Friday, August 29, 2008

I'm Alive! I Swear!

So, I've been having internet issues over the last week. Since my new hometown recently suffered damage from some very severe weather, the phone company has been replacing the temporary phone lines it installed with the new, permanent ones. And since they are working on the phone lines and I have DSL, my internet has been temporarily unavailable.

Anyway, I have a few funny stories to share. So let me get started.

Wednesday, I was in my last class of the day. This third grade class is a little challenge because of one of the special needs students in the class. She doesn't understand the concept of personal space and is always bothering the students next to her, let alone not able to control herself at all. Well, with about ten minutes left in the class, one of the boys shoots his hand straight up in the air and yells "Ms. Brown! There's a lizard!" Seriously, there was a lizard in my classroom. By lizard, I mean a three inch salamander. Now, if you grew up any where near the country, you know that if you grab a salamander by the tail, the tail falls off. Well, my special needs child jumps out of her seat and grabs at the lizard before I even locate it. I have to physically sit her down amidst the chaos that has ensued because of this stupid lizard. After sitting her down, I notice that she had grabbed the lizard's tail, causing it to detach and start twitching all by itself. So now I not only have a lizard flopping around on the floor, I also have a detached tail. I pick up the lizard with a Kleenex, hand it to a boy on the front row, and send him to set the poor, traumatized lizard free. While he is gone, I pick up the twitching tail in another Kleenex and throw it away. I have never had that experience before. There really should be a class on lizard handling for the elementary classroom!

Last night, I had to run to Batesville, so I got to eat dinner with my parents and the nephews. As we were getting into the car, we were all debating where we wanted to eat. Braden was just excited to go to the restaurant. It's always so cute to hear him say restaurant. Anyway, on the way there, I started asking Braden what he did in school. He started telling me what he'd done. Since I taught the preschool class, I told Braden I got to play with three and four year olds. Braden, my four year old nephew, takes a deep breath in, lets it out with a big sigh, and says "So did I." I lost it for a second, as did my mother.

I have been having a lot of success in my classes. My high school kids have been singing the cannon "Dona Nobis Pacem" as three parts and doing it beautifully I might add! Everyone has been learning "Arkansas, You Run Deep in Me." I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised that all the kids love that song as much as they do. They don't want to stop singing it. That always makes me feel good, especially when I'm on bus duty and hear the kids singing it while they wait on the bus.

Today, I had a seventh grade girl head out of the class and fall on her back. Apparently the water fountain has a leak that runs into my office and classroom. That's always fun. Water every where. Where's my ark?

The other day, I was getting dinner ready and looked out the sliding glass doors to stare directly into the eyes of a mama deer. How do I know she was a mama deer? Because her baby was standing in the foliage just behind her. I was a little scared, after hearing all the horror stories of the deer coming through the glass to attack the innocent people in their houses. Anyway, I snapped a few pics of mama and baby. And here are a few pics of my high school classroom, some random weirdness from the new home town I live in (yes, that's a marlin on a chimney), and the SPIDER IN MY SHOE!













Tuesday, August 19, 2008

New Kid at School

Yesterday was the first day of school for me. I've really enjoyed getting to know my fellow teachers- they are all just a hoot!- but I was ready to meet the kids and start getting down to business. I have been a little intimidated over the idea of teaching junior high and high school choir. I've never wanted to do that. My focus was elementary music. I even was given special permission during my student teaching to complete a middle school rotation to count as my high school.

Needless to say, I've been very surprised the last two days with this group. The teacher who was there last year apparently didn't do anything with these kids. When I voiced them (listened to them sing to see how high and low they could go to see what part they would sing) most of them couldn't remember a song they had ever sung. Some of them sang Sarah MacLachlan's "I Will Remember You." It was a song they sang last year. As a choir song.

With Senior High, I decided I was just going to start very, very simply. I used a round I've used in the past, "Ram Sam Sam," just to see where the kids abilities were. Much to their surprise, they sang the song in its two parts very well. And they followed directions for breaking the song into parts then unison and so on very well. I think I'm going to use another round next week to get their ears ready to move into part singing. On another note, I signed about fifteen drop slips today. It's a little disheartening, but hopefully these are the kids who are the trouble makers and realize that they are not going to be able to slack off in my class!

Junior High is a completely other story. I've got about thirty students, with more boys than girls! Who knew! And the fun part about this group, half the boys are still in the process of their voice changing. And they can't seem to not talk. I'm really amazed at how much classroom control this bunch is going to take. I just have to remember to stand my ground and be tough!

Elementary has been great. There are still a few kids that are testing their boundaries, but they'll learn them again. Anyway, two days down. Only 182 more contract days until summer vacation!

Here are a couple of pictures of my classrooms. They're aren't the best pictures, but they give you an idea of what I'm working with. Oh, and I found out that since I'm a new teacher in the state's Mentor program, I get $800 extra to spend for my classroom. Yeah! Instruments! At least a few...



Thursday, August 14, 2008

Facing My Fears...And Running Away From Them!

One thing that really bothers me more than anything in the world is spiders. I don't know why; I've never had a bad experience with spiders, other than they creep me out. I did used to have a recurring nightmare as a child where spiders would chase me and eventually cover every square inch of the room where I was in my dream.

Since I've moved into the country, a mostly wooded area by the way, I've had to deal with spiders all around my house. And by spiders I don't mean a small, easy to kill, breath of a spider. I'm talking about the hardy, takes a Mack truck to kill them spiders. Last night as I was watering my flowers, I disturbed a very large could eat a cow spider. Seriously, the thing was as big as both of my hands put together and was not an Arkansas tarantula! I really do think it could have taken down a cow or at least a small deer or something. Needless to say, I stopped watering my flowers, walked into the house, shut the door, closed the blinds, and proceeded to pretend I had not witnessed the running of the largest spider ever. I think they could have used this one could have played Aragog is "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."



So needless to say, this move has forced me to face my arachnophobia head on, eight legs and all. It's either that or continue to run around my car with a flashlight trying to avoid all the spider webs and their makers while carrying in all my groceries!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Don't Stop Thinkin' About Tomorrow...

After sitting through inservice today, I realized I needed to get some materials to use in my classroom, since I have absolutely nothing any past teachers have used other than the text books in the class. I just don't understand how these people have taught solely from the text books. There were no materials for bulletin boards, no worksheets, absolutely nothing. I'm amazed. And then I remember that the people who have been in the position had no clue and were not trained to be a strictly choral or elementary music teacher.

I did find out more details about the past music people. I'm going to share them, to let you all know how to pray for my students and for me, but it may get a little graphic.

The band director two years ago was arrested for chatting on-line with who he thought was a fourteen year old girl. This man was married and had just welcomed a baby into their family. The police arrested him and charged him last summer. A new director was hired to take over the middle school through high school music program (both band and choir) and another teacher was hired part-time to take the elementary. The elementary teacher was apparently not a trained musician, so there were several lacking qualities for the Highly Qualified Teacher requirement by the State of Arkansas.

In April of this year, several students came forward claiming the new band/choir director had sexual relations with the students ON SCHOOL PROPERTY! The Arkansas State Police were called, charges were filed, a chase through the woods ensued, the hard drive to my school computer was taken and has yet to be returned, and the guy was placed in prison. I've been told the sink in the band room was thoroughly disinfected after being swabbed for DNA evidence.

Please keep this school, the students, and me in your prayers. I'm really going to shake the reality of some high school students who have used the music program as an easy class. So maybe I'll make one of them cry...

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

I Need a Hug

I've been working diligently in my two classrooms over the last two days, adding in a couple of inservice workshops also. I am a little disheartened, though. My elementary classes have NO instruments. Not even the cheap xylophones or drums or even dowel stick rhythm sticks are present in this classroom. I don't think they've ever heard of using the Orff instruments. They associate Orff to basketball- he's the b-ball coach! Oh well, I'm off to read some more of New Moon. It's my new obsession, by the way.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Gosh, I'm Such a Slacker!

So, I am officially moved into my new house. By officially moved in I mean that I have all utilities turned on and my internet is working AND I have more unpacked boxes than boxes still filled with all my junk. Have I mentioned how much I hate moving?

The neatest thing about my new place of residence is how quiet it is. I really feel like I'm camping or something when I sit out on my back porch/patio/slab-of-concrete. I did have a visit a couple of nights ago from a curious raccoon who went through my trashcan. Luckily there wasn't anything in there he wanted, so my trash was basically intact. There's a family (I don't know what you call a large group of deer- not a flock or gaggle or anything, right?) of deer that I run into (not literally!) almost everyday. I have noticed a lot of strange new insect variety around the house. I even had a moth that looked like it was wearing the makeup from the Sith Lord in one of the newer Star Wars movies!

All in all, I think I'm really going to like it here. Yesterday, after unpacking my limit of three boxes, I read a book all day. I don't know why I haven't read these books before, but if you get a chance, read the "Twilight" series by Stephanie Meyer. I read Twilight in one day, and it was a very easy read even though it's over 600 pages.

I visited my classrooms earlier this week, and luckily I have a workday all day Monday to get both my classrooms together for the open house Tuesday night. Who in the world decided to have Open House after one day of working in the rooms? Sure, a regular teacher may be able to do it, but I have TWO classrooms and the same amount of time they have. GOSH!

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my house and some of the exotic insects/wildlife so far.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

So, I feel that I haven't even been on vacation. After meeting my entourage in Conway Saturday night, I became excruciatingly ill on top of unpacking all of my belongings from the hundreds of boxes that have been piled up in my new house. I have pictures, I promise, however they are on my camera which is in Horseshoe Bend and not with me in Batesville. I've really got to work on getting my internet working at my new house so I can remember to share all these great pictures with you. Anyway, I'm off to bed. We have a fun-filled day of painting and celebrating my brother's birthday tomorrow. I still can remember the first time I saw Jonathan and telling dad that they needed to take him back because he wasn't a girl. Oh well, I think things turned out alright in the end.