And To All A Good Night

Let me start off by saying I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas this year. We've certainly been busy around this Houston household, let me catch you up!


Let's start at last night, Christmas Eve. Kayla and I decided to go to a friend's church here in Houston (hey Bryan!). They did one of the coolest things I've ever seen done in a church service, let alone a Christmas Eve service. They started this running scroll on a screen with someone reading the words as they scrolled up towards the ceiling, the basic jist of the message was that Jesus was just an ordinary person, that all the Biblical testimonies were falsehoods and that Christmas doesn't really have the meaning that people ascribe to it, then this guy reading gets to the bottom and says something to the affect of "that's what I believed until I allowed Jesus in and He turned everything upside down," from that point, the scrolling words went in reverse and all the falsehoods were turned into truths as he read the same script backwards. It was really a great highlight of the service. The music was phenomenal, which isn't that difficult to do when you're associated with a fine arts academy as part of your community outreach. They did have a horn section on stage, and I really would like to be able to do that in a church setting at some point in my life. I think it would be great fun and a great way to use my talents to praise the Lord. Speaking of the "reason for the season...."


It gets really hard sometimes with all that goes into the Christmas season to remember why it's important in the first place, that God humbled Himself because of His great love for us and became fully human and yet fully God to die for my sins and save me from eternal separation from Him. That still blows my itty-bitty mind every year when I allow myself to think about it. How anyone can say that God is just some cosmic cop is one that misses the creativity in His plan to save all of mankind and reconcile us to Him. I don't claim to fully understand it, I'm just thankful He did it! I love singing the carols at this time of the year and we were so fortunate to be able to attend the Casting Crowns concert a few weeks ago and were really able to worship through those several carols we sang. It's sometimes tough for me to worship through Christmas carols because the words have become so familiar that I lose the power in them, and that was something that because I heard them in a new arrangement didn't happen this year.

Okay, so for the more superficial portion of Christmas, I was truly shocked this Christmas morn when, while I was sitting with Brenna helping her open her presents, I get one that is set before me that is obviously a box. In my head I'm thinking it's just a book or some clothes or maybe the shoes that were on my list. Let me set the stage a little more for you: for the past two to three weeks (although some would say it's been since before Thanksgiving), I have been a pain in the rump because I've been kidding about getting a Playstation 3. I've actually been kidding around quite a bit and just being annoying like only a middle child can. So anyway, back to this box. I tear off the paper and go into a little bit of shock because sitting in my lap before me is a brand new PS3! I still can't believe that I received one for Christmas. I'm sure the pictures that were taken of me when I realized what it was was a pretty good reward for those that worked so hard to procure one for me. I don't think it will match the Herbie car picture for those of you who know what that is, but I bet it came pretty close. I also received two games to go with it, one that I have talked about before, and one that I played a prequel to at my friend Billy's house and looks to be really awesome, but I have to exercise some restraint in my playing or I'm sure I'll get put on restriction! I'm only half-kidding about that by the way!

The Christmas season ended in a wonderful way for us this evening, when Kayla, I, her brother and his wife went out on a double date without kids to see Marley and Me. It was a fantastic movie, and since I haven't read the book in a long time, I thought it was very well done and stayed as close to the book as any movie can. We thoroughly enjoyed our time out together and look forward to getting to do it again really soon (hear that Mimi?!) Anyway, Christmas is now officially over and now all I have to look forward to are some special visitors from Georgia who I'm sure are trying their hardest to make it to us in an expeditious manner. I really can't wait to see them, and it really will be the best gift of the season to have them here for an entire week! Well, here I'll end this week's opus with a line from one of Brenna's current favorite books: Merry Christmas to All (you can look at the titel of this post for the rest!)

What Else am I Supposed to Do?

So, what do you do when you wake up an hour earlier than you're supposed to on the last day before Christmas break? You blog, of course. Sorry it's been so long in updating, but it's also been very busy. Here's the rundown since Thanksgiving:

Christmas at the Park:
Went very well. Kayla's parents brought Brenna's cousins Tanner and Avery down to come to this event that's held every year in the city park, where the band (who used to march in a parade) plays Christmas carols, there are local vendors to sell things like bead necklaces and crafts, and Santa rides in on...wait for it...the city firetruck! You've got to admit, it's pretty fun for the kids to see all the flashing lights and the loud horns and everything, but that's pretty redneck! Anyway, it was right in the middle of the kids naptime, so Kayla and her mom came to support me and the band, then went back to get the little ones so they could have their pictures taken with Santa Claus, which of course included Kayla's mom because who wants to sit on an old man's lap with a beard down to his belt by themselves?! The day was a success.

Christmas Concert:
This went off better than expected especially when you consider some of the behaviors of the students the Friday before which was our last rehearsal, combined with a brand new sound system, and the fact that all the members of my jazz band hadn't played together until they got out on the stage! When we listened back the next day, there was very little to pick on, the kids really stepped up to the plate and did an amazing job. The only weird thing was that I (the assistant band director) conducted three quarters of the concert. The only group that I was not responsible for was the high school band. Kind of strange, but it turned out alright.

Concession Stand #1:
So the next day, I didn't get a chance to have a well-earned rest from a job well-done, instead I got to help support our band some more by helping with the concession stand as a fundraiser for the band. It actually wasn't that bad, other than it was a fourteen hour day. The alternative was worse, however. This day was also the day for Region Band, which for some unknown reason was like four hours away from the school, so I actually got it a little better than my co-worker who got back into town around 12:45 in the morning.

Concession Stand #2:
So not only was it bad enough having to run a concession stand once in a week, I had the priviledge of doing it twice, because for some reason I am a sixth grade sponsor and they had the concession stand that Friday. That one was a little bit longer because we went from right after school until after 9pm because it was a tournament. I survived just in time for:

Veterans Program:
The high school band the next morning (last Saturday) attended a wreath laying ceremony at a veterans memorial that I wasn't even aware KC had. We played three songs and then were free to leave. This was actually a very nice thing to attend. It always amazes me to see the veterans of all the wars represented. There was even a gentleman there who had served not only in WWII, but also in Vietnam. I can only imagine the horrors that man has seen and I wanted to thank him for protecting my freedoms, but I didn't see him after the ceremony was over. After the program finished I finally got to spend some time with my girls for the first time since Thanksgiving. We went to the park and had a great time with a dog that was one of the sweetest I have seen since my dog Dolly was alive. This dog let Brenna hang all over her and played with her and didn't seem to have a care in the world about the two year old terror that was following her around. I contemplated taking the dog home, but we didn't know if she really belonged to someone and there was no real way to find out. We had a blast, though. So the next day was:

Christmas Cantata:
I'm a little torn when I report on this one, because the choir at church has some great potential to be a fantastic little choir, but there is not someone in the church with the formal training to work them into shape other than me. I'm still praying to make sure that God wants me to take over the Music minister job at the church and add that onto my already full plate. However, they sang alright with their troubled vowels and everything. The cantata basically consisted of several specials strung together and some carols from the hymnal, but I did get a chance to do a solo, which apparently affected a lot of people. I sang "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" by Casting Crowns, and found out that people were still talking about my performance two days ago. It makes me a little wary, because I know that God has gifted me with amazing musical abilities, but at the same time I know that I'm not even the best singer in my family! I know that I have to watch out or I will be quite prone to having an over-inflated view of my talents which God gave me anyway. I did have fun singing the song and explaining the story behind it. If you do not know it, check out Casting Crowns website here and find out the story behind the song.

So now we are finally into the last day of the last week before the long break which seems is long over-due. I am glad all our concerts are done, I am glad to see some family this next week and I am glad to be able to get out of town for a week. And one heck of a Christmas present is on its way to me and it'll be here by the end of next week: My parents and older brother BJ are coming to visit us here in the great KC and staying through New Years Day, so I can finally watch a UGA game with some people that actually want to watch it (Thanks sweetheart, I know that you try and like the Dawgs as much as you can, but it's not the same as when you have a vested interest!). Anyway, thanks for bearing with me through the blog drought of '08 and I will try and "talk" to you guys again through the rest of this break! Merry Christmas!

The Week That Was

Yes, for those that aren't aware of who the gentleman is beside Kayla, that is Mark Hall the lead singer for Casting Crowns after the concert where all the performers from the concert met those with "backstage" passes. This was a little misleading because the meet and greet actually took place after the concert and at the top of the convention center/arena/meeting place thing rather than actually backstage. We really did have a good time with some friends of ours from Georgia and with Kayla's parents. We loved getting to hear Casting Crowns perform, but they were the headliners for a concert that featured six different either performers or ensembles, including: Michael English, Natalie Grant, Avalon, Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, and PureNRG. While we enjoyed most of these groups perform, it was a lot to pack into one concert.

Here were the final thoughts on the concert from my perspective: Denver and the Mile High Orchestra should have won "The Next Great American Band" last summer, those dudes can play! I am still trying to convince myself that if I practiced enough I could sound like they do (I'm not doing a very good job selling that line to myself.), Michael English has one of the best male voices I've ever heard, Casting Crowns should have played more (it was a wonderful worship experience with them, it was just over too quick), I've heard much better renditions of O Holy Night than the one I heard on stage, I think the kids (Pure...) were lip-synching I just can't believe that you can have that steady of a tone whilst doing a backflip, they still have some kinks to work out in the spotlight and balance departments, and probably the highlight of my night (other than getting to spend it with my wonderful wife on what felt like a semi-date) was getting encouraged and reminded of how much influence over lives I have as a music teacher. I got to have a pretty significant conversation with the drummer of the Denver group and the story he told me just reminded me to see my tough kids as a challenge rather than a problem.

Here are a few more pictures from the concert:













It was a very beautiful set and the stage lights were done very well. Christopher, if you read this, I noticed the lights and it was all because of you!

Wrap-up for the rest of my life right now: Thanksgiving was very fun in Houston; we got a Christmas tree tonight which Brenna thoroughly enjoyed, I realized that I have been doing a lot of talking about Santa and trying to get Brenna to not be scared of Santa when we see him again, but not a whole lot of talking about Jesus. I am now making a conscious effort to mention the reason for celebration of this season a whole lot more. We had 11 kids out of 17 that tried out make it to region band, and 4 kids advance to area including my bass trombone player. The 4 kids are a little misleading, though because 3 of the 4 were automatic advancers due to the lack of further competition (meaning they take two to the next round and there were only two who tried out). I have two concerts this weekend a concession stand on Monday and Friday of next week, a Veteran's Day program on Saturday next week and singing in the Christmas Cantata on the 14th. I'm sure I'm busy past that, but I'm too scared to look further. Right now, I'm just making sure my 6th graders can all play the songs together at the same time and it sound like something that might be recognizable to a loving, supportive parents ears. Pray for me! I'll let everyone know how it's going when I get a chance to breathe!

DAAAAANG!

East Bernard-42, KC-0. High School football season is finally over! Kinda sad to see them close out the season that way, but I don't feel too terribly bad, because.......

My mother-in-law not only won us tickets to the concert, but also won the grand prize of twenty additional tickets, dinner at the venue and a "special guest" scheduled to appear (we're guessing that's meeting the band). Next Friday is sounding more and more fun than the one before it! We have two days of school before our much-needed break and I'm also doing music at church this Sunday. Keep me in your prayers that I'll make it through to see this concert!

Hey, Somebody's Gotta Win

I bet you thought this post was going to be on another subject, didn't you?

My mother-in-law is a fantastic lady. She was trying to do something fun, silly, and nice for Kayla and I while we were in Houston this next week for the holiday other than making us Thanksgiving dinner. She knows that I've been working really hard these past few weeks and Kayla and I have not had a lot of time together due to that, so she heard on the Christian radio station in Houston that they were having a contest to give away tickets to a Casting Crowns concert that was going to happen while we were there, and had us call as well as call herself to try and win us tickets. Anyway, she called us tonight and told us to listen to the radio via the internet and try for the tickets, at the same time she was going to try for them as well. Well, Kayla gets on and is sitting on hold for five or so minutes before the line goes dead and she assumes that it wasn't our time to win. Two minutes later, Kayla's mom calls and tells us she's won the tickets for us. So, as long as the football team can manage to lose tomorrow (everyone is still praying, right?), Kayla and I will be on our way to a concert at the end of next week!

Quick update on the game, we're playing that great Texas powerhouse: East Bernard? We're playing in Victoria, TX. which is again a little over an hour away. I have to drive the trailer because my counterpart has to drive the bus. And, it's an early release day because apparently everyone is either involved in or is going to the game. I'll keep you all posted!

Dang...

Badgers-38, Randolph-28. 31 points scored in the first half, first touchdown on the second play of the game (after we deferred!)

And to add insult to injury, there were sustained winds around 30 mph. Our tuba player actually popped himself in the mouth with his mouthpiece because the wind blew his instrument backwards.

So now, everyone is clear what I need you to do, right? Pray that the Badgers DON'T win this next Friday. I'm in need of a full Thanksgiving break in the worst way, and won't get it if these guys can't get their act together and not play like a team! More updates as they happen!

Two Topics, A Long Time Coming

I know it's been a while since I updated this thing, but hopefully after I finish this blog it will be a little clearer as to why it's taken so long. So, let's back up to the last post for a moment: I'm happy to report there were no injuries or major issues with the entire band program performing Friday night two weeks ago. Everyone seemed to have a good time and the best part of all is I didn't have to worry about a marimba. The following Sunday kicked off a whirlwind week for the Jones clan. I led music on Sunday morning at the church here, and we actually did a closing chorus that not only wasn't in the hymnal, but also had guitar accompaniment! I'm telling you I thought that I was shaking things up a little, but it would still be manageable. Little did I realize that the choir and accompanist also didn't know the first hymn I chose, which is a favorite of mine. It was an interesting morning, but it didn't really compare to the evening when Kayla and I along with a few other people helped to relaunch the youth group at our little church. We did four praise choruses, used powerpoints, and did a NOOMA video (can you tell I have just recently learned how to use the link button?). We had a great night and had ten kids show up. The following Monday continued our whirlwind week and I was out of town all day from 7:15 AM until 11:15 PM at the state marching competition with about 25 high school and middle school students. An exhausting day if ever there was one. Tuesday was a bit of a break because all the classes finished the movie we started on Monday due to the absence of band directors, but Kayla and Brenna went to San Antonio because of errands that needed to be run, so we didn't get to see one another even though we have finally reached the end of marching practices on Tuesdays. Wednesday was a normal day, except Kayla and Brenna came back into town around 5 o'clock in the evening and had to be at church at 5:30 in time for Kayla to work, so we had a hurried meal as a family (the first in almost a week) and they rushed out the door. Once the program Kayla was working in concluded, I met with the guy who's helping me with the youth music from 7:30-9 to work on music for the following Sunday night. Thursday, I had a junior high game, which meant that not only was I in charge of over 50 middle school students to play at the game, but we as a school were also on pep rally schedule which means my lunch period is eliminated to make time for it. I was able to get home to eat, but it was during Brenna (and Kayla's) nap time. Friday was of course the high school game, which was over an hour away, so I didn't get home until after midnight. Which concluded our whirlwind week, and leads into the second topic.


I was able to spend a wonderfully restful weekend at home with my girls this past weekend. We didn't do anything but bum around the house. Kayla and I rented a movie for Sunday night and I really just enjoyed spending time with Kayla and playing with Brenna. I really miss my girls and I hate sometimes that I have chosen a job that keeps me from them for such long stretches of time. I'm telling you, Thanksgiving holidays can't come soon enough. The only possible fly in that ointment is if the football team keeps winning and we have to play the Friday after Thanksgiving. So, everyone pray that the KC football team loses just one more time! Not to sound against the school or anything, but I haven't had a break since Labor Day! Next up: Three weeks until the Christmas Concert. It's also a double whammy because we have two concerts in two days, one is a concert in the city park for the community and the next day is a concert for the band program. Last year these concerts were a week apart, but this year they fall on consecutive days. I'll try and do better about keeping this thing updated, because I know how much you guys miss it when I am unable to!

PLAYOFFS?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qZzqrhJ7Y0

The guy to the left is Jim Mora, Sr. and if you follow the link above, you will get the joke behind the title of this post. That guy was truly an original in the world of soundbytes! Yes it's true, the Mighty Badgers are for all intents and purposes on their way to the playoffs. We beat up all over our latest competition last Friday and there's basically no way to avoid going. So, I will at least be stuck with one more week than normal of hauling all kinds of equipment all over this God-forsaken state and unloading, reloading, herding, disciplining, playing, joking, marching, watching, etc.

On a happier note (say a C#); Kayla, Brenna, and I took off on Saturday afternoon for a trip to Sea World. This was some much needed family time after a week of not being home very often. In fact, I feel very guilty that I'm spending a ton of time with other people's children and not very much at all with my own. I realize it has to be this way during this time of the year, but I still don't like it. Yet another reason to dislike HS football season (notice I said HS football, did you see the UGA-LSU beatdown? Makes me nervous for next weekend, I digress...)

This week Kayla and Brenna leave on Thursday morning for a great trip that I am glad to say I don't have to be a part of: A Quilting Show weekend! I don't see how that could be any fun at all, but she (Kayla) really seems to enjoy it and appears to have a knack for all things sewing. If you have one of her creations, you know what I mean. Anyway, they are gone until Saturday evening, so that means that I get to be a bachelor once again for a few days. However, you shouldn't have to worry about me getting bored or slothful (not sure if that's a word, but I'm going to act like it is) because on Friday night I will be in charge of around 145 band students ranging in age from 11 to 18. Quite a task, but I think I can handle it. I'll let you know how it goes!

Let's Get Ready to RUMBLE!

So I couldn't decide what to call this one, so I finally chose to do them in an order that counteracts one another. We had another fight at school today. I say another because it's the third or fourth one we've had in about three weeks. I think it's just getting to the time of the year when kids are getting a little cabin fever and strike out at one another. Anyway, this one happened right as I was taking my assigned kids out the door from lunch. Fortunately, most of my kids had already left the lunchroom, but I still had to deal with a few stragglers who wanted to stay and watch the spectacle. That's really the part that I find unsettling about all the fighting that happens at our school: when we've had these fights break out, we haven't had any kids try to step in and break it up. Mostly we get kids that crowd around with their cell phones in hand trying to catch something to put onto YouTube. It's pretty frightening that they won't even stop to help their fellow peers or the teachers try to break them up. It's like they've spent too much time watching the talk shows and think that's how life is supposed to be. What a world we're living in. The more that I'm here, the more I think we're in the cycle of civilization where we're getting ready to fall flat on our faces so that God can humble our country. Speaking of God...


My classes were watching Finding Nemo today and answering questions about the music (it was the day after marching contest, I didn't feel like teaching too much, okay?). It's very interesting to me the things you notice as you watch a movie in the same section six times in a row. You tend to pick up on a few things you didn't really notice were there. I wanted to call this part: The Bible According to Nemo. For anyone who's seen the movie, you probably remember when Marlin and Dory (left) are at the trench that the moonfish just told Dory to swim through, not over. Marlin describes the trench as having "death written all over it," so he decides to swim over it. When Dory objects, but doesn't remember why, Marlin distracts her by telling her he saw something shiny and it just went over the trench and they should follow it to see what it was. If you remember the movie, what happens next is they get caught in a forest of jellyfish and Dory ends up hurt to the point that she is scarred from the encounter. Does anyone see where I'm going with this? How many times do we as Christians have God tell us something that is for our own good (either through His voice or someone He sends to us), but doesn't necessarily explain why it's for our own good, we get to what He's warned us about and either we get distracted by someone else or we let somebody talk us into thinking we know better than what God's told us and decide to go our own way because it looks easier? Then often times we end up paying a high price for our disobedience, when we would have been better for having listened to God in the first place. Just a thought. Go back and watch that part of the movie and see if you think I'm right. Like I said, when you watch a movie six times in a row, you pick up on some things you might not have seen before. And finally, the reason I watched a cartoon six times in a row...


Marching contest went okay. It was pretty hot when we went onto the field at 2:15 to play, and we had gotten to the school we were playing at about two hours earlier, so we had some time to not only get set for what was about to happen, but I think some of our kids had two hours to let nerves settle in on them really good so they didn't perform as well as they have in the past. Their nerves came through in their performance and we ended up with a III rating. For those not of the band world (or those who've forgotten because it's been a while since their kids were in band), a I rating is the best, a V rating means you should've stayed at home, so we were right around average. I think, however, if the judges had been at our game on Friday, we would have received either a I or a II for that performance, so it's all about how you perform when you need to, and we didn't do as well as we could have. Anyway, thanks to everyone who was concerned for my kids and how they did and thanks for all the prayers.

One final thing, homecoming went okay, as I said before, the halftime show went really well. The next two weeks get a little busy for the Jones family here, as I have a junior high football game, two high school games; one of which will showcase our entire band program from 6th-12th grades (all 150 students), Kayla has a quilting show she's going to in Houston with her mom, I'm leading music at our church for the first time on the first Sunday in November, and that evening Kayla and I along with some others from the church are starting the youth group back at the church that hasn't had anything of significance at the church in several years. We're going to try and take it in a Compass-type direction, so we're pretty excited to show the kids there are different styles of worship than just standing and singing hymns and listening to a speaker, so I'll try and keep everyone posted here about our goings on, but it's going to be a little crazy. I'll type again soon!

Marching Contest and Other Miscellaneous Updates

Sheesh! I go for around a week without updating this thing and you people jump all over me! You know, sometimes I have to actually live my life before I can blog about it.

I'm just kidding, although this past week has been really busy. I don't think I've made it to the computer more than twice. Why, you may ask? Because this past Saturday was pre-UIL Marching Contest. This is the warm up to the main event next Monday for the actual UIL Marching Contest. In my opinion it's a good and a bad thing because you get one final run-through of all the things you need to work on with actual judges telling you where to start, but at the same time you work so hard and put so much in to just have to get yourself up and ready to go about a week later. The same principle applies to the UGA-FL game followed by the UGA-AUB game. You get yourself so hyped up for one that there is often a let-down for the other. I'm extra worried, though because we earned third place at the competition and our color guard earned the "Outstanding" award. I hope we can keep our kids focused for one more week.

I would say we've got one more game to fine tune our performance, but that's not entirely true, because it's time for one of the oldest traditions in HS football this week:

That's right! Homecoming. That means a week of trying to get our kids to stand in an arch or a heart or two columns or some other kind of sappy shape so that around 10 kids from the football team and the cheerleading squad can come down the field while we play freakin' "Beauty and the Beast" or "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" or some other kind of Disney crap ballad forty-thousand times until finally announce a winner and put the rest of the court out of their misery. Can you tell I'm ready for HS football season to be over? By the way, in case there are any of you out there who are unsure how I feel about marching season, let me be clear: I HATE MARCHING SEASON! I'm just glad I was able to get that off of my chest and can now go on with the remainder of the season which is only about another month long so long as the football team does their job of losing enough games to feel good that they accomplished some of their goals, but not enough that I have to go to anymore games!

On another, happier note:

I received Brisingr as a gift for allowing my wife to travel to Houston to help with her grandmother and mother and general clean up from the hurricane a few weeks back and finished it today. It is somewhere in the ballpark of 750 pages and I finished it in just over a week from when I got it. The worst part to me about getting new books that are a part of a series is that you are so excited to get the next chapter and then you breeze through it because of your eagerness and then you have to wait another three years for the next installment to come out. I remember reading the Left Behind books and wanting to tear my hair out because they kept continuing it. As a matter of fact, the joke in my family was that the rapture was actually going to occur before they finished the series. I did enjoy the book immensly, however and am always amazed that someone can write that much at such a young age, even if it is heavily influenced by other works of fantasy. Now I'm back to my annual reading of the LOTR trilogy until probably Christmas when I will receive another influx of books.

I think that about does it as far as updating for me for now. I had an in-service today, but I think I've said all I need to say about in-services in a previous post (http://nathan-musicalmusings.blogspot.com/2008/08/thank-lord-for-good-in-services.html). Hope everyone is well, and I'll let you know how HOMECOMING 2008 goes!

Reasons to Pause and Reconsider Teaching College

"After years of alleged misconduct, school chancellor John Wiley (13) placed the band on probation after a bus trip to Michigan last month apparently turned into an outbreak of Nerds Gone Wild. The school said band members "routinely engaged in hazing involving alcohol and sexual behavior."

The above quote was from an article written almost two years ago. The following link will take you to a story posted almost two days ago: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-wisconsin-bandsuspended&prov=ap&type=lgns. I've always said that when I get far enough into my career, that I would like to teach in a college music department. My reasons for this are chiefly that the majority of the students actually want to be there instead of being forced to go, the talent level is more advanced than at middle school age, and I could have more thoughtful conversations about music and how it works.
It seems, however, that I have glossed over the one HUGE downside to this line of work (see the above stories). It's not quite like teaching middle or high school students where if they do this kind of thing you can have get their parents involved immediately, or tell them they can't walk at graduation or some other type punishment. I'm sure these things are done at the college level, the difference is generally speaking these thoughts don't enter the minds of middle and high school students, and if they do the kids are too afraid of the consequences to act on their thought because those consequences are immediate due to mom and dad being right there. Put several hundreds or thousands of miles between mom and dad and said scholar, and the consequences of your actions don't seem as immediate and therefore are not really something to be overly concerned with.
Another aspect of this story that concerns me is the conduct of the assistant band director that is mentioned. It's something that is becoming all too common in the teaching field, I'm afraid. Although, more often than not, it's with a student, not a colleague that the teacher is involved with. These are some of the things that scare me as a teacher. To be wrongly accused because of some action that was misconstrued or a flat-out lie. It's one of the reasons I'm always super careful when talking with and dealing with students especially outside of regular class times.
On a different note, I was without internet here for about three days this past week. It's amazing how much e-mail and facebook junk can accumulate in your inboxes when you don't clear them out almost daily. I was happy that it only took me an hour and a half of phone time to get it back up and running. My girls were gone to Houston this past week, and I missed them dearly. We're all back together now, and we don't really have any more travel plans until the end of the month when Kayla will go to a quilting convention. Sounds like a rip-roaring time to me, but who am I to judge, I go to marching competitions! Speaking of which, we have our first one of those on Saturday, followed by the actual UIL event the following Wednesday. I'll let you know how we did. Guess that's all for now. Happy beginning of Fall from South Texas where it's still over 90 degrees during the day!

Two Absolutely Unrelated Subjects

For those of you who don't know or have forgotten, I am somewhat of a Star Wars fanatic. In the past few years, this fanaticalism (I just wrote it, so it must be a word) has grown to the point that I see spiritual references any time I watch Star Wars, sort of like when I watch Lord of the Rings or read Chronicles of Narnia. All these stories can be used to portray Christian ideals and ethics. Anyway, anytime something new Star Wars comes out or is on television, I feel a compulsion to watch it (ex: Family Guy Star Wars episode, Spike Channel's Tuesday night Star Wars nights, and just recently on How I Met Your Mother at the end of the movie that the two main guys have just seen it says "121 awesome minutes later, and I could totally relate). The newest craze for me revolves around a new video game called The Force Unleashed. I don't know if it's because we never really had a video game system growing up, but ever since I've moved out on my own, I have loved playing video games. In fact, some of my fondest memories of post-college in Athens involved having a poker and game night at my friend Billy's house. This game looks really awesome. The only downside is that it's only being released on actual video game systems like the Wii and Playstations, and I only have my computer to play video games on. I have been asking my lovely wife half-jokingly for over a year since I found out this game was coming out for one of these video game systems, and now that I've seen some of the game footage on YouTube, it makes me want to step up the asking even more. Christmas is only around the corner after all.

The downside to all of this is that I have a tendency when I get a new game to not bother with anything else until the game is completed. Not doing chores, not keeping myself clean, not furthering my mind, not spending time with my wife or daughter, not anything but the game. This is not something I consciously do, it's the same thing if I really get into a book; the story usually just hooks me and I have to find out how it ends. For this reason I can see why my wife does not want me to have a Playstation or a Wii or even a PSP, but the call of the game is growing stronger!

On a more serious note (Part Two of the unrelated subjects if you bother to read the title of this blog entry), Kayla and I have finally joined First (only) Baptist Church of Karnes City. We have attended this church since we moved down here last October, but we both have had to wrestle with the dogmatic act of "walking down the aisle" to become members of a church. After having been to Compass and taking a class where you are walked through what the church believes, how they feel you should live your life and represent their church among other things, to then do something as trivial as walking down an aisle without knowing any of that information had us both a little concerned. It's not like we weren't already a part of the church (if you recall we did a VBS class over the summer, and I recently provided the special music for a service), but we felt it was finally the right time and did it this past Sunday. The hard part now is the focus has shifted a little bit towards me, or at least it feels like it has; let me explain:

The lady that does the music at the church is a volunteer and has to be somewhere between 65 and 75. She has no formal music training, but she has been willing to lead the music and prepare the choir to sing every Sunday. This is fine and dandy (except she doesn't conduct a correct pattern, which causes me every Sunday to look at my feet instead of at her), except, since I sang those few Sundays ago, every time we've seen her she tells me all the reasons she can't lead the music for too much longer: her eyesight is bad, it's a trouble for her husband and her to drive from where they live to church several times a week, how she's exhausted from working with the choir, and so on. These conversations always end with what feels like to me that she's ready for me to take over all her duties on the following Sunday. Now, maybe that's just me and maybe it's actually true, I'm not sure.

I know I could do this job and I know I could do it well. I also know that I would get some satisfaction out of it because I would be able to guide the music into a more contemporary style. The stumbling block for me is where I'm struggling right now and that is the position is a volunteer one. For the work that I want to do, it would require at least 10-15 hours a week and I am a professional in the field, so I feel that I should have some compensation. At the same time, I realize that I wouldn't be working for myself or even the church, but for Jesus, and that's a position that requires no other payment. But, on the other hand, Paul tells us in the Bible that we are to pay our leaders in the church so that they might be able to live and support their families. On the other other hand, though, it's not like this would be my full-time job or that I'm not already earning a paycheck. But when I think about it another way, any little bit of money I could earn extra for my family would help us to live without having to go paycheck to paycheck.

And that paragraph right there is why I don't allow myself to think about the possibility of taking over the position right now, because I haven't found a way to sort out my questions or concerns yet. Any comments and help would be greatly appreciated, especially of the Biblical source. The reason I ask for them is just like I feel the call of that game drawing me closer, I feel the call of this position in the church drawing me closer.

What do you know, these subjects weren't as unrelated as I thought. Also, if you have made it this far into the post, you are to be commended and I won't make you read any further. Hopefully, the post this weekend will deal with the exciting bus adventures I had today at school. Stay tuned!

Potpourri (Part II)

I was originally going to call this post: Hey Na, Hey Na, My Girls Are Back, but then we had so much stuff happen over the weekend, that it didn't seem to cover it all, so we'll go with the current title and no picture again. So let's get going:

My girls did make it back from their week-long excursion back East on Friday night, and it really brought a smile to my face when I saw them coming from the stands at the high school game. I hadn't really realized how much I had missed them until I saw them coming to see me. I knew that I had missed them, but I had also been so busy during the week with a re-scheduled evening rehearsal, getting fundraiser stuff for the band in, two pep rallies, and helping the band boosters run a concession stand, as well as changing the entire half-time show so the elementary school could recognize some students. It made me laugh out loud when I looked into the stands and saw my daughter dancing her heart out to the band's music on the field! I wish I had a picture; maybe next time.

So, I get home on Friday night, almost Saturday morning and have to turn right back around by 7:45 Saturday morning to get to the band hall so that kids can come and get their instruments for the parade the band had to march in for our little town. This is a parade we did last year, and I've got to say it was much easier this year, simply because I didn't have to drive down from San Antonio to attend it. It does make me laugh, though, because the parade route can't be more than 3/4's a mile long. And we have the whole town come out for it. When we marched by my house, we had a full crowd and it lightened my heart again because I look over and see my daughter dressed in a full cheerleader uniform for the Dawgs! It also made me laugh because we had a crowd out on our lawn, from our one family of friends here, to our drum major from last year who had graduated and her boyfriend, to the elementary music teacher and her family. It was just good to see that many people at our place to watch the parade. Once I arrived back home, I also saw that my wife had on a UGA shirt and she had gotten a new one for me in her travels. Before she left on her trip she told me that not seeing Brenna dressed for gameday on Saturdays somehow didn't feel right, so she remedied the situation while she was in Athens. It brought joy to my day, because I realized that after eight years I had finally converted my wife to the closest thing to a UGA fan that I'm likely to get. It only took moving to TX to get it! The rest of Saturday was pretty normal. Fortunately, Brenna took a long nap, so I was able to recoup some from the quick turn-around with band duties. We did get to go to the reason there was a parade: The Lonesome Dove Festival, where they did a jousting presentation and we saw a horse that was something like 22 hands high! The horse was huge, the presenter said within the next six months he was going to break the world record for the world's tallest horse currently held by his older brother. We rode a small "choo-choo train" in Brenna's words, we saw some llamas and some goats, and late that evening our neighbors even brought over some dove for us to try. It tasted like chicken to me, but I am by no means a food critic.

So, Sunday rolls around and Kayla is having a difficult time getting going because of what feels like a small head cold, so I take Brenna and we listen to music on the computer. She makes me laugh because once I played some of my movie music for her because I couldn't think of anything else to do with her and she was getting bored, so we sat in the chair and listened and now it's one of her favorite things to do with me. I love it because she gets to share in my life's passion and she loves it because she learns how to "play" all the instruments she hears, and Momma loves it because she doesn't have to watch Brenna. So, we all get to church and get to the end of the service and Kayla finally decides we need to join the church. We had actually decided this back over the summer, but she's adamantly against having to walk the aisle to do anything other than go to the altar to pray. But, we walked the aisle and spoke with the gentleman who is soon to be the interim pastor and joined the church. So we get home after all the excitement of hearing several of the older church ladies express how it was about time we joined and how now I need to help with the choir, and the choir director telling me again for the third week in a row that I need to take her job (More on that later this week), and Kayla immediately goes to lay down. Her little head cold has turned into a serious sinus infection, so I'm in charge of Brenna all day, which is fine because I haven't seen her in a week. So, we have a pretty uneventful day and we go down to see Kayla who only got out of bed long enough to go to the restroom and she tells me I won't have to stay home from school because she might feel better, and in the meantime she can't get out of bed. So, I'm staying home from school tomorrow to give her a chance to recover some energy because I don't think you can take care of a two-year old from your bed. I'll let you know how it goes, but now you're caught up on the lengthy and eventful weekend! Everyone have a great start to your week, I'll be watching my daughter!

Potpourri

As the title suggests, this post covers all sorts of things and as such I couldn't think of any one picture to put with it. Without further ado, here we go:

As I sit here typing, I'm reminded how fortunate I am that Hurricane Ike chose to not pass this way and my wife was largely spared the worry about how the pets and I would handle our first hurricane by ourselves having never been through one before. On the other hand, her parents and Nena live in Houston, so she still has some worrying left to do, I'm sure. Both Kayla and Brenna are safe and sound in Georgia, although in different areas from one another. Kayla is with Billy and Stephanie, helping out with Baby Elijah, and Brenna is having a grand time with Nonnie and G-Daddy, and BJ, Matt and Tasha in the north Georgia mountains. They will be reunited after the weekend to finish out their trip.

The strangest week I've ever worked is finally over, and possibly the strangest part of all occurred last night, when the KC Badgers won their first game of the year after having their backsides handed to them for two straight games. Maybe they should play every Thursday. Key word being "they," just let the bands show up on Fridays still and have an exhibition, without all the mediocre football getting in the way. We did play against one of the stronger band programs in our district last night, though. I always like to hear them because they are able to produce a "wall of sound," which is something easy to talk about and incredibly difficult to put into action. It's good for our kids to hear bands of that caliber, I just wish there were more in the district.

I'm still envious that Kayla gets to go to Compass this Sunday. They are slated to baptize somewhere in the ballpark of 100 people over the next few weeks, and Kayla gets to be there for the first service. I just wish that the church we attend here would show some fire in the way we do church. There is a sweet spirit in the church, but there is no real urgency to reach lost people, or to make the service applicable to everyday life. That's not entirely true. Over the next few weeks, we have a person filling the pastor's spot who does George Washington re-enactments. In fact, he attended the RNC as George Washington and was asked to give the opening Invocation at the start of the convention. He is a very good speaker, and tries very hard to give an applicable message. He will probably be the only reason I'll go to church on Sunday.

My Movie Music classes took their first "Quest" for me today (combination Quiz and Test), and so far have scored really well. All have shown marked improvement over the first quiz I gave them. They weren't able to take the entire test, because we had an early release day today due to the hurricane threat. That meant that I only had my kids for around 30 minutes each period. In that time, however, they were able to complete 3/4 of the test. Really excited that they've done so well, and super excited that hopefully next week, barring water pumps breaking down, or football games getting switched, or hurricanes coming to tear everything apart we should be starting actual movie music!

I'm trying to decide whether or not to stay another year here in KC after this year. When I first took the job, I was considering it to be a 3 year job, that way I could take an initial 6th grade class, and move them all the way through Junior High. I thought this would give me a good gauge as to how effective I had been with them and if they were learning the skills I wanted them to learn. What I was not planning on was having to deal with my co-worker. The first year together, we had such a difficult time together, that at the end of the year, I was contemplating making this year my last year. She was not the only reason, there's also not a lot of cultural or social opportunities for Kayla and Brenna here. The new plan was to put my resume out to a few schools over the Christmas break, and start at the TMEA Convention to begin looking for a job in earnest. The only thing that has changed about the situation is my co-worker has been much better this year and we have gotten along a lot better. Now, I realize it's only 3 weeks into the school year, but we've been working day in and day out together since the beginning of August. So now, I'm trying to decide whether or not to go back to the original plan of 3 years, or continue with the new plan of ending my time at KC this year. Any prayers for guidance would be greatly appreciated.

I think that's about all I have. I've taken care of most of the things on my list for hurricane preparations, and I'm ready to ride out whatever comes this way. Although I think it will only be above average winds. I'll keep everyone informed of all the goings on this week with Kayla and Brenna being gone. Should be an interesting time. Go Dawgs!

Batten Down The Hatches!!!

This has got to be the strangest week I have ever worked in my entire life. So we get to school this morning and it's already going to be a packed day because of the unexpected half-day yesterday as well as other reasons we'll get into in a moment and we get an e-mail from the higher-ups that states that due to possible inclement weather (see the picture to the left) on Friday night, that the Varsity football game will be moved from Friday night to Thursday night and the JV and JH games will be either cancelled or postponed for this week. Heaven forbid that here in South Texas we actually cancel a football game for the 0-2 HS squad.

Now for most people in the school, the change of a game to one day earlier is not that big of a deal. The football team has one less day to practice, but they're out there every day, and you've got to arrange for all the concession stand food to be delivered one day earlier, as well as make sure all the fans know of the switch. All of these things are relatively easy to deal with. The hard part comes when you're in the band and you only practice one night a week, and you're preparing a feature for either the "drill team" or the twirlers that has to change because we were going to involve some elementary kids that won't be coming, AND it's Band Parent Night! Things are just a little tense here in the great Karnes City. Add to that the fact that a huge storm is projected to hit land 80 miles away from us and it's a wonder we haven't just called it quits for this week!

As if this weren't enough on the plate of a band director this week, we also had our band drive today. This is an event that is called something different in GA, although I can't remember what we called it, where the 6th grade students come and pick up their instruments and books so we can begin the long process of teaching them to play their instruments. This is a lengthy process of meeting with parents and answering as many questions as we can about a great many subjects, as well as keeping the excitement of the 6th grade student under control, compounded with keeping the other JH/HS students out of the band hall in order for the band drive to go smoothly. Added to this chaos are a sound board training for an hour in the middle of it in the auditorium, and after school HS marching practice and the threat of inclement weather and you've got one pooped assistant band director. As if that wasn't enough, at the conclusion of HS practice after 9 pm tonight, we somehow got a huge bullfrog loose in the band hall tonight. You know you teach in the sticks when you look out your office window at a student trying to keep a bullfrog from leaping his way underneath the keyboard instruments!

And oh, by the way, this is the week I chose to surprise my wife and child with their trip to Athens to visit friends and help with their newborn child! At first I thought I had put them on a plane on the 11th, but they go out on the 12th. Not that I think anything would have happened anyway, but it still just feels wrong to get on an airplane on the 11th of this month. I wonder if it will always feel that way. So anyway, I'm trying to get the house and belongings hurricane proof as well as flood proof should it come to that. Any suggestions on how to accomplish that efficiently and speedily would be greatly appreciated. Remember I've also got two pets with me as well. I just hope that I don't have to evacuate and have to load the pets into the Honda that has no air and minimal space for anything at all, not to mention a leaky trunk! Ah well, that's the excitement that comes with living here in the beautiful sweltering wasteland that is this particular part of Texas, I guess. I'm really rather envious of Kayla and Brenna who get to look forward to evening lows in the low 70s and 60s next week, while I'll continue to die in the low to mid-80s at night. I'll keep everyone informed as best I can from my little corner of the world through this site, Facebook, and if you're lucky enough a phone call or two.

Now I'm off to bed so I can prepare for the end of my week hoping you'll join me in saying prayers that nothing else out of the ordinary happens this week.

Two 4-Day Weeks in a Row?!

That's what you get when the water pump in your town decides to go out overnight, leaving your school with no water. Technically it's a half-day because most of the kids were out of school by 12:30, but I'll take it any way I can get it. At the same time, I'm a little torn, because I have a lot of things going this week that I need to work on the kids with, not least of which includes the beginners getting their instruments and giving a test to my music class on Thursday. Not to mention Kayla and Brenna leaving for Athens this week. Not the most opportune time for water troubles, but maybe the kids will be in better moods this week because of it.

The weekend went pretty well. No broken instruments or students, although I did get a scare when the bus in front of the Suburban/trailer full of instruments I was following slammed on their brakes and I wasn't sure if I would get my load stopped in time to avoid an accident. The bright side is I'm the only one who knew how close it was. No one else in the vehicle seemed to notice. Saturday was great because the Dawgs won in impressive fashion, although I was very disappointed in ESPN's highlights that didn't show Mr. Moreno doing his best Superman impersonation (Able to leap tall defenders in a single bound!). Sunday was a fabulous day! I got to sing at church (A Casting Crowns song called "And Now My Lifesong Sings," or as Brenna calls it the "Hallelu" song.), then our friends the Djzuiks' (sp.?), sounds like Juke's took us out for lunch and we had an excellent time with them, followed by an exquisite nap of two and a half hours. Then Brenna and I came in to the computer room and listened to movie music until dinner, and Kayla and I finished out the night watching Coach Carter as well as some extracurricular activities (wink, wink). All in all a very good day!

Then came Monday morning, and I felt like the kid in the book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day," because I woke up a little on the late side, which caused me to change my ringtone on my phone by the time I made it to the shower. I jump in the shower expecting to take a 7-minute-er in hopes of getting back on track, only to instead be met by a small trickle of water and had to fill up a Houston Astros cup several times before I could wash my hair and body completely. All this time, I've got a shirt in the dryer because I didn't have time to iron it, and it didn't look that bad. I bring this up, because the dog wanted to go outside when I went out to put the shirt in and I wouldn't let her because it was still dark and I didn't want her barking or getting into a tussle with whatever might have been out in the back yard. So, I get out of the shower and grab a pop-tart to sit down and scarf it before I have to get dressed and out the door, I make my way into the living room and there is a beautiful smell that greets me of doggy-poo all over the rug. Apparently she either really needed to go, or was really mad at me for not letting her out. So I clean up the doggy-poo and finally get out the door just in time to make it to school. The band hall is a disaster because we got in so late from the game on Friday night that people just dropped their stuff and went home (including me), so I didn't have any time to clean it, I didn't have any time to work on the other forms I was getting ready for the day, or time to work up an outline for my movie music class, so I was geared up for a bad day.

Turns out even the bad ones can be alright, all it takes is a broken water pump.

Missing Athens

I couldn't decide if those not from Athens would be able to tell that the famous Redcoat Marching Band over on the left was making the Arch from Athens. Here's a little history lesson courtesy of wikipedia about the UGA arch:

"Perhaps the most notable North Campus fixture, though, is the cast-iron gateway that stands at its main entrance. Known as "The Arch" (but often erroneously pluralized to "The Arches"), the structure was patterned after the the Seal of the state of Georgia, and has faced historic downtown Athens ever since it was erected in the 1850s. Although the Seal's three pillars represent the state's three branches of government, the pillars of The Arch are usually taken to represent the Georgia Constitution's three principles of wisdom, justice, and moderation, which are engraved over the pillars of the Seal. There are multiple legends about walking through The Arch: one has it that if you walk beneath it as an underclassman, you'll either be a 5th year+ senior or you will never graduate from UGA. Another legend claims that should you walk through The Arch as a freshman, you will become sterile (as told in some freshman orientation tours)."

This is just one of the few things I miss about my hometown due to being so far away from it. Athens will always be my home, it was where I was raised, where I met my wife, where we found a church, and where we had Brenna. I have lifelong friends there that I miss dearly, and of course there's the college. Now, when I talk about the college, some of you would say, "he's about to wax poetic about the football team," wait and hear me out. While I am quick to remind everyone here of the virtues of the athletic department of UGA (men's basketball SEC champs, gymnastics champs, #1 football team, 2nd in college baseball, etc.), what I really miss is the feel of Athens. It was a funky little town that had its own vibe about it that can't really be explained. People were always friendly, if a little wierd downtown. We also had the opportunity to take in some of the best culture around for rock-bottom prices, whether it be a show, a concert, or an art exhibit. These are some of the things that we just don't get here in the little 3,000 person town of Karnes City, and if I go to San Antonio, those rock-bottom prices are nowhere to be found.

I was reminded (as I normally am around a holiday) of how much we gave up when we left Athens. I called one of my friends (Hi, Billy!) over the Labor Day holiday to see what was going on with our friends, and everyone was gathered in the small town of Comer for a cook-off between two of our friends (Hi, Jake!). It sounded like everyone was having a great time cooking, laughing, and growing closer together. We talked about how church was going and how they are doing church in new and creative ways, which is hard to hear when I'm stuck doing all 6 verses of "Just As I Am" every Sunday and listening to sermons that have exactly three points that I could come up with on my own. Not to say there's something wrong with that, it's just not as easy to get excited about. That coupled with not being around when the town comes back to full life with the return of students after a short summer break just makes me sad. Not to say that I don't think we're right smack in the middle of God's will being here and doing important work with the kids from the great KC, but I wonder if I'll ever not miss my home.

The Magic That Is The First Football Game

Well, almost....

It would have been magic except for a few minor glitches. Namely, the game was an hour away, it rained, there was mud everywhere (even the ponchos), there were band ponchos, the football team lost, and oh yeah, we broke the marimba. Now if you don't know what a marimba is or what one looks like, I have provided an image out to the side here. You can see how the largest resonators to the far left stick out almost longer than the wheels, well let's just say that when you take this monstrosity of a percussion instrument down two loading ramps (think like the ones they use to put a car onto a transfer truck), those resonators just might hit that ramp, and then everything on the blasted instrument falls apart. Now, I'm not saying that happened to our marimba because if you were to look at our marimba, you would see that it is in perfect working order and plays like a dream. However, if you had seen me holding pieces of something that looked like a marimba during the halftime show instead of being on the field watching my kids perform and then joining our one special student to make sure he didn't get too excited in his playing (more on that later), you might have other thoughts, but you weren't there, were you? This might bring another scenario to the minds of some of my kin that occurred way back when I was in high school that also involved a pitched percussion instrument, but we'll leave the past buried, and just say that neither of these instances are my fault.

Now, to my special student. I really feel a little sorry for this kid, but he doesn't make it easy to feel that way for him. He's a kid that has some physical and mental issues, but at the same time he functions at a relatively high level, to the point that oftentimes, he knows how he is acting and how it affects others. That being said, this student may have to find alternate transportation to the football game, because I fear for his safety from his fellow bandmates if they have to endure another marathon trip with him in their presence. He's just got one of those personalities that people don't put up with over long stretches of time. He didn't bother me tonight in this regard. What got me almost yelling at him was when he came up to me in the middle of a song and asked me about what note he should play in the middle of the song we were doing at the moment. And this wasn't like I had rest and we could talk about it right then, no, he comes up to me as I'm playing the melody of the song and asks. When the song ended and I was able to hear his question about his note, it was one that he couldn't even play in his wildest dreams and he KNEW it! I was upset with the boy. Anyway, that was my magical night "under the lights" here in Texas to kick off year number two. It's 2AM (I must be lonely-Matchbox 20), and I'm about to eat some dinner, and then get in bed. Thank the Lord for the long weekend! Next week is a two-hour bus drive, I can hardly wait!

Today's Funny Story

So, I'm teaching my film music class first thing this morning and I'm going over a worksheet I've created where the students have to fill in the blanks while I talk. I've just finished the first set of blanks to fill in and like the studious teacher I am, I ask if there are any questions I need to answer before we go on. I have one student who raises her hand. Now, normally I would be expecting a request for the bathroom, or to go to the nurse, or anything else other than what the class is about. This is for two reasons: First, it's 9AM and the kids aren't up yet, and second, it's just fill in the blank. Anyway, I call on this girl and she actually has a question for me:


Are these underlined words supposed to be blanks?


I had given her the teacher copy with all the blanks filled in, instead of the student copy.

1st Day Back!

I thought I would start this entry off with some cartoons, they always seem to make the situation better.


I'm not sure I could have asked for a better first day, and it's very nice to be able to have a second first day. Of course I mean a first day for a second year in the same school. The kids were very pleasant and we were able to get the information to them that we needed to.


The only problem I had with my day was my own fault: I had a list of things in my head that I wanted to accomplish before school started. They included watching some trilogies, playing some games to completion, and finishing all the summer books I set out to read. I was so determined to complete the task of finishing my self-imposed booklist that I stayed up until 1AM to complete the book that I was working on. I woke up between 6 and 6:20, ready to face the day, but I am paying for it now. My poor wife had to deal with our daughter this evening for probably an hour because I couldn't keep my eyes open. So, I will not make this mistake again, I hope. I plan on going to bed here in the next half-hour or so, so that I can be well rested to go back tomorrow, when the real work begins.


It always seems easy to me to plan lessons for the first day, because the kids are filling out forms, telling what they did over the summer, and getting all the paperwork that you got ready to go the week before and before you know it the time alloted is up and they're off to their next class. Tomorrow, and every day following until sometime around the last week, the real work of teaching begins and continues. I look forward to the challenges and am really excited about all my classes.


The updated numbers as of today (the counselor told me they would change tomorrow) are as follows:
Percussion-16
Movie Music 1-5
Beginning Band 1-30
Beginning Band 2-28
7/8th Grade Band-52
Movie Music 2-19


That's a grand total of 150 students that I get to see and teach personally out of a school of around 300. That's not including the 40 or so high school band members who I also assist with. Don't anyone ever say band directors have an easy job. Hope everyone has a great Tuesday!

About to Start the Marathon!

Sorry, there just isn't a good picture to go along with 6th grade orientation and 7/8th grade picking up their schedules, so you'll have to go without.

Yes, today after 7 hours of grueling in-service meetings (more on those later), we had to get energized and peppy enough to match the intensity level of the rising 6th graders who were on our campus today getting themselves acquainted with the school layout and important places on campus they needed to be aware of. It really wasn't that bad, I had a few flyers to hand out and a few parents had questions they needed answered, which if I didn't answer sufficiently, they made it seem like I did. Shortly after the 6th graders were off with family members to find their respective classrooms, those of us fortunate enough to teach more than one grade level had to book it back over to the auditorium for the 7/8th grade orientation meeting and collecting of schedules. What my mother said on her blog a few days ago (http://gabbysblog-keyofdjonz.blogspot.com/), has really rung true with me over the past few days. Simply put, we teachers and to some extent the students on campus are very accomodating here at the beginning of the schoolyear. Give it a few weeks of seeing no one other than each other, and this great mood of comeraderie and cooperation begins to give way to short fuses and major stresses! Enjoy it while it lasts is all I can say! It was really fun to get to see all the kids we had last year again, though and I'm ready to begin making new mistakes this year. That was one thing TBA taught me: it's okay to make several mistakes in one year. It's not okay to make the same several mistakes year after year. So I'm looking forward to making brand new mistakes!

Did I mention that I have 52 beginning band students and 52 7/8th grade band students? Did I mention I have a percussion class at 8 in the morning that I found out today is not comprised simply of beginning percussionist, but also of high school percussionist? Did I mention I have 5 music class students in my first film music class of the day and 18 in the next? For an average class size that hovers somewhere in the 15 student range for most teachers at my campus, these are huge challenges that I'm going to face this year. I just hope that I'm up to the challenge and that my co-worker can exercise some patience, and also allow me and the students to maintain a feeling of dignity in her discipline and corrections of teaching methods. The idea of dignity in discipline is something that has been preached over and over again during this inservice time.

Check out the smooth segue: Speaking of in-service: I had to give a presentation this morning on the National Middle School Association's goals for middle school level education. We only had yesterday morning during in-service to work on it, and it wasn't that hard. Mostly it consisted of taking bullet points and putting them into your own words. The section I was responsible for was only around three pages anyway. What I was not expecting is the reaction I received from my colleagues once I finished speaking, which has led me to think that maybe I put on an act when I teach versus when I'm around other people. When it was my turn to speak, I just got up and presented my information, but I tried to make it relevant to the audience as well as bring my own sense of unique humor to the presentation. Well, either I was an amazingly dynamic speaker, or my colleagues had never seen me so animated before (take your guess as to which one you lean towards), and I had at least 3-4 people come up to me afterwards to let me know they thought I did a really good job presenting. Maybe I'm a superhero with an alter-ego? Probably not. Definitely not.

It also made me laugh to realize how new teachers (beginning teachers) sometimes overdo things when they first start to teach. I can laugh, because it's me, and every other teacher in the world when they first start out. Case in point: The presentation I was a part of this morning was among the junior high non-core subject teachers like band, art, and PE. The high school had a similar project with a different book, they were supposed to each take a chapter or two and break it down and have it prepared for a presentation this morning. So we junior high teachers finish and sit back down and allow the high school team to go. This lady (girl?) stands up who is a first year teacher, a new teacher to the district, and graduated from here not too many years ago. Folks, that is three strikes against you if you're working to be taken seriously, so I can understand why this young lady acted the way she did (you'll see). The first words out of her mouth were: Can someone help me pass out these outlines? This would generally be a normal request and one that would not cause snickers among the group of teachers that worked on these presentations, however we had been instructed that this didn't have to be very high-tech, that our principal just wanted the information out there for the faculty, and that we were by no means to feel that we needed to do a huge presentation, like a powerpoint, if we simply wanted to write down our thoughts and present that, it would be just fine. So this young lady proceeds to hand these papers to the group, and then goes to the computer and pulls up her powerpoint presentation. She then spends the next 20 minutes explaining not only what I'm sure was her chapter responsibility, but also those of just about every other chapter in the book, knocking out what any other group had to contribute. Not that the other group of coaches minded all that much, they just kept on telling her that was basically right, and she was doing a fine job! No one can tell these coaches they don't know how to look a gift horse in the mouth. Anyway, she did a fairly good job, but I just had to smile, because I know she was trying really hard to be taken seriously by a faculty that largely taught her in high school. I wish her all the best, and realize that I'm not that far away from her.

I also am realizing more and more each day that there has to be a balance between the enthusiasm that needs to be brought to this type of job in order to be effective, and not to overdo or out-think what needs to be done. We as teachers have a tendency to make a very simple problem or project very complex when we don't need to, and it's definitely something I'm planning on watching out for this upcoming schoolyear. Which starts promptly at 7:55 on Monday!

Kayla, Brenna, and I will be at a wedding in San Antonio this weekend, for some people that I don't know, but I hope the food will be good and that I'll be able to rest up some before this long marathon race begins!

Thank the Lord for Good In-Services

In my short (some would say extremely short) teaching career, I can say with some confidence that there are some times when we have specific "training times" which should be labeled as "blocks of wasted time I could be spent doing anything else that would be more worthwhile for myself, my students, and the whole population of educated people in general." These times are typically called in-service opportunities. You don't often have a choice of whether or not to attend these in-service times. There are a few instances, however which should not hold the same connotations as the phrase "in-service." In fact, if I had my way, we would call them something like "Theft Sessions," or "How to Be A Thief." I would call these as such because you come out of them with a truckload of ideas for your classroom that you put no effort into whatsoever, yet the presenter expects and frankly would be offended if you didn't use them as such. (By the way, if we've got any other terms for the dreaded "in-service" or "Theft Sessions", I would love to hear them)

Today's in-service was one of those Theft Sessions. I was a little wary going in, because the lady that spoke to us is a huge Harry Wong fan, who was teaching before Harry Wong came out with all his stuff. However, this means that she met us as close to the door as possible and had us introduce ourselves and shake hands. This also meant that there was some group work time planned. Each of these things are issues with me, because I'm the type of person that likes to hang back and check out my surroundings before I am forced to join in with everyone else. It's how I've survived in such good shape over the past 28 years. Back to topic, I was also wary of this lady because she was a theater person and we were in a very small space. Now don't get me wrong, I love theater people. I have several friends who work in the theater world, but at times if you get too close to them (in a physical sense, not emotional), they tend to be incredibly overbearing, because normally they are trying to project a character all the way to the back of the theater. This works in a theater setting, not so much in a classroom with 15-20 people in it. So here's this lady who is larger than life, but to the trained eye of a performer, you can see she is also playing a part, and it makes you distrust her a little bit because you know she's only playing a character and not being genuine.

As the day wore on, however, the initial facade faded some, and she was very able to connect with our small band (no pun intended) of non-math and non-science teachers. She was a fantastic reader, she read us several of her own compositions which were delightful to listen to. She also was a presenter who had taught for almost 40 years in the classroom, so at the end of the day, she was really able to give us practical uses for almost every conceivable subject area. It was very refreshing because as a music teacher, I feel we are somewhat left out in the cold in these mandatory meetings because the focus is on the classroom teacher and on how to arrange desks and check student written work and other things of this nature which are very difficult to adapt to the music classroom setting. For those who don't realize why this is an issue, let's cover these two very shortly: written assignments are basically not done in band or choir, because your final portfolio of work is available for the public to hear and you actually invite parents and community members to come and judge. Arranging desks (which we don't have) is also very difficult, because children are generally seated according to what instrument they play or what voice part they sing. Now I realize that I can adapt that somewhat, and I have in the past, but it took a lot of thinking time and work on my own to come to a satisfactory conclusion that worked for me, and it had nothing to do with what I was told during one of these in-services.

This presenter was not like that at all, she made a very conscious effort to include the fine arts classes, and seemed to try very hard to validate us as an actual subject which is another fight we have to fight sometimes, not so much with teachers although there are a few, but more with students who don't realize they can actually fail band if they don't do the assignments. Anyway, back to this presenter. She also helped me gather ideas for my upcoming general music classes this next year as far as classroom managers and keeping students on task when outside of my room, but doing work for my class. It was very nice.

One last thing about this presenter. She had all of us write on an index card an adjective we would use to describe the types of teachers or teaching we would like to do this year. Take some guesses on my word, and I'll post it in the next blog. The hint I'll give you is it has to do with one of Compass' core values. The exercise we did with it involved mixing all the cards up and redistributing them, then having the "students" match the cards back up with their owners. It was a wonderful way to get to know each teacher a little bit deeper, and at the end of the exercise, we could have written all of the words up on the board and had a fantastic list of words to help inspire us throughout the year. (That's my mini-theft session, if you can use it, take it! One thief to another!)

The last thing I'll say in this blog has to do with the picture that I chose to attach to it. The reason I chose it is because it's the hokey, never gonna put it up within a 50 yard circumference of my classroom kind of one-line, no thought went into it kind of dribble we get fed at an in-service that the presenter thinks is very profound and that makes me sick. Now, I realize that my mother who teaches 5th grade is probably going to read this and before she gets to this part be looking elsewhere on the Internet trying to find it so she can either put it up in her room at school or at the house, but that's because that sort of thing will work for her and I hope that if she ever did an in-service, excuse me, theft session, she would never use this thing to close her time. It would be something truly profound, practical, and easily adaptable to any subject............ You won't find any of that here, so just keep on walking, but thanks for reading all of the post. I'm sure there will be more tomorrow!