Grad gifts and Job interview

It has been a busy week...

Yesterday, I had an interview for a long-term substitute position in a middle school chorus class.  The chorus teacher is out on maternity leave for six weeks.  I arrived at the school and sat down with the AP.  She asked all the expected questions: tell me about yourself, what are your strengths/weaknesses, how do you motivate students, and classroom management skills.  Normal stuff.

Then, it got interesting.  The AP says to me, "Well let me tell you tell you about ABC Middle...I saw on your resume that you went to Blue High School.  Well the demographic there is very different than here.  Over there it's majority caucasian...over here our minority is caucasion.  Our students are mostly black and hispanic.  The poverty level is high.  Some of our students don't even have phones.  Some don't speak english."  Translation: You went to a white school (keep in mind that I am black and so was she), and you student taught at a rich white school, so this is a different playground than what you are used to.  

She continued with, "We are the only school is WOW County that did not make accreditation this year.  We failed in math and so our teachers are working really hard this year to get scores up.  So anyway you can incorporate math into the music class would be great."   

Then she showed me the chorus room.  It vaguely resembles the "dungeon" from that show "Boston Public".  The room was tiny with tile floors, and no windows.  Definitely not like any chorus room I'd ever been in.  As we headed back to the office, the bell rang and students poured into the halls.  They were big...LOUD and big.  And of course, we couldn't make it back without the AP (who was tiny and gray by the way), yelling in this huge voice "AY! NO RUNNING! THAT'S NOT HOW WE BEHAVE!"

At the end of the interview, she asked me, "So does this seem like something you would be interested in?"  (Isn't the point of an interview to see if I'm right for the job?) Needless to say, I am in no position to decline a job offer, and any experience is good right now.  So, I told her that I was interested, and she did offer me the position.  What I gathered is that I am going to have to go in there and take no prisoners.  

I've also been getting grad gifts in the mail.  Instead of traditional gifts, I set up an Amazon wishlist with teacher resource books and other things that I wanted, and wrote the link on the back of my announcements.  Yesterday I opened one package and in it was a book titled, Crowd Control: Classroom Management and Effective Teaching for Chorus, Band and Orchestra.  Great book so far.  Highly recommended.  It's short and sweet, with lots of tips.  Some stuff I already knew, and some things that I will definitely consider.  

That's all...Graduation tomorrow!

Next stop...Graduation!

So, Friday was my last day of student teaching!  And it was a GREAT day!  The students had their double rehearsal with the accompanist.  I was so proud of how mature they were and how good they sounded.  They are more than prepared for their concert tomorrow night.  

I am conducting four pieces in the concert tomorrow night, and I am really please with how successful they have been on each piece.  But I am most proud of the 6th graders.  They worked so hard and they sound wonderful!

I went in this morning to rehearse with the students, after getting a TB test and a flu shot...and I had to leave early because I started feeling really ill.  I've never had a reaction to a flu shot before so it was really odd, and even now, I'm still a little woozy.  Not to mention my arm is extremely sore.  

This week is pretty busy for me.  Middle School concert tomorrow night.  Elementary winter program Wednesday night. Long term Sub interview Thursday.  Senior Brunch and then dinner with my family Friday night.  And last but NEVER least...GRADUATION ON SATURDAY!

Life is SO good right now. [:)]