Teaching here seems to require, at those times when frustration leads to prolonged post last-class wall/desk staring, the ability to expertly juggle two seemingly contradictory paradigms:
The first, that this is, after all, just a job.
The second, that this is, after all, the Most Important Thing in the World.

Right now my current issue is motivation. My predecessor (sp?) relied on a mean spirit, a tell-it-like-it-is relationship with her students, and her gradebook. This I cannot emulate, nor do I wish to. I think I'm going to win my MS students over in time, though, because my focus on intonation, particularly in the small group setting, is beginning to lead to noticeable results. However, at the HS it's harder. Very little one on one, a class of 30 kids, and an increased resistance to, well, effort.

W.T.S., the venerable choral director at the HS where I student taught, pulled me aside one day after school, after hearing I'd taken a job in Danville. Retired as of last May, Mr. S, a large black man, well respected and well loved by students and staff, was the kind of teacher one listened to carefully when they offered their opinion. He told me that whatever I did, to never let myself teach down to the Danville students, because they were a big 12 school. (Big 12 is a consortium of large downstate high schools, of which UHS is also part.) Because, he warned, there will be pressure to do just that. "but do not."

I'm here trying to find the middle ground between remembering and forgetting. Recognizing and acknowledging who my students are and where they're coming from, and then forgetting it. Shooting for the moon, every day.

little things.

like What Can I Make Better Today?