Day 1

I like this whole "quote of the day" thing, so I think I'm going to do it, too.

Quote of the day:

6th grade girl: "Hey, are you our new teacher?"

Me: "Yes, I am!"

Girl: "Whoa, you look like a seventh grader!"

I suppose that this comment, combined with the facts that the seventh grade percussionists flirted with me during class, the 8-9 grade trumpet players kept staring at me, and a high school boy smiled and waved at me (several times) indicate that I look a bit younger than I am. I guess the name badge doesn't help too much. Speaking of name badge, my cooperating teacher, Mr. Shultz, said that I don't ever have to wear it again, and that he'll make fun of me if I do. He also told me that every day is casual day, and that I get to wear jeans whenever they do- which is quite often. It sounds like Lake Hamilton band has learned how to cater to my fashion sense (or lack thereof). I hate getting dressed up.

Mr. Shultz gave me about 50 CDs of important band literature to put on my computer and listen to. He also gave me two music scores (Holst's Second Suite in F and Ralph Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite, in case you were wondering, which I'm sure you were) to do an in-depth study on. He also assigned me a book to read, which happens to be about golf. I hope I learn a bit about teaching while reading about how to perfect my golf swing.

I also learned today that the percussion instructor's wife had a baby yesterday, so he's taking a few days off. Well, guess who gets to teach the beginning percussion class how to play snare drum starting on Monday? Me! Guess who doesn't remember how to play snare drum? Me! Guess what I'll be doing this weekend? ...I apologize to my roommate and suitemate ahead of time for all of the random drumming they'll be hearing all hours of the night.

I'm jumping in pretty quickly, and I have a ton of work to do, but this is going to be a wonderful experience for me, and I'm going to learn so much. I'm very excited!