Happy December!

So I'm a few days late, but I figure it's not that big of a deal. ;-) The past 3 weeks have just flown by, and I know that time will continue to do so. I've got 9 days left with students (with 3 concerts to run, and another 1 or 2 to attend) and one day of inservice. I've also got a Winter Party for DDF this Tuesday and a few other things to get taken care of before the end of the semester. I fly out to Memphis on the 22nd and get back on the 30th. I'm actually only there from the 23-29, but that would be the joy of getting to fly in and out of Homer! Honestly, it's better than driving back and forth to Anchorage (especially with what time my flights are), just means lots of quality time in the Anchorage airport overnight.

I'm excited for the family time. I haven't seen the Memphis folk in almost 5 years, and there are babies now! Mom and Dad are driving down, which also means that they get to bring Cady (cause it just wouldn't be a holiday without her!) and Jenn, and everyone else. It's going to be a lot of fun. I'm almost all done with Christmas shopping - just a few more things to get, as well as shipping a box to Jenn so I don't have to put everything in my suitcase.

Work's going pretty darn well. I'm excited for the Winter Concerts, and I think that next semester is going to bring even better things for my bands. Teaching Physical Science has definitely been a completely and totally different experience, but I suppose that I am my father's daughter - it's fun to see the students get it, especially when they realise how it impacts their lives. I know I'll be doing it second semester (I'm already starting to plan), but I have no idea what's going to be going on next year. I'm considering taking the Social Studies Praxis, just so that I'm qualified in Psychology (the minor doesn't cut it, apparently) but I wouldn't be doing that until late spring/summer, so I have a bit of time. I'll just go around and pick up all sorts of certifications. ;-)

In other news... my Packers are 12-0, which is pretty amazing. I've gotten to watch a lot of their games so far this year, and although I understand the need to not blow EVERY team out of the water, some of them have been just a little too close. ;-) Also, I'm in third place in my fantasy football league. I'm doing much better than I did last year, but just like happened last year at this time, I'm getting slammed with injuries. Not so much fun. Jenn's first, which means that we'll likely hit somewhere in the playoffs (which start next week). She's already got a bye, so I'll have to beat up on somebody (hopefully) to get to play her at some point.

DDF has been taking a little bit of a backseat (which is good since something needed to), at least competition wise. We've won the two tournaments that we've gone to this year. We have three more up in Anchorage (Jan 20-21, Jan 27-28, and Feb 10-11) before we get to State (Feb 16-18). Of course, my birthday falls between the last tournament and State, so I have a feeling that I'll just celebrate my birthday a little bit late. We also have our big fundraiser of the year the weekend that we come back from Winter Break (Jan 7), and the one open weekend in January is the Alaska Music Educators Association Conference that I get to help run, since I'm the president of the Alaska Band Directors Association. It's been really interesting watching how it all comes together.

I can't wait for Winter Break. Getting to see the family will be awesome, and I've also got things that I want to get done here. Mary and I were talking about going skiing, and I have some things I want to do at the schools to try to cut down on the extra time that I'll need to be there during January and February (since oh right... I won't have the time). Oh yea, and I can spend time with Ben. That'll be good. :)

Closer and closer...

Closer to the end of the semester now - the 2nd DDF tournament of the year is out of the way. Got in super late last night (well, 1:30 in the morning), but it was so incredibly worth it. We swept the Humorous Interp and Duet Acting events, as well as winning the Overall Sweepstakes (1st in Drama/Speech and 3rd in Debate) by 1 point. It was pretty amazing. I'm so proud of how well the kids did, and how focused and intent they were on everything that they did.

I would also like to say congratulations to the Houghton Gremlin Volleyball Team - Class C Regional Champions! My dad and the rest of his team is headed off to the quarterfinals tomorrow, with the game being Tuesday night. Go here for any of you who want to read all about their trip so far. :)

Now? Preparing for All-State. I leave on Wednesday after school and will be back again early Sunday morning. Then it's a 3 day week, four days off (hurray for Thanksgiving!), two full weeks, 4 days of classes (3 concerts), an inservice... and then it's winter break. 16 days off, 6 days in Memphis with the family. I need to call the cousins this week to talk about a few things, and overall I'm really excited to get to see everyone. I also get to look for my Christmas present (yay for a new camera!) when I'm up in Anchorage this weekend and see what I can find that will work well.

We've got snow! It's really pretty now, and it makes me happy that we have it. Otherwise, fall and winter are kind of not-as-pretty because it's just grey and brown and a bit of yellow. I like the fact that we have snow. The only troublesome thing is that it also melts during the day (because it doesn't always stay warm enough) which means that a lot of the parking lots turn into ice and aren't particularly safe. But I have ice cleats that I wear, and so it's okay. Hopefully.

11 days until Thanksgiving. 32 days until Christmas. :) Almost half-way done with my third year of teaching. Still a mind-trip, sometimes. A good one, though.

And now... it's November

Only 7 more weeks, and I'll be in Memphis for the family Christmas. It seems, in some ways, that it's rather far away - still a DDF tournament, All-State Band, and three concerts - but then I know that it's also going to fly by. I'll be half-way done with my third year of teaching. That in and of itself seems a bit strange. There are still times when I feel like I'm just out of college and not really qualified to do this.

That said - my bands did AMAZINGLY at their fall concerts this year. It was really impressive to see how well my middle school band blended and listened to each other. The high school band did very well with some difficult music, and I was so proud of how well they all stepped up and met the goals that we've decided to work on with each other. Now, we're going to keep working and improving. Winter concert is now in 5 weeks, and I know that they're going to do well.

We have one more DDF tournament next weekend. It really doesn't get crazy until after we come back from Winter Break. Big fundraiser the weekend right after (which I need to start planning this weekend), and then 4 tournaments in 5 weeks, including State. The kids are doing SO well this year, and I'm happy that the changes that we've implemented have gone well and the kids are flourishing. Success breeds success, and all that.

Unfortunately, there's not really a whole lot *new* going on here. Mostly just work and then relaxing when I'm home from work, but not really doing anything too terribly exciting. However, I'm really okay with that, at least for right now. :)

It's October!

The exclamation point really does mean surprise - I have no idea how it is already October. I would like to take this chance to say Happy Birthday to my sister, all the way in Illinois... even though she has to go to class on her birthday, and my fantasy football team will beat hers... at least it will be her birthday!

This week has been a busy busy week. I suppose most of them are, but this one just seemed to fly by. DDF is now in full swing, with the first tournament being 2 weeks from today. My fall concerts are now 17 and 18 days away. Six weeks after that are the winter concerts, as well as exams. It seems very strange. The first quarter of the school year is almost done. It always goes fast, but this seems to have flown by.

However, I realize that I write a lot about school. In theory, I have a life outside of school (that means classes AND Drama, Debate and Forensics). There must be other things that I do...

Thinking...

Thinking...

To be serious though, I'm working on making sure that I have a bit more of a social life this year. I've had awesome dinners already with my friend Kathy. I'm so happy that she's back from Kwethluk (and not just because I get to house-sit for her, and she has satellite tv). Of course, I'm also spending quite a bit of time with Ben, and he's pretty good at forcing me to relax and not be focused on school so much.

Okay, so he takes my computer and phone away sometimes, but it's the thought that counts, right? (He does it in a joking way, and it is a good idea. I think. Sometimes.)

One thing that I guess I didn't realize people did not know is that I do not actually have TV up here in Alaska. There are people who do (of course, Kathy does), but I do not. There are no cable (basic or otherwise) options up here. The only option is satellite TV, which seems rather expensive when I don't really have tons of time to watch it (or keep up on my shows, or anything like that). If there was an option to just have basic cable, I'd definitely do that. However, there's not... but I do have internet at my apartment (clearly, since that's where I update from most of the time) which means that I can watch Hulu, and Netflix, and any other shows that are put up on the internet (like Big Bang Theory). Honestly, the biggest thing is just remembering to watch the shows. That's a project for this weekend. Also, Army Wives Season 5 is now up on Netflix so I have to watch all of that.

Well, that's enough about that. ;-) Time to head off and thoroughly enjoy my Friday night and the rest of my weekend!

Happy Fall!

The calendar officially says that it's fall, as does the weather. Had to go out early this morning to start the car so that it could warm up, and the frost could melt. This is my favorite time of the year. There's enough of a chill in the air that bundling up is wonderful, but it's not completely and totally frigid every time you walk outside. The leaves are ablaze with color (making me miss Houghton more and less at the same time), and driving around time makes me remember why I love fall. It is truly my favorite season.

Updates on the rest of life...

This past Sunday marked 6 months for Ben and me. The momentous holiday was celebrated with my Packers winning (and his Seahawks), pizza, and watching Big Bang Theory on DVD. In general, a very relaxing day, mostly because I've been sick. I actually went to the doctor yesterday, and she did not make much sense ("I think it's viral, so here's an antibiotic"), but I am hoping that I got the right stuff that will help me kick whatever this is. Here's to hoping!

School's going pretty darn well. We're three weeks out from the first concert, and the students are sufficiently worried to practice all weekend (and really sufficiently prepared that we will be fine). My Beginning Band can now play 5 notes, though the true test will be next Thursday - we'll see how much they can accomplish on their own. It's going to become very important, because I see them on Thursday and Friday every week, which gives them plenty of time to either practice or forget. We'll see...

Physical Science has done three labs so far, and we have our first test on Tuesday. I have to make up a review worksheet this weekend, but the test is already done. Thankfully the worksheet shouldn't take too long - I'll get that done on Sunday after my Packers destroy the Broncos.

In short, other than being sick, things are going pretty darn well. It's a good year, and I'm working to try to keep up a social life on top of all the classes (oh yeah, and the biggest Drama, Debate and Forensics team in a while... with a tournament 3 weeks from today). Yay for being busy!

Fall is in the air!

The temperature is starting to drop and the leaves are starting to change - fall just may be my favorite season. It's nice to be able to wear sweaters and watch movies nestled under blankets. There's a chill in the air, although I have to say that the afternoons and early evenings are still warm enough that I tend to leave my jacket behind.

Things seem to be settling down into a routine as everything gets going. I started 5th and 6th grade band at one of the elementary schools this week, and it's going pretty well so far. Parents may not like me so much - all we learned this week was how to squeak/squawk/siren on our mouthpieces (depending on the instrument), however on Thursday we'll learn how to put all of our instruments together. Then they'll be making all sorts of wonderful other noises for their parents to love.

In other band news, my middle school and high school bands are amazing me. My 7th graders played through an entire song yesterday, so we're moving onto harder music this week. My 8th graders have played through (at slow tempos) two of the songs we're going to do for the concert. My high schoolers read through two songs that are grade 4 or so that we may end up doing for the concert, we'll see. I'm so proud of the work that they've put in to get to where they are.

Physical Science is going pretty well. This week is "Adopt-An-Element", which also means that I'll have more planning time with my co-teacher while the students are working on the computer. I'm excited for all of the different things that I'm going to be able to do with this class, and having more planning time will definitely be nice.

Drama, Debate and Forensics looks like it's going to be a great year. I've got to make up a few more information packets - the 25 that I copied to begin with are gone and I've had others ask questions about getting the packets, so I need to copy those. It's going to be a big team this year, which means that it's going to be a lot of fun. Crazy, and super busy, but fun.

I don't have much of a life other than that, at the moment. Spending time relaxing when I'm able, but I do like staying pretty busy. Supposedly, it keeps me out of trouble.

Year 3!

So, it's onto Year 3 of teaching. And here... we... go.

Though first, I suppose I should recap the summer. At some point, I'll likely find my camera cord and then I can upload pictures for the stories, but until then, words shall have to do. The summer started off with a blast. I got to spend two weeks up in Kenai going to an Orff Schulwerk Music Training. Orff is a way of teaching music (starts in elementary, but can be applied to secondary as well) that utilizes speech and movement and improvisation, as well as the "traditional" ways of teaching music. We got to do all sorts of crazy things, and it was such a blast to be with people who have the same passions I do.

Next, my parents came up for a week. It was a rather jam-packed week - Farmer's Market, exploring all over Homer, Seward Glacier Cruise, a bit of time in Anchorage - a total blast. It was really great to get them up here and see how amazing it all is. They also got to meet Ben (who I'm not sure I wrote about before, but it's been 5.5 months now, so I think it's safe to say that he's a pretty awesome guy) as well as Ben's parents. It was a lot of fun to have them up here, and I know that they also enjoyed it.

After they left, I had about a week and a half and then I headed back to the Midwest. I had 6 weeks Outside (of Alaska) but only spent 17 days in Houghton. I went to Door County and Green Bay with Mom, Downstate with Dad (one of the Michigan Volleyball Coaches of the Year, got to watch him coach at the All-State Clinic), to Peoria with Mom to visit Jenn (and the family friends that she lives with), out to Los Angeles for 5 days, to Seattle for 2, and then back to Alaska. It was a pretty whirlwind trip, but I had a lot of fun. I did nanny just a little bit - was good to see the kiddos (though they're not so much kiddos anymore, as Alex is entering his junior year of high school on Tuesday).

I've been back in Alaska for a little under three weeks. I got back just in time to start my inservices, and then head off into teaching! This year my schedule is a bit different. It goes a little something like this.

0: HS Jazz Band (aka before school starts)
1: Physical Science
3: 8th Grade Band
4: 7th Grade Band
6: HS Symphonic Band
7 (2 days a week): 5/6 Grade Band

Add Drama, Debate and Forensics (parent meeting next Tuesday!) and extra help lessons on top of that, as well as possibly the community band, and it's going to be a pretty crazy school year for me. I'm excited about it, once I get it all figured out - especially the Physical Science.

Yep, teaching that. There weren't tons of kids who signed up for drama, and the Chemistry classes were gigantic, so I'm taking a Physical Science class from the teacher, and he's going to get to teach an extra Chemistry class that way. Thank goodness for my dad and Mr. Schwaller, who I'm sure are going to come in handy while I'm prepping for all of my classes. Thankfully we're starting with the Chemistry-portion of Physical Science, so I think I'm pretty set for that. I'm excited to see if I'm good at this - I want these kids to really enjoy science and see all of the fun that they can have with it.

It's Labor Day weekend - so that means I must labor, right? ;-) I know I'm going to be at the school for a bit this weekend, especially since Ben is off hunting for moose near Fairbanks. There's also HHS football tomorrow (though no pep band), going out to see a play at Pier One, and trying to be relatively social. I'm working to find just the right balance of me and work, though I love my job so it's okay for me to spend some time there.

Anyway, it's almost bed time. For those of you who knew me in college, it's crazy - I've turned into an "early to bed" person. I start getting tired at about 10, and if I'm not in bed by 11, I really shouldn't be operating a car (or really doing much of anything). I'd promise to update more, but I'd hate to break the promise if it doesn't work out, so we'll go with I shall try to update more about what's going on, and get better about taking pictures (and finding my camera cord) so that you all can see the absolutely amazing place that I live in!

Year 2 Down!

I'm done with my second year of teaching. It seems crazy sometimes - like I really shouldn't be done already. The end of the year was awesome - my drama students did a great play - "Just Another High School Play" and I'm so incredibly proud ohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giff how well they did. All of the concerts at the end of the year were just phenomenal, and left me so proud of my kids (and with so many ideas of what else to do)!

I just finished a two week Orff Level 1 Certification. For those of you who don't know, Orff is a process for teaching elementary school music. It involves music, speech, dance, movement, instruments (recorder, bar instruments, non-pitched percussion) and the idea is to make music "natural". You can read more about it here.

It was such a blast. I made some amazing friends and got to have a lot of awesome experiences. It makes me miss my elementary school work at Ubly, but the next task is to adapt it to fit with my high school drama classes as well as my middle and high school bands. I think it'll be good to work on independence (and interdependence).

My parents get here on Wednesday, and I'm excited to have them here for a week. We'll be in Homer until Tuesday, and then head over to Seward. Two nights there, Glacier Cruise, and then up to Anchorage. It means that I've been doing a lot of cleaning, but that's all right. I organized my storage room, as well as my kitchen. The hard thing about my kitchen is that I have two cabinets and two small sets of shelves for all dishes, pots, pans, and food. I've got it better organized though, and I made a small "pantry" in my storage room.

Well, time to get back to cleaning!

Addendum...

So about 15 minutes after I posted that last entry, I was revisited by my bear-friend! I'd seen an article in the paper that they were starting to wake up. I heard some movement on the porch upstairs but didn't think much of it (moose have wandered onto the porch every so often), but then I heard a loud crash. After checking my downstairs porch to make sure there was nothing on it, I carefully went outside. I can peer up onto the deck upstairs without getting near it, and I saw the bear.

I went back to my door, keeping it open so I could get inside if necessary. I pounded on the wall to make a lot of noise, and then watched as the bear galumped off the porch and headed up the driveway. I went upstairs, still being careful (since they're in pairs sometimes). It had knocked over the chairs that are on the deck upstairs, as well as tipping over the bear-resistant garbage can (which did its job very well). That was the loud crash.

Thankfully, it didn't look like he'd really gotten into anything, just trying to find food after waking up from his hibernation. I wonder if he'll come back again... I think I shall call him Bobby Bear. :)

5 Weeks!

It seems incredibly hard to believe that there are only five weeks of school left - to be precise, five weeks and one teacher workday (but we also have this Friday off), so it sort of all evens out. In that time, I have 5 concerts and 2 play performances. Here's the schedule:

4/25 - HHS Spring Concert
5/2 - MS Mass Band (up the road in Kenai)
5/12 - HMS Spring Concert
5/17 - HHS POPS concert
5/20, 5/21 - Drama Class Play ("Just Another High School Play")
5/23 - Graduation
5/24 - Last Day with Students
5/25 - Teacher Workday, Last Official Day of Work

The summer's not going to be much calmer. I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to take a Professional Development course through the district - it seems like a really good deal, just means spending two weeks up in Kenai (on the plus side, they pay for my hotel room, I just have to pay for food and travel). That'd be 5/31-6/10 (with the weekend off). My parents arrive mid-June and stay for a week, and then I head back to the Midwest on the 4th of July. Some time spent in Houghton, and Green Bay, and downstate, and Peoria - I'm going to be busy! On the way back, I stop in LA for a week, Seattle for a weekend, and then I'm back just in time for inservice and school to get going again. It will make for a busy summer, but that's all right. I'm not working anywhere other than working on getting more organized, and relaxing. I deserve it.

The weather up here has been quite a bit nicer than my friends in the Midwest have been dealing with. 40s most of the week, and almost all of the snow is gone. Of course, that means that my allergies are here in full force, but I'm going to be heading to the allergist at some point and seeing if we can figure out something to make this better. It's not horrible - I can still teach - but there's a not-fun cough and other annoyances that make teaching rather annoying.

I got to have a "true Alaskan" experience this weekend - I went clamming! Clamming is when you go hunting for clams. I went with my friend Mary on Ninilchik Beach, and it was definitely an interesting experience. Let me set the scene...

There must be a low tide, specifically a minus tide. You get dressed nice and warm - waterproof jacket, boots that go up to your hips - and then head out onto the beach. Plan to use your thigh muscles pretty seriously, because walking through all the muck and the silt (that's normally covered by water) is quite a workout for your legs. Next, once you find a dimple (created by the clam spitting out water as it digs), you line your clam gun up over the hole and begin to dig. You press the edges in, and then cover a small hole on the handle to create a vacuum. Pull up on the gun, bringing all the dirt that's inside with it. Dump the dirt out and kick it quickly to make sure you didn't get the clam, and then repeat, going further down into the hole. Repeat again, and again, until you either get the clam or the gun is not useless. At this point, get down on your hands and knees and begin digging to try to get the clam. You've got to do all of this pretty quickly, because the clams will dig away from you if at all possible.

Once you've got the clam, you have to clean it. Toss it in boiling water to get it out of its shell, and then into ice water to keep it from getting tough. Clean it up by cutting it open - make sure you cut each of the valves, as well as cutting the digger away from the organs - toss the organs, keep the digger. Mince it up, and you've got fresh clams!

We also managed to get some mussels, so Sunday night (we went clamming Sunday morning) I made some homemade seafood chowder with clams and mussels I got earlier that day, as well as some halibut and veggies I already had. It was a pretty cool experience to eat something that I had caught myself just earlier that day. Of course, I was also pretty sore from the work, but it was the good kind of sore.

I'm hoping to get a few more experiences this summer - more clamming, camping (like, the kind in a tent!), fishing - I bought a chest freezer, though it's going to be really hard to bring myself to clean a fish. I hate the feeling, though I was pretty proud of myself for cleaning the clams!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow..

So I heard some rumors about the "Snopocalypse" that was going to hit the Midwest, and it amused me a bit. I will grant that there are some areas that have been hit very hard, and I do feel bad for them - particularly those that do not have the necessary items to deal with the snow. That said, it's also been snowing a bit here as well.

This is the snow that we got in about 48 hours, nice and high on the porch upstairs from where I live. The plow guy (who is awesome) had to come out 3 or 4 times in the past few days, just to make sure that I could get in and out. Granted, I have All-Wheel Drive and studded tires, so it's easier for me to get around in the snow, but there's still a bit of slipping and sliding.

My landlord asked me to go up and shovel off the upstairs porch. There was quite a bit of snow on it (this is the porch) - about two feet of snow at some parts, with a railing that the snow had to be tossed over. It was quite a workout for today, but it was all right. When I was out in the afternoon, it was absolutely gorgeous. Warm enough that I could shovel without a jacket - just needed a sweatshirt to stay warm. The sun was shining, and I realized how amazing the place is that I live.

I got to sleep in a bit today, and so I got to watch the sun rise over the mountains and glaciers across the bay. It helped to remind me how lucky I am.

January - Month of Craziness

I'm aware that most of my months here are what are considered "crazy-busy" to many other people. But I've always been that way. I've always wanted lots of things to do to keep me busy, otherwise I feel like I'm not pulling my weight. The month of January has made me realize how true this really is. Besides doing the typical teaching and coaching that happens during January, I also did:

~"End of the Road" DDF Tournament/Random Acts (Jan 14-15)
We had 58 students from 6 schools - West Anchorage, South Anchorage, Chugiak, Wasilla, Nikisiki, and Homer - all in Homer for a DDF tournament. The South coach did a clinic for our debaters on Friday morning about different types of debate. I had the afternoon to run around and get other things done, and then the tournament started. We ran from 3:30pm-9pm on Friday, and then after things were closed down I went home and put breakfast for the judges in the crockpot (an egg/ham/cheese/potatoes bake) and prepared the sloppy joes that they'd have for lunch. The tournament ran from 8am-5pm on Saturday, and then we got ready for "Random Acts of DDF". RAD is our big fundraiser for the year, with admission charged and lots of silent auctions and plenty of other fun things. The students get to perform their pieces for an audience that rarely gets to see them (because our tournaments are far away). We ended up raising a lot of money, which will definitely help us next year. For articles about the tournament, see here and here.

~Borough Honor Band (Jan 24-25)
As an opportunity for our students to get to play in larger groups than normal, as well as play as part of an honor band, we run the KPBSD Honor Band. It's two days of rehearsals followed by a concert. BHB was in Homer this year, which meant that I was the host director. Planning ahead of time includes working out who is in it, making sure everyone has the music, etc. During, it involves organizing the program, making sure the guest clinician is where he needs to be, and just generally making sure the everything runs smoothly (from hot lunch during the day to the end of the concert Tuesday night). It was a really busy two days, but it taught me so much about teaching - how to do it better, and it really helped me grow.

~Eagle River DDF Tournament (Jan 28-29)
Same schedule as we had for our tournament (3-9 on Friday, 8-5 on Saturday) but this involved traveling up to Eagle River. We left at 6:45am Friday morning, drove up to Anchorage. We had a bit of mall time, and then the tournament. After it was done, we headed to the hotel to sleep. Tournament all day Saturday, dinner at Sicily's in Anchorage, and then driving back to Homer. We got in just a little before midnight on Saturday night. Tournaments are long and crazy, but they're a blast.

I'm so privileged to have a job that I love in a place that I love. The community here is wonderful, and I'm developing even more great friendships up here. Everyone is super supportive, and I'm excited to be up here for even longer this summer (I should be here for 6 weeks and Outside for 4). My parents are coming to visit at some point, and I just know that they'll love it too.