Performing in the school

I'm so cool.

Every morning, this school has a class called "Advisor" and the teachers can kind of do whatever they want. One morning, I played a silly rock-paper-scizzors tournament with the kids. Every Thursday is snack day for my TA's class. Every _____day is a physical day. Every Friday is some sort of performance in the foyer for the whole school.

The kids seemed pretty stoked on it. I don't know what it is really about it, although a live performer in your school IS pretty cool.

The principal also decided to ask me WHILE I was up there if I wanted to work on some music with some kids. Then he announced that we were going to do some sort of American Idol (why not Canadian Idol) thing in about a month. Like WHOAH. That's a big thing.

Afterward, some of the kids in my choir came up and said they enjoyed it. That was nice. Especially after what happened in choir the other day.

A girl who is learning "I'm Yours" came up and asked if I could help her out with learning the entrances and exits for it. She is taking voice lessons from the main choir teacher. Maybe *I* should take lessons from him. I need some voice lessons. I've pretty much maxed out my ability to teach myself, and I KNOW I have some bad habits. ARGH.

The first day I decided I might not actually want to be a teacher

I am teaching grade 6 Band and grade 8 Choir right now. Grade 6 Choir makes me want to be a teacher. The kids pretty much pay attention and try to do what you ask. They understand that you're trying to make a better musician out of them. They get that.

Grade 8 choir makes me want to have genetically altered children that skip adolescence. After class today, I went to my TA's office, put my head down on the desk, and I cried. He followed me in, closed the door, and sat silently for a while. Then he just talked until I was ready to respond. He told me what I did well and where I went wrong.

I had been working on the chattiness because the kids were very talkative. He suggested that I nip the talking in the butt by calling them on it immediately and separating those who needed to be. He said I did that well today. I thought so too. The first half of the class was fine. He also told me that they were probably taking advantage of me with bathroom and drink breaks, so don't let them, because they have 5 minutes before class to go get water and go pee. So when one of the boys asked if he could go to the bathroom, I said no. I explained why. He just kept asking, repeatedly, throughout the class. I kept saying no. A girl came up to me and said, "____ needs to go to the bathroom but she's afraid to ask." I said, "I can't let her go or I have to let _____ go." Then another wanted to go. I was like, "You guys don't need to go to the bathroom NOW. You can wait." Finally, with FIVE minutes left of class, I let the boy go, then I had to let the girl go, and then I DIDN'T let the other girl go. Which meant that she was SUPER pissed with me after class and I tried talking to her but it just didn't go anywhere. I felt like a jerk, because I understood that she felt frustrated that I would let someone else go who was just pissing me off, but because she didn't pester me, I didn't let her go. Anyway. My TA said that letting them DISCUSS the bathroom issue was bad. Just say NO, explain it ONCE, and then move on.

So I cried. It was kind of embarrassing. But hey, I'm smiling in this picture. Why? Well, the room is empty. JOKES! Sort of.