Once upon a very long year.

I started my blog in April of 2008. In 2008 I posted 11 posts. 2009 I wrote 20 posts. Here we are halfway through 2010 and this is post number... 3. I want everyone to guess when exactly it was that I crossed from my worry-free life into my grown-up-responsibility-filled life. Any guesses?? Yeah. You got it. Right in-between the 20 and 3.

The school year ended about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I've been school free for a little while now, and let me just tell you... it's a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Really, I've just appreciated not having to get up so early!

I'm not really sure how to put into one short, condensed segment what this year of teaching was like. I have learned more in this one year than I could have even imagined! I was hired a very short time before school started and had no time to prepare. Unfortunately I hadn't been planning to teach choir at all, so the short-notice heads up was really quite a bit of a problem. For the first month I was literally keeping one day ahead of the students... if that. :) I slowly got ahead, little by little. From August until mid March I was at school everyday from 7:30 A.M. until about 9:00 P.M. Weekends? Nothing more than a chance to grade papers and prepare lesson plans from my house. Once March was halfway over I was able to get out at a more normal sort of a time.

So many teachers talk about how much they love the kids they teach. After a couple of months of teaching I realized that I truly didn't feel that connection. I had an honest desire for the students to do well in their lives, but felt no emotional connection. It made me sad because I had always assumed I'd be the kind of a teacher to create bonds with students, the way I felt bonds with certain teachers when I was a teenager. I didn't know what I was doing wrong to miss that attachment. I evaluated my classroom atmosphere and teaching style and decided that there were a few things that needed to be adjusted. I needed to start trying to see the kids more as people and less as... kids who could misbehave at any second (not that that feeling ever entirely left!). Cutting out all of the details (because I'm lazy)- things got much better and by the end of the year... I was truly sad to see (some of) them go. :) At the 8th graders "graduation ceremony"- I actually had to fight to not be emotional.

I don't know how it happened, but over the course of the year I turned in to the teacher that was known for being super strict. I NEVER thought I would be that kind of a teacher, but... I totally am! One of the parents told me that the students described me as "super strict, but way cool." Seriously- I think that is the ultimate compliment! I'll take it.

At graduation all 6 of the students that finished middle school with a solid 4.0 spoke. All of them were also in show choir and a few of them talked about some of their teachers in their speeches. At the beginning of the year I had a discussion with each of the classes and we were talking about rewards they would like for following the rules and I honestly don't remember what she really said, but I thought one of the girls suggested "boating" as a reward. It turned into a huge inside joke with that class and somehow got extended to a sleep over/boating trip. This same student during her speech mentioned our class boating trip and it totally made my day! One of the students told us what he learned from each teacher and he said, "From Ms. Dodge I learned the keys to music and self-discipline," and I'm not kidding you when I say that everyone started laughing! Both students and parents! It was pretty dang funny. The vice principal at my school told me that it was very unusual to have so many students mention the same teacher in their speeches. He said I should take it as quite a compliment. It was a good ceremony but between the students speaking and the show choir singing one last time, I just kept thinking, "I have been looking forward to this day ever since the first day of school- it's not fair to make me emotional about it!!" I really will miss them.

******************************

Now, on to the good stuff. Middle school kids are DANG FUNNY! They say the funniest things, and honestly, I wish I had written the good stuff down, but I didn't. Every single day there were at least two or three times that I would think, "Uh, did you really just say that?" or "Did you really just DO that?" I'll tell you some of the funnier stories that I can remember.

I wish I could tell you how true this comic is. :)

In one of my choir classes we got onto a bit of a tangent about frisbees. I was telling them how cool my light-up frisbee was and how much fun it was to play with at night. One girl looked a little confused at the whole concept and finally said, "Wait. YOU have a light-up frisbee? How do you play frisbee? Do you pick it up and throw it... then chase it across the room, pick it up and throw it again?? Do you just keep chasing after it??" I just stared at her for a minute and then burst out laughing. I told her that contrary to popular belief, I actually had some friends outside of the school. It was the best. We all laughed about that one for a while.

I don't remember what we were talking about- I think it had something to do with some TV show or something, but one of the girls says, "You're so cool, Ms. Dodge! You're almost like a real person!"

During teacher appreciation week I received quite a few nice notes from students. Some were anonymous and some were not, but I KNOW they weren't all genuine. I think the student government teacher had all of her students write notes to each of their teachers. My absolute F.A.V.O.R.I.T.E. one went something a little bit like this:

Dear Ms. Dodge, (scribble, scribble, scribble)

Thanks for being such a great teacher and you have a great voice.

James

After a bit of studying I was finally able to read the text beneath the scribbling:

Dear Ms. Dodge, A.K.A. SATAN

Thanks for being such a great teacher and you have a great voice.

James

:) I think I sat alone in my classroom laughing for 10 minutes straight. The thing is... I don't think "James" would have said that, so I think it was added afterward by another student. How cute.

One day during boy's choir I said, "Remember when we talked about breath control?" They all stared at me. They actually looked frightened. We all stared at each other for a second until I realized the problem. "BREATH control- I said, BREATH control!" I clarified. The relief on their faces was pretty much the funniest thing ever. I, myself, never thought that breath and breast sounded all that alike, but clearly I was wrong! I couldn't use the phrase 'breath control' again.

At the beginning of theatre class one day a boy came up and asked, "Ms. Dodge, why do we keep doing all of this acting stuff?" Uh... I don't even know how to answer that. "Well... because this is a THEATRE class." "Oh."

After telling the class how something was going to happen one boy said (with the attitude that he was really going to shock me), "Your class isn't a very good democracy!" Yeah. Cause I really WANT a classroom democracy.

Raging Waters Day: A girl asks, "Ms. Dodge, why aren't you swimming?" I gave some vague response like not having a suit with me. She says, "Oh... that's too bad cause all of the boys really wanted to see you in a swimming suit." Ah. THAT'S why.

Girl: "Ms. Dodge, did you dye your hair?"

Me: "Yeah."

Girl: "Oh. What color did you want it to be?"

Huh.

I'll probably add more of these as I remember them.

If only it could be done.

I'm not much of a winter person, so for me- spring is always quite welcome! There is one major downside, however. Spiders. All the spiders wake up.

*Wake up? I don't know so much about the waking up bit. Where do they come from? They don't hibernate, do they? And it can't be that all of their nasty little eggs hatch at the same time, because then they'd all be tiny. They just suddenly come back when it warms up. Maybe they fly south for the winter. Oh. Man. I really wish I hadn't typed that, because now I'm thinking about what sort of HORROR FLYING spiders would bring!! Well... I've just found something else to be grateful for.

Spiders don't fly.*

I wish there was a way to teach spiders. If I could just help them learn that coming into my house is a bad idea, we'd all be a lot happier. But there is no way to teach this! See, I strongly believe in the death penalty for any spiders found inside, so the learning curve is really quite steep. Maybe I just need to find two of them... kill one and release the second into the wild to warn the others.

Thoughts??

Sun Valley-oh-nine

So I wish that I could say that I have tons to catch up on, but... really I don't. :) Here is the catch-up (not to be confused with ketchup- the creamy tomato based sauce): I work. A lot. Alllllllllllllllllll day, in fact. No, really. Also I went to Sun Valley over Christmas. Alrighty. Now that I've caught you up with my life...

Can I just say that Sun Valley is the coolest place ever?? This was my second year in the group. Pretty much I plan to go until I die. That, or until I... stop going.

Basically we perform every night, and play every day. :) Last year was my first time learning to snowboard, and this year we went boarding almost every day. I love it!! I'm not great, but good enough. It's funny that I love it as much as I do since I've never cared for skiing. Anyway.







Yeah... totally forgot my shoes on the last day when I had to turn my rentals back in. Oops. Riding the bus home was somewhat humorous.

My parents, Brian, and Amber were able to make it to Sun Valley for a couple of days. I loved them coming!


I love the costumes we get to wear. They are so much fun! Last year there were two groups of singers, but this year there was only one. The costumes I wore last year weren't used this time, so I got new ones. Last year's were super cool, too.








Well... sorry for a kind of boring post! I just wanted to get these pictures up. Till next year, Sun Valley!

My students in concert

Remember that one time that I became a theatre/choir teacher? Yeah. That time. Well, remember how choirs have concerts? Yeah. Those. Talk about a stressful event! My school's 2009-2010 Show Choir had their first concert a couple of weeks ago.

That's right- my very first choir concert. :) Turns out they are... kind of hard to put together. Who knew?? I think I'd like to go back to having someone else doing all of the hard work, and just showing up to sing. :) I was seriously freaking out. We NEVER had a rehearsal that went well. I think I was just hoping that nobody would show up to see it. Unfortunately THAT didn't happen.

The GOOD news, however, is that it actually ended up going really well. They actually remembered almost everything! It was quite a nerve-wracking evening. My parents and brother came a few hours early to help me get everything set and ready. I seriously owe them big time.




Here are a few pictures of us rehearsing before the audience got there. Only... I can't show you their faces, so yes they are blurred out. It's not just that they are ugly. At least not all of them.

This is my show choir!




Yeah... did someone say 120 students in the SHOW CHOIR??

Some of the girls in the girls' number:



The hellions- oh... how did that get... no, I meant the boys-



The hot choir director-




I have to say I was quite relieved to have the concert over with. Yesterday we did the concert for the school as an assembly in the middle of the day. It went... NOT good. Really, they still sounded decent (except in those two weeks they managed to forget most of the harmonies- making everything unison...) but their behavior was just... rough. And getting the assembly and the mics and the lights and the props and the music stands and the piano and the... on and on and on... all set up BY MYSELF in only 30 MINUTES right before the assembly left me ANYTHING but calm. I was sort of a basket case. That assembly was almost the death of me I think! But- I got through the show and finished the rest of my classes and the day was finally over. THEN my mom called. Yeah. I lost it. Yay for a mom that lets you bawl on the phone to her. :) Two of the teachers at the school told me they thought it was even better than the night concert, though! So, I don't know. :) I think I STARTED that assemly so frustrated that I may not be a fair judge!
This job never slows down, though, and now I'm just panicking about the Winter concert! Ah, Christmas... here we go...

Oh a happy note, the choir's uniforms finally came in the mail yesterday! So they will just look so darn cute for their Christmas concert. Yes my friends... bow ties and all. :)

School should be left to the daytime...

The bad news? The job isn't really getting any easier. Really? 13 year olds are just... 13 years old. The good news? I haven't had a school nightmare in a while! Yes- I do have school nightmares often. See- the really tricky thing is that I sleepwalk, so you combine sleepwalking with my obnoxious school nightmares and I've ended up with at least a little humor in my life. :)




Example 1- I was having this bad dream that I needed to teach something out of a textbook- but of course I couldn't find the right textbook. I was FREAKING out and seriously panicked, and I was looking EVERYWHERE and digging and looking, and finally I found it. THEN, in my dream, I realized that I didn't have enough of the textbooks for everyone in my class, so I started looking for MORE of them. Anyway. Just one of those obnoxious panicky sort of dreams. So I woke up, and found that I was holding a textbook, and had another one sitting next to me. No... no I don't keep these books right next to my bed. They were on the other side of the room. And no... no they weren't even on the TOP of the pile they were in. They were in the middle. So I guess, in my sleep, I had walked over and dug through my books and somehow had chosen those ones to take back with me. Sure. :)

Example 2- I fell asleep while writing lesson plans one night, and in my dream I was still writing one. I don't remember exactly what the dream was about, but for some reason I figured that I needed to be somewhere else to write them. I woke up when my computer hit the ground. Yes... yes. I FREAKING DROPPED MY COMPUTER IN MY SLEEP! This poor computer has been dropped so many times and it's never my fault! (I guess that is up for debate- I DID drop it... but I was asleep at the time... so...??) I decided I needed to move somewhere else, I picked up my computer, walked across the room, and dropped it. Love it.

Example 3- I was dreaming that I was correcting papers (which really- I do ALL THE FREAKING TIME so that wasn't much of a stretch) and I guess I had some never-ending pile that was giving me major stress because of some unnameable deadline. You know. Anyway. I woke up, and I was "correcting" the back of the package of my new razor. I don't know where I put that before I went to bed, but somehow I had found it and I was holding it in my left hand and in my right hand I was holding an imaginary pencil... and I was circling things. I actually laughed out loud after I woke up to THAT one. :)

BUT the good news is that I haven't had one of these dreams in almost two weeks! My subconscious is either learning to deal with this better... or it's at least hiding it from... me... better. Either way. :)

School, school, and more school

Wow. What a lame post to leave up for over a month. I have been so dang busy, I haven't had time to do ANYTHING- including blog.

Why have I been so busy? Because- for those of you who don't actually know- I got a job!

I teach middle school. Yup. That's the truth. I work at a MIDDLE SCHOOL. It has been quite a roller coaster. That is for dang sure. I teach both choir and theatre. So there you go... all those years in college absolutely STRESSING over whether I should graduate in choral education or theatre education... very worthwhile. Glad I invested so many hours and tears into making that decision. Story of my life!!

I was offered the job ONE WEEK before school started. ONE WEEK!!! For those of you that don't know tons about the teaching profession- that's definitely not the preferred method. FYI. Not only was it only one week (okay... it was really like one week and two days), but I was also in North Carolina visiting my sister when I got the phone call! (Yeah- haven't blogged about that one, either. I had so much dang fun. Her kids are the cutest kids in the world... and no... that couldn't possibly be a biased opinion. Hopefully I'll be able to blog about that sometime soon. I make no promises.) I got back to Utah late on Monday the 17th of August and school started the following Monday. Tuesday I went and saw my classroom for the first time- stayed for about an hour, took a tour of the school (it's a brand new building. It's really gorgeous.) and had no idea what I really needed to do. The whole rest of the week I had meetings. I had a little time in my room on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. My brother Brian came one day (I think it was... Friday, maybe?) and helped me alphabetize my choral library for HOURS. I've probably spent about 25 hours organizing that music and I'm STILL not done. Brian was a life saver. Anyway. So in all that time I had very little time to do anything like, oh I don't know... write lesson plans! So I've been pretty much taking things one day at a time.

We've been in school for 4 weeks now. Midterms are next week and I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! Every day goes by so slowly... I never thought we'd hit midterms. :) So, how is it going, you might want to know? (If you don't want to know, then just humor me.) It's hard. I won't lie. It's really hard. I work ALL. THE. TIME. All the time. I usually leave for work between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning and I stay at school until somewhere between 6-8. Then I get home and grade papers for a few hours. Everyday. Then I go to bed at about midnight, get up at 5:30ish and start again. I thought weekends would give me a little sanity, but here is how all three of my weekends have gone: Saturday I get to sleep in- which means I usually week up at about 8:00... yeah... sleeping in has reeeeeally changed. :) I start grading papers/writing lesson plans at about 9:00- and I finish at about midnight. Then I go to bed, get up on Sunday- go to church- come home and grade papers/write lesson plans until about midnight. I REEEEEEAAAALLY wish I was exaggerating. I'm not! Not even a little! Some nights I'm even up until about 2:00. Man. Today (Saturday) I quit working at about 10:00. I've got a nasty cold and decided I had had enough with the working.

Ya know- it's funny. Brian pointed out to me that I can know I've entered a new time in my life when I'm actually GRATEFUL that I'm sick over the weekend instead of during the week. :)

Anyway- I did my student teaching in a high school and I have been SHOCKED at the differences between high schoolers and middle schoolers. I can't believe how much younger they are. I didn't expect the difference to be as drastic as it acutally is. I've definitely got bundles of funny stories already. That will have to be a post for another day, though.

Since I've got so much free time- I decided I needed more on my plate. So- I'll be moving soon! Right now I'm living at my parents' house, and a lot of the week I stay at my aunt and uncle- Art and Katherine's house. They live in Sandy. So everyday I commute either half an hour or an hour each way. But two of my high school friends, Francine and Julena, and I are moving to Salt Lake in a couple of weeks. The house we're going to rent is pretty close to my school- I'm excited about that.

Wow- this is a really boring post. I would go back and make it more interesting... but I don't want to. I hope it makes sense and doesn't sound too much like I'm hopped up on cold medicine! Congratulations if you made it all the way through it. :)

Look alike?

Any So You Think You Can Dance watchers out there??

I have had FIVE different people tell me (at different times!) that one of the dancers on that show reminds them of me. Her name is Jeanine. They say we look a lot alike and that we have similar mannerisms. I think it's probably just because we're both such good dancers. :)

I don't really see it, but... whatever! I found a couple of pictures of her, and quickly looked through my iphoto program to see if I had any pictures that looked similar. This is what I came up with:

So. I don't know. Maybe it's not as much in still photos and just in mannerisms? Do I really look like her? Thoughts?