School's Out for Summer!

And it's about danged time, too! Today was the final day teachers had to be there. My room is completely clean, shelves covered up with butcher paper to help minimize the amount of dust that will undoubtedly settle over the summer. Many of my colleagues asked me if my room was moving for next year. I told them, not to my knowledge. They couldn't believe how clean and orderly it was. Made me feel really good! I'm not the tidiest person around....

Today a group of us, the three specialists (music, library, PE), plus teachers from each age level at my school, got a good start on the master schedule for next year. It is looking like I'll have middle school kids twice a week from 8-8:45. I'm really excited about this! (Something I NEVER would have dreamed of five years ago.) I think I'm finally to the point in my career that I'll be more than just an effective middle school teacher. This year I've gotten to spend some time with the middle schoolers and get to know them, not only on a personal level, but I'm also getting to know the beast. I've learned that their senses of humor are pretty well formed, and they can be loads of fun. The other thing that will help is that I've basically raised these kids from babies. Next year's 6th graders were in 1st grade when I started at my current school. That means the 8th graders were in 3rd when I started there. I've known quite a few of them for the entire time I've been at my school. It's been fun to watch them grow and turn into young adults.

Since music will be an elective, the kids I get will want to be there and hopefully that will help stem some of the potential for behavior issues. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do next year, with major points I want to touch on. I think I should talk with the middle school teachers over the summer and see what the appropriate form and level for questions and assignments should be. I want to know that I'm not setting the bar too high for them.

I want to do a reverse music history/music appreciation class with the middlers. We will start in present day and talk about the music that is out there currently. Then we will go back and see what led into popular music being what it is. Eventually we'll get to the Beatles, then musical theater, vaudville, and jazz before heading into the classical music periods and study composers like Brahms, Wagner, Beethoven, Bach, and Vivaldi. We'll look at why their work was significant and also how their works are indicitive of the style of their time period. This year will definately be one with lots of tweaking and possibly changing canoes mid-stream if things aren't working

We leave for our vacation tomorrow. Two glorious weeks in Denver and Omaha. It will be Owen's first plane trip. Thank goodness for the tubes - they'll help with the pressurization of the cabin bit not affecting his ears and being painful. He and I are pretty well packed and ready to go. Jeff still needs to pack, but he's finishing up some stuff outside while there is still daylight. I put a small load in the washer tonight so everything will be ready to go for tomorrow. We head to Denver tomorrow, then to Omaha on Sunday to spend that week with my sister. We've never been to Omaha so it will be quite the adventure for all of us. We drive back to Denver on the 30th and then are back home on the 6th. We have plans to see friends of mine from high school, several teachers, some from h.s., some from m.s., plus other people in Denver. After the school year I've had, the break is definately needed. When we get back, Jeffy will start as a full-time real (instead of temp) employee at the job he's been at since July of last year.