Simon Cowell is my hero!

I guess I should take a moment and comment on the latest American Idol shows. The guys, bless their hearts, were a little nervous. Brandon Rogers, the former back-up singer, Chris Sligh, the funny guy, and Phil Stacey, the Navy dad, are my favorite guys. I am also cheering for Sundance Head; I really hope he gets his act together this week.

The ladies are another matter. Holy cow, did they blow the guys away or what! My top two picks are of course Lakeisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle. How can you not put them in the front runner positions! Sabrina Sloan, Stephanie Edwards, and Jordin Sparks are also in my top ladies, but they all really need to step it up to compete with Ms. Jones and Ms. Doolittle.

The four people who left were good choices to leave. No one was a surprise. However, the ladies who left definitly could have stayed one more week. Antonella Barba and Alaina Alexander were really lucky they are pretty.

I think my favorite Simon comment from the week was when he said "I think there are 23 people who need to go ahead and book a plane ticket home." I love it! Well, I wish the remaining competitors good luck for this week.

Who's playing Congas on my stomach?

This post is going to be a little long, so I hope you have enough time to read it in one setting!

This has been the toughest week yet. I was luckily given a four day weekend thanks to my ah-mazing mentor teacher. So, I spent a lot of time playing with a two-year-old and holding a little guy. Monday was inservice for the district, and I was joining Rachel for a few classes. The morning session was fun; we skipped the music part and attended an Arkansas History class. I learned some interesting information about the area. But I surprised myself with how much I remembered about Arkansas History (Meme would have been so proud!). After this we went to join the other music teachers as they were pounding away on their drums (literally!) learning a few new techniques in an Orff session. Rachel and I missed the boring talk and got to have some fun!

During lunch, Rachel and I ran to her house, which was about five minutes from the school we were meeting in. When we got there, I thought my stomach felt a little queasy, but I thought it was because I was hungry or something. Ha! Little did I know, God was playing a joke on me. About five minutes into my meal I knew something did not feel right. I went on with the day and even asked Rachel for some Tums. To my unpleasant realization, it was not indigestion.

We got back to the school, and on the way to the music room, I spotted the bathroom (just in case). Good thinkin' on my part! About fifteen minutes into the session on Recorders, I decided to hurry to the restroom. All I will say is holy cow. I went back into the class and thought I was going to pass out on the floor. I wasn't running a fever, but boy did I feel like I had been hit by a piano falling from 80 stories. I survived for about another 45 minutes. I leaned over to Rachel, and she knew: it was time for me to go. And, lucky for her, since I rode with her, she got to leave early too!

I was out of commission for two days. It was miserable. I HATE vomiting. Not just dislike, I really loathe throwing up. It's something about my gag reflex I think. So having to do that for a full day was torture for me. I laid in bed and did not move for almost 15 hours, breathing shallowly through my nose. I really wouldn't wish this on anyone.

Thursday came and went with no big problems. It was a normal Thursday. Friday was a little bit more fun. Rachel was leaving on a bus for St. Louis with the Bentonville Children's Choir, so that meant I was teaching all day! I had a blast. The sixth grade select chorus composed the first two classes. They were a little tough, since they get to work with Rachel ever week, but I managed to make some head way, and we did get a lot of stuff done.

The fifth grade in the afternoon was another matter. These two classes are probably the toughest ones to teach. It's not just behavior issues with students (which is partly the problem), but, hello, it's Friday afternoon countdown. Oh well, it's just band right?

Next week is my last week at Spring Hill with Rachel. It's a little bittersweet. I am really excited about working with Tami Leadabrand at Farmington, but I am really going to miss seeing Rachel, Shannon, and Melanie every day! But, this could lead to a lot of interesting stories; Kindergarten students tend to be a little more detailed and attached with their problems! Thanks for bearing with me, and hopefully the next installment won't take eight years to read.

Mrs. Cornett Rocks!

I think I have the best mentor teacher around. Thursday morning, I received a phone call from Rachel around 6:30 AM. She had decided that since I planned on travelling to Batesville after school that I shouldn't worry about coming in. Thursday is our easy day, with one sixth grade class in the morning and the combined afternoon classes (which was Shannon's turn to teach) and then fifth grade select choir after school. I was not opposed to having an extra day off, so I jumped at the chance! It was great. I had a four day weekend this week and I wasn't even planning on it. Thanks Mrs. Cornett; you rock!

Lunch Lady Land

This last week has been a trip. I have forgotten how much energy it takes to teach a bunch of crazy kids. You have to be on top of things for the entire time you have them in class, or you loose their attention and then class goes south.

I had my first observation on Tuesday. Dr. Misenhelter decided to do an impromtu visit. He watched me teach the first afternoon fifth grade class and then sneaked out. I was a little worried about what he would say. This group was not the most proficient in their recorder skills; several of the students had missed the previous week for a field trip to the Ozark Natural Science Center. So, when we started working on "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic, I was a little frustrated when they started having trouble getting the rhythms. Oh well, Dr. M said that I was doing a great job and to keep up the good work. That was a relief!

Thursday was my first planned observation. Dr. Ellis Melton came to watch me and give me feedback, as well as a grade, for my teaching skills. I picked Thursday afternoon because this group is actually having their second hour of music for the week, and Shannon and Rachel combine their classes and do a different kind of lesson with these students. I decided to do an Orff lesson with the classes, using the different keyboard instruments (marimba, metallophone, Glockenspeil) and the drums, as well as teach a new note on the recorder. This sounds like a lot to do, but it never fails that I always finish before the class is over and need one more thing to do. First I taught the recorder note. I had to do this in order to teach the melody for the Orff exercise we were doing. The classes picked up on this pretty easily, so we moved on to singing the words to the melody we were playing on the recorder. We kept adding instruments and started telling the story Hush! A Thai Lullaby by Minfong Ho. It went over very well. I even had them write a short story about one of the animals and one of the instruments we had just sung about.

Dr. Melton and I chatted after class. He said that he had a great time watching this class. He said I had a great confidence in front of the class and I commanded their attention. He also liked the lesson we had done, saying that it was great in all the musical aspects we had covered. He gave me a couple of suggestions how to better the class and said that overall, it was an excellent class and to keep it up! Yeah!

Do you remember the school cafeteria? I usually brought my lunch since I was kind of a picky kid. And probably for that reason, I no longer eat ham sandwiches. Anyway, I have been eating in the lunchroom at the school. I must say, cafeteria food has gotten a lot better than when I was a kid. And the lunch ladies are so sweet! None of them are sweaty and none of them have any crazy moles!

SNOW DAY!

I love snow. It's so pretty, and it leads to one of the favorite winter past times students and teachers all enjoy: the Snow Day!

Yesterday, our second period class noticed that it was snowing, which caused all of their brains to shut down. It took almost two full minutes to get them under control again, and once we had their attention, we knew it wouldn't last long. We gave up on our lesson over the Bass Clef and moved on to the keyboards. But after ten minutes or so, Rachel and I both noticed the kids were all staring out the window rather than playing their piece on the keyboards. Rachel decided to throw in the towel and had the kids return to their chairs. She grabbed her guitar and as a class, we created a song with a country theme about the snow. The kids had fun and the activity wasn't just a waste of time; it actually met one of the national standards of music- to improvise!

After class was over, Rachel, Melanie, and I started calling around, trying to decide how bad the roads were. Shannon, the other music teacher, came from across town and said she slipped on the road about three times. Rachel decided that my day was over, so I packed up my things. As I was walking out the door, the principal decided the same thing and announced that school would be closing at noon.

It took me two hours to get home. Apparently people don't understand that SNOW IS SLICK! Slow down and back off! I don't understand why people want to drive like maniacs and tailgate in conditions like this. It makes no sense. Well, that was my soap box for the morning. I'm off to enjoy my snow day!