School's Out....

and not just for the summer... Well for me as a student that is. I am graduating on Tuesday!!! I'm excited. I'm not really sure for what because it's not like I have never been to a graduation ceremony before and they aren't all THAT exciting. I suppose what I am excited for is that I am no longer a student. I have supposedly exited the realm of adolescence and am now truly an adult in the eyes of society. Even though in college you are legally an adult, people still see you as a college KID.

So last semester I got to play teacher. I say "play" because many of the students did not see me as a full fledged teacher because I was the "student teacher" and they were high school students. In fact, I did not always see myself as a full-fledged teacher either. I don't suppose that I will until I am in charge of my own classes. Speaking of which, I still have not heard back from any of the schools I have applied to teach in. I'm not really sure why. My resume seemed pretty impressive to me (and to my teachers). Maybe it does not look nice enough for employers to want to read. Maybe it's too long? I will just have to be proactive (I hate that word) and call them up to find out what's going on.

Anyway, more about student teaching. I really had a blast. At first it was really challenging because I was doing what I have never REALLY done before: actually teaching a real class with real students who did not know what I wanted from them. Before, pretty much all my teaching experiences were mock-lessons where my peers pretended to be children I was teaching. So my first experiences with real students was a little bit of a shock- Oh my God, they don't have any idea what I'm trying to get them to do. Being that I was teaching choir, the first thing I had to get over was the whole using-the-piano thing to lead warm-ups and teach sectionals. Another thing I had to get over was "so I want them to sing, but how do I get them all to do it at the same time?" For some reason, all my conducting classes failed me the first few times I was up in front of the choirs. Then there was being able to diagnose exactly why students were not learning what I was trying to get across to them- were they just playing around and pretending not to get it (which was sometimes the case), or were they genuinely confused? I wish that I could say that my classes at Rutgers prepared me for what I was to expect walking into a classroom for the first time on the other side of the podium, but to be honest, theories work well in theory and that's about it. They are nice to talk about and think about, but when it comes right down to it, it's the being able to put stuff into practice that my classes at Rutgers did not prepare me for.

In any case, by the end of the semester I really began to feel like I was not "playing" teacher anymore. I felt like a real teacher! I think that it helped that I was in the same school for the entire semester, meaning that I did not switch schools and have to get to know an entirely new set of students. I think that having a rapport with the students really helped me become a teacher. I always wondered why education students have to do student teaching, but now I know it's because it really facilitates a transformation from being a student to becoming a teacher. There are some things about teaching that I wish I could do without like the administrative stuff: taking attendance/making sure no students cut your class that day, dealing with upset parents, dealing with students that just do not want to be there. I kind of wish that I could only teach the kids who actually want to learn how to sing, but that's just not the real world of public school. If I want that I will have to teacher privately, which is much less reliable as far as a paycheck goes and lacks benefits. I guess it is a bit of a compromise. Oh well. I enjoyed teaching choir despite the behavioral issues, etc and I am sure I will continue to enjoy it.

I think that this summer I might actually go on a real vacation! Just me and Gordon staying in a hotel by Virginia Beach. We have not booked it yet because he says that you get better deals on rooms when you wait until 2 or 3 weeks before. I'm not sure that is true, but he says he's done it before, so I'm willing to try that. If it does not work out the way I envision it, there is always next year, and we'll book it my way. There is also always the Jersey Shore, though not as nice, it'll be a fun vacation anyway.

I realize I am telling my entire life story here (ok not the entire thing) but it has been a while since I posted, so I figured I owe an intense update.

Recently Mom bought me a juicer. Not just any juicer, but a Jack Lalanne Juicer! It is soooo cool. It arrived right before spring break and I have used it at least once a day since then! Since then (which is 3 weeks, about) I have lost a little over 5 pounds. I've also begun running again since about 5 or 6 weeks ago (though consistently for only the last 2 and I feel really good. Though not consecutive, I'm up to 4 miles a day. (except for days that I also play ultimate frisbee, then I only run 2) *segue* I joined the MO Ultimate team again this summer. We play pickup on Tuesdays and Saturdays. When real games start they will be Mondays and Fridays. I did not realize it until I looked it up on Sparkpeople.com, but playing ultimate burns over 420 calories an hour! Good thing that I only run 2 miles because I'd be so burned out it I tried to do any more than that. Speaking of my running (yes I am back to that), I ran a mile in 8:16 on Monday! I have not been able to run a mile that fast in 5 years! (or more, I cannot actually remember the last time I could run it that fast since freshman year of high school when I ran it in 7:25) I am really making a lot more progress in my fitness and health this year than I have in a really really long time. Actually, I am probably the healthiest I have ever been.

I feel like I am turning over a new leaf/ entering a new stage in my life. All these changes in my life are happening at once: graduating college/becoming a teacher, improving my health/fitness. I might even be moving out soon. It will probably wait until October, though, because that is when Gordon's lease on the house he is renting with his two friends is up for renewal and I don't think I want to move in there as long as his two roommates are still there (of course I don't know that his friends are not going to renew, but it is in the realm of possibilities). Even though they are my friends too, they are kindof slobs and I could not live like that 24/7. I don't mind it so much when I am visiting but if I lived there I would feel compelled to clean up their messes and that is not really fair for me to do. Hopefully I will have a music teaching job by then so that I actually will have the means of moving out. If not, I will have to find some sort of full-time position somewhere because working at the After is just not going to pay all the bills I will have. Speaking of the possibility of moving in with Gordon, there is also the possibility of us getting married! Every time we have talked about it in the past, he has always said that he did not want to plan out the rest of his life yet, but recently he was hinting at the fact that he might have changed his mind by making comments about what kinds of things he would want to plan for our wedding, hypothetically. So I asked him point-blank one day if he was actually going to marry me and he said yes, he is! I suppose that makes us engaged, but there was no formal proposal/ring, so I'm not calling it official. I am really excited about that too. So I guess there are a lot of exciting things happening to me. My life is going pretty much exactly where I wanted it to right now. I never thought I would be able to say that, but now I really can. :-)