A short novel...

Okay, Sara! I'll update my blog! ;-) Thanks for keeping me on track!

CHAPTER ONE: Nightmare on Second Street
       A couple of months ago, I scheduled a dress rehearsal field trip at the church where our concert was going to be. I requested permission to pull 160 kids out of school (7th/8th grade first, then 6th grade in the afternoon) so that we could practice as a combined choir at the church. It would also give us the opportunity to practice with our accompanist (instead of me trying to conduct and play at the same time) and figure out how to fit all 160 of us in the front of the church. This has been done before in the past for the Christmas and spring concerts, so my principal approved. I worked out all of the details that I could possibly think of and then, two weeks before the field trip, emailed the final details to the administration and office staff to be looked over. I had the permission slips out, and the kids were getting excited. Four days before the trip, I ran into my principal in the hallway. She let me know that she wasn't so sure about the field trip anymore..... ajskfl;sdkjfalsdjfasuwiowerjkslkahfksldj! I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. How in the world was I going to put this together without a dress rehearsal? As if this wasn't all stressful enough, I also was dealing with All-State choir confusion... I'll spare you the details on this. There was talk that I was going to be observed by the assistant principal during concert week for KTIP (the stupid Kentucky program that I have to do to get my Kentucky teaching license). Things got so crazy that I seriously considered running out into the middle of Highway 41 and ending it all. I threw up in the bathroom between classes. There is so much pressure put on you to do well at the first concert-- everyone is judging you and comparing you to past directors-- This concert needed to be good or I was looking at losing the trust, respect, and support of my students, their parents, the staff, and the community. Sound dramatic? It's not an exaggeration. Later that day, we got the news that we would be allowed to go after all. I worked non-stop over the weekend to think of every detail. I typed up minute-by-minute schedules and made lists of all the students involved for our secretaries.
       When Monday finally arrived, the kids met me at 7:52 sharp in the front lobby- ready to go! They were prompt and prepared. The busses were scheduled to arrive at 8:00, so at 7:55 I pulled them out onto the curb to load. As I was sorting them into seventh and eighth grade, our attendance secretary burst out of the front doors wearing a look of absolute horror. "What are you DOING? This is a NIGHTMARE! Get these kids back to homeroom so we can take attendance!" I calmly handed her my list of involved students and told her that I would phone with absentees. She, not so calmly, told me that this simply wouldn't do. I couldn't help but laugh. I sent out the itinerary with the exact details of who, what, when, where and how we would load the busses to get to this field trip weeks ago. No one spoke up to tell me that it would be a problem to leave first thing in the morning. I wanted to get there as early as possible so that the kids didn't have to miss as much class. Long story short, I had to send 100 kids back to their homerooms so that attendance could be taken electronically instead of the old-fashioned way. I then had to wait for over fifteen minutes while the kids made their way back to the front curb to load the busses. By the time we finally got on the busses, we were already a half hour behind schedule. Fabulous. I realized as soon as we got to the church that, in the chaos, I had left my box with all of my music, my standing order charts, our props, and our simple percussion instruments on the curb outside of the school. I had to call and have someone bring it over to the church.
       Did the dress rehearsal go well after all of this work? Hmmm.... it was okay. The kids sang well, but their behavior sucked. They were hyper (as they were so excited to be out of school), and my parent volunteers didn't show up. One girl vomited on the floor of the church, and two others got written up by the bus driver for being out of their seats. I probably would have lost my voice had it not been for the microphone.
    
CHAPTER TWO: Proud Momma
      On the day of the concert, I could tell the kids were nervous. They know that I'm new at this, and I think they were having a hard time trusting that it was all going to be okay. I was getting REALLY sick of hearing about how their old teacher used to do things. After school, I changed into my concert dress and brushed my teeth in the bathroom. I went back to my room and read over the program a few thousand times to be sure that I'd thought of everything that could possibly go wrong. At 5:15, I headed over to the church to finish setting up. Then, somehow, a concert happened... my memories are fuzzy as my blood pressure was so high that I think I may have blacked out through most of the performance. I went into hyper-focus, crisis-aversion mode. I think I came back to this planet just in time for the final combined piece, "How Can I Keep from Singing?". It was some of the most beautiful music that I have ever heard these kids make. Their vowels were tall, their faces were energized, and their crescendos/decrescendos were superb. I looked back for the final bow and saw nothing but huge, silly grins on all of their faces. They were so proud...and I was, too. I heard from several teachers that it was the smoothest choir performance they'd ever seen. I also heard that we blew away the high school performance earlier in the week. The superintendent of the district was present as his daughter is in my choir. It made me feel good knowing that he witnessed the event as my principal and vice principal were not present. I'm not bitter.

A couple of cute stories to warm your hearts.... :-)
       I have a student with lots of behavior issues who refused to participate for the first month of school. We'll call her *Sherry. Nothing worked-- calling home, private conferences, loss of privileges, detentions--- nada. I started allowing her to come hang out in my room before school, and we'd chat while I got the room set up for the day. I noticed that, the more we talked, the more she participated in class. At the concert, Sherry had her hair curled and pulled back. She was wearing a nice button-down shirt and black slacks. I told her that she looked beautiful, and her response made me melt: "Ms. Taylor, I really wanted to look nice and do well at the concert for you because you're the only teacher who doesn't yell at me." I almost cried.
       Then there's *Ralph. Ralph is another kiddo that I hear a lot of teachers complaining about. He can't stay in his seat, he enjoys pestering the other students, and I don't think he showers often. I had to move Ralph to a seat away from the other students early in the semester because he seriously couldn't sit by ANYONE without getting in trouble. When I have morning duty, I'm required to sit outside of the cafeteria doors and make sure kids don't try to sneak in or out of breakfast. Ralph doesn't ever have anyone to sit with, so one day I let him sit with me. My one condition:  He had to let me quiz him over letter names. Every morning for two weeks, Ralph came to sit with me and work on letter names while he ate breakfast. Turns out, the kid is really smart and knows his letter names backwards and forwards.... I guess not EVERYTHING that I said went in one ear and out the other. He aced his letter names quiz and, surprise, started participating in class. I didn't even have to say his name to get his attention anymore. The week before the concert, Ralph came to me in tears. He found out that he was moving and today would be his last day. He was upset because he still wanted to be able to be in the concert. Well OF COURSE I let him participate. On the night of the concert, Ralph showed up dressed like a million bucks and grinning from ear to ear. I placed him on the risers and prayed that he would leave the kids around him alone. After the concert, a woman approached me and introduced herself as Ralph's mom. She thanked me for including him and told me that choir was the best part of his time at our school. He plans to continue choir at his new school. Again, my heart melted in two. This is why I do what I do. You can't save them all-- regardless of what Ron Clark may tell you. There will be some kids that you will just never get through to. They will hate your guts and write vulgar things about you in the bathroom stalls. They will put gum in your chair and do the opposite of everything you ask. But there will also be some Sherry's and some Ralph's that you WILL get through to. And that's all that matters.

CHAPTER THREE: After the Storm
       My relationship with my students has changed so much since the concert. They trust me now, and they're all whole-heartedly on board. On Friday, we wore our new choir shirts for a "Choir Spirit" day. We were a maroon army of music nerds! I have chosen our Christmas concert theme: GRINCH!. Can't wait to get all of my little Who's in Whoville started on our new music next week when we get back from fall break.

And, oh yeah... Did I mention that I've got this wonderful boyfriend who was there through it all? He even stayed after the concert to help me clean up. :-) Caleb deserves a gold medal for putting up with me.

So that's the update. If you read this, "bless your heart." ;-) That's how we say it down here in Kentucky, y'all!