is it responsible or safe to be climbing over chairs?"

They either ignored me or didn't hear me. I didn't care which: I needed to show them who was the boss. I waited until they were mostly in their seats and starting to simmer down.

"No," I protested, "Is climbing over chairs responsible or safe?"

Half the class murmured a "no," but it wasn't enough.

"Is climbing over chairs responsible or safe?"

"No," was the general consensus.

"Okay, then remember that when you go back to your seats in a few minutes." I then proceeded with the game. At the end I reminded them, "Now, responsibly and safely--so not climbing over chairs-- return to your original seats." And it went smooth as honey. Lizzy was taking notes and was pleased with my progress in commanding respect and attention.

I have to say, waiting for quiet every time the students start chatting feels absurd, but establishing my authority was worth it.

What better way to end a day full of establishing authority as well as a rapport with students, than to spend 45 minutes listening to irritating disciplinary policy and inane questions. You guessed it, we had a staff meeting.

Every organized meeting has one of those people. You know the one: she either asks questions that can be answered with common sense (otherwise known as thinking about a potential answer before asking said question), or presents a ludicrous and obscure "what if" scenario. Sometimes she is lovable enough that no one hates her, but most of the time it's almost unbearable.

Of course, I knew exactly which staff member she would be, because she never raised her hand to wait to be called on, interjected whenever she felt like it, and whenever she was called on for a question, everyone around me shifted uncomfortably/rolled their eyes/sighed heavily. Let's call her Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and the principal Charlotte Lucas.

EXAMPLE

Charlotte was explaining to the faculty that at no point can they leave their classes alone with a parapro (legal reasons).

Lady Catherine: Well, what if I have to run to the bathroom--

Charlotte: Nnnno.

LC: --can I ask another teacher to come in and watch my class?

Charlotte: Absolutely. However, that teacher cannot leave their class to watch yours.

LC: What if they stand between classes?

Staff: *SIGH IN UNISON*

Charlotte: What, like...how do you mean?

LC: You know, watches both classes. (I had images in my head at this point of a teacher being drawn and quartered by two classrooms.)

Charlotte: That...that would be almost impossible.

LC: Well I guess you...I guess...(tapers off)

Later, when discussing not letting volunteers or people not working for the district see you grade in order to protect student privacy, Lady Catherine smugly asked, "Well what if I have a long-term sub? She needs to be able to grade things!"

(Lizzy and I to each other: "THEY WOULD BE EMPLOYED BY THE DISTRICT.")

Charlotte calmly replied, "Of course a long-term sub would be allowed access to grades. I'm talking about volunteers, friends, or spouses. Those kinds of people."

Overall, I do like the staff that I've met.

Do I agree with all the decisions made in the building? No.

Will I still learn a lot from this experience? Absolutely.

Pompeii

Monica was annoyed that I didn't post any First Day details so I figured I'd start there.

My problem on Monday wasn't that I set my alarm too late. 6 am is plenty of time to get up, check my e-mail, get dressed, put on makeup, get my lunch and coffee, and head out the door by 6:45. My problem was that checking my e-mail turned into checking two e-mail accounts, Facebook, Twitter, (maybe Pinterest?), and three webcomics.

And of course, my other problem was scraping the frost off of my windshield when I was running no fewer than five minutes behind schedule. I ended up getting on the freeway about 7, miraculously making a 30-to-40-minute drive in 25.

It wasn't until I got out of my car in the parking lot at Longbourn Middle School that I realized, oh crap, I'd left my CMU Teacher Ed ID on my dresser. In my house. And at 7:30 on a a Monday morning, a good 45-minute drive from my house.

Oh wait, I'm getting my days mixed up. That ID business was today, the day my student teaching coordinator came for a visit. Lovely man, let's call him Col. Fitzwilliam. Of course all turned out well, but I was a bit frantic for a few minutes there. Back to Monday.

Saying that the Monday after Christmas break is "a bit rough," is like saying Pompeii got "a bit toasty." Give students 2 weeks off of school in the middle of the semester and they forget everything. The main problem I saw on Monday, however, was students falling asleep. Granted, they were doing sight-reading practice instead of rehearsing actual pieces, and it wasn't every student, but come on now. Lizzy said the repercussions of break should right themselves within a couple of weeks, but hopefully before finals.

I can't lie, Monday dragged on forever, mostly because I observed all day. I did start learning students' names, and found I remembered a few from each class from when I observed back in December. We started playing a name game, and every day I'm adding a row of students, so I don't get overwhelmed. Apart from that and the notes I took, however, Monday is largely a blur to me.

Lizzy (again, the alias I shall use for my cooperating teacher), is not someone completely unknown to me before student teaching. She knows my parents, and she and I reacquainted little over a year ago at the ACDA State Conference at CMU. We have since been in contact, had dinner and coffee together, and decided that this would be a really wonderful experience to have. Thankfully TEPD (Teacher Ed/Professional Development) at CMU was able to switch me over to another coordinator (since Hertfordshire isn't in my immediate area) and it worked out!

Watching Lizzy work with her students in December was a completely different experience from what it is now. In December, I observed her the two days before the Winter Concert, and helped her out with things on her to-do list. Meanwhile, she was sleepless and about at the end of her rope. Based on circumstances around that time, I can hardly blame her! The choristers were losing energy fast as well, but working hard. However, it left me a bit nervous for what lay ahead.

My doubts were assuaged when I saw her interacting with and teaching her students on Monday. She gives them every ounce of energy that she can, and sometimes more. They reciprocate, and the learning process begins. Questions are thrown at the students like a ball of used bubblegum that they must first extract and examine before throwing the answers back. Excuses are strictly prohibited, occasionally leading into a brief illustration of what would happen in a real-world situation (if you forgot your driver's license instead of your pencil, or if you didn't listen to all the information your boss gave you).

Here's an illustration of something I love about Lizzy's classes:

Today, not five minutes after Lizzy publicly acknowledged that Collins (again, alias) was not paying attention during the sight reading practice, he was the only student to quietly pipe up with the correct answer to a question. Lizzy earnestly thanked him for being involved and giving the right answer that she needed in order to move on.

The student next to Collins smiled and leaned in for a fist bump. Collins grinned, fist-bumped, and the two of them turned their attention back to Lizzy.

That seemingly insignificant scene played out in my mind all day. I think it's because it showed me that Lizzy shows her students she has high expectations of them, and they truly do rise to the challenge when called out in a way that invites them to contribute. Also, the encouragement from Collins' neighbor was touching: he thought it was cool that he got the right answer to a sight-reading question.

That in itself was enough to convince me that this semester will be awesome.

New Year, New School(ish), New Posts

About an hour ago, I decided to resume posting in this blog. I've decided that I suck at literary reviews, but I will probably write whenever I read something that strikes my fancy. I'm currently addicted to A Game of Thrones and its sequels (I really am not a fan of the series title, A Song of Ice and Fire. A more apt title would be A Song of Incest and Treachery), currently working my way through book three, A Storm of Swords.

But that's not what the larger portion of my posts will concern. I decided to reboot this blog because today was my first day student teaching. I will refrain from using true names of people or places, but I'm going to try posting a little bit each day. Every time I've tried to do a small long-term goal, I've failed, but I'm not going to this time, dagnabit. My hope is that in a few years' time, or even in May, I will be able to look back and see my progress in thinking and writing about music education.

Also there may be the occasional rant about seminar, but as those days require me to be up a full two hour later than regular school days, they may not be quite so bad.

So from tomorrow afternoon until the end of April this shall be where Ms. Renas divulges her innermost thoughts about student teaching in the Hertfordshire Consolidated School District, under the supervision and guidance of Elizabeth Bennett, while working with the choirs of Longbourn Middle School.

Yes.

The Ruins by Scott Smith, aka You Wish It Was Just Poison Ivy

My first literary endeavor of the summer began when I spotted a hardcover copy of The Ruins at Bookstock, the annual book sale at Laurel Park Mall. I was perusing the hardcover fiction after lunch with my friends when I saw it. I immediately snatched it up and purchased it for three dollars. I originally tried reading this in the fall when I borrowed it on inter-library loan at CMU. Alas, I was so busy and tired at the end of the day that I never made it past the first three pages. This time around, I picked it up around 11 pm on Monday night and finished all of its 319 pages sometime in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

Why did I want to read this book? Liz, Monica, and I rented the 2008 film adaptation (screenplay also by Scott Smith), and when I saw it was also a book, I couldn't resist.

Amy and Stacy are best friends, and they decide to go on a trip to Mexico the August after they graduate from college. They each convince their boyfriends to come along. Jeff, Amy's beau, is going to medical school in the fall, and Stacy's Eric will be teaching at a prep school come September. Lord knows why they went to Mexico in August, but whatever. While staying at their hotel they befriend a group of Greeks who speak neither English nor Spanish, but give themselves Spanish names such as Pablo and Don Quixote.

During the last week or so of the trip, the TACS (Typical American College Students) meet Mathias, a German whose brother ran off to follow a woman on an archeological dig of some ruins. The TACS decide to accompany Mathias on his mission to find his Brüder, and Pablo unwittingly tags along.

The TACS & Co. find the incredibly isolated ruins covered in vines, and the Mayan locals start freaking out. When Amy accidentally steps into the vines, the locals threaten to kill the TACS & Co. if they don't immediately get their butts up to the top of those ruins, no buts about it young man. Over the next few days the flowering vine creeps into their wounds, ensnares them on several occasions, turns them against each other, drives them insane, and devours their bodies. Who will survive? Will the Greeks ever come to rescue them? Will Pablo ever wipe that inspid grin off his face? Can your stomach handle graphic descriptions of amputations and vines playing puppets with dead bodies, or will your stomach just wish you'd been taking ipecac?

Find out by reading Scott Smith's The Ruins!

Before my Final Recommendations, I present the first installment of:

1. Did you like it better than the movie? Why? - L

In my opinion, the book and the movie are both good in their own ways. The film adaptation thrives on building suspense and on realistic effects (almost none of which are CG, by the way). You don't get to know the characters quite as well as in the book, but I think they are still easy to relate to. The book may possibly be scarier for two reasons: partially because one's imagination can come up with innumerable horrible scenarios, but mostly because you can't look away from the page if you want to get through the double amputation, the grisly death scenes, and the self-mutilation.

Yeah...you didn't want to see the amputation.

As far as changes go, I understand the major changes they made in the movie: the Greek (Demetri in the movie) doesn't make it to the top of the ruins to begin with, so Mathias ends up the invalid. Fewer characters to deal with. Also, in the book Eric gets hysterical and is driven insane, while in the movie it's Stacy. I can live with the stereotypical hysterical woman scenario only because in the book the girls didn't do that much except watch in horror.


2. What, if anything, would you change to make the story more frightening? - Monica
Honestly, it was scary enough. I'll get to my most disturbing scene later, but right from the beginning what made it all unsettling was the fact that these characters are 21 and 22 years old. If I wasn't a music ed major, I'd be graduated just like them. Somehow it felt all the more disturbing when I realized they were my age. If they'd all been music majors, that probably would have been the most unnerving thing of all, and I would have thrown the book down and run away screaming and rending my garments. Oh I know: if I hadn't seen the movie first, I would have flipped out completely and probably thrown the book down at several key graphically described points.

3. What would have been the least frightening alternative? - J
Probably the ruins opening its gaping maw and bellowing a maniacal laugh before gobbling everyone up and burping out some bones...and that flipping cell phone. Also the ruins would make this face:
4. What was your favorite line? - N
Mathias to Jeff after Jeff suggests putting up a sign to warn possible rescuers not to touch the ruins:
"You sound like a German."
"What do you mean?"
"Always doing the practical thing, even when it's pointless."

5. Who was the character you most identified with? - H
While I identified with Eric, who not only became hysterically obsessed with the vine inside him, but also had doubts about teaching, I felt the biggest connection to Amy. She's the "good girl" of the group, but she can still be a brat sometimes, and all she wants to do is go home. She tries to be the voice of extra-sincere reason when she thinks Jeff's ideas are crazy. In short, she's the horror story brunette.

6. Who was your favorite character? - J
Mathias was probably my favorite character. I'm sad they did away with his playful banter and level-headedness in the movie version by making him sub in for Pablo. Mathias seemed the most laid back, open-minded, and reasonable character, knowing what's useful and what's not (see the above quote). You don't get to know him very well at all, but perhaps that's why I liked him so much: since I only saw part of his personality, I liked that part better than the whole of any of the other characters.

7. Who was the most annoying character? - M
Stacy. Stacy Stacy Stacy. Oh my goodness Stacy. She tries so very hard, but to me she was unspeakably obnoxious.

8. What was the most disturbing scene, in your opinion? - D
Probably when one of the TACS' bodies gets "re-animated" in a sense by the vines. I hesitate to describe it further. I was so glad it wasn't included in the movie.
Also, did I mention how hard it was to read the amputation scene? I don't know if I mentioned that like eight times up there, but there's a reason for it.

9. What did you think of the narrative style? - E
The narrative style is in third person, but it goes back and forth between the viewpoints of all the TACS, never leaving an event until the reader gets all four viewpoints. Yes, it usually leaves out Mathias's POV, but I don't think it has a big impact on the story. I think it was incredibly effective as it allowed the reader tremendous insight into the reasonings, processes, and backgrounds of the TACS. Also there are no chapters, which is oddly refreshing. You can really put it down anywhere there's a break, but you won't want to.

10. Did this book scare you away from visiting Mexico and any ruins therein? - K
ABSOLUTELY.

11. Which of the human characters would win in a cage match?
If the vine was in there it would win hands down, so as for a battle royale cage match between the six human characters, Pablo wins. He gets forgotten off to the side, and since he doesn't speak English, he doesn't understand he wasn't supposed to bring a gun.


FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS
If you enjoy a good scare, pick up this book. If you saw the movie, pick up this book. If you like Stephen King, but don't like the dry buildup in his stories, read this book. If you were disappointed by The Happening, read this book.

I dare you.


Tune in next time for my review of Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte

Exactly Eleven Questions

As I dust off my blog, I have an announcement to make:

I would like to invite you to be a part of my book reviews for the summer!

I'm finally getting back to my poor abandoned blog, and will (at least for now) be using it to help organize my thoughts on the books I'm reading this summer. Here is where you come in:

Sandwiched between a brief summary and my personal recommendation will be a section called Exactly Eleven Questions. I would like to answer eleven unique questions provided by eleven of my friends for each book I read. You don't have to know anything about the book to ask a question about it; I just want a varied group of questions for each book. I won't use exactly the same set of questions for each book: it will change according to what you all ask.

Topics may include (but are not limited to):

- characters and their preferences (explicit or what I imagine)

- the author

- quotes

- places in the book

- non-human characters (animals, or in the case of The Ruins, plants)

- film adaptations

- anything your little heart desires

Sample questions:

- If you were to cook dinner for one character in The Ruins, who would it be, what would you cook them, and why?

- Have you seen any of the film adaptations of Wuthering Heights? (spoiler: I haven't.) Okay, then who would you cast in the major roles?

- What was your favorite/least favorite quote from The Unbearable Lightness of Being?

- If Emily Bronte had written a follow-up novel to WH, what do you think would happen?

- Who was your favorite/least favorite character in ________ and why?

- Could you relate to any of the characters in __________?

or WHATEVER! It can be as trivial or deep as you want.

The books I will be reviewing are The Ruins by Scott Smith, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. Google them if you want to know more about them. :)

Please do the following in the comments:

1. TITLE: Write the name of the book you are asking about

2. QUESTION: Write the question(s) you want me to answer

3. PERMISSION: Tell me whether I can use your name in the blog in conjunction with the question you are asking.

4. SEPARATE: Use separate comments for questions on separate books!

I will need 11 questions for each book. Yes, you may use one of the sample questions! Please respond ASAP!

Thank you all,

Kirst