One week down! No check marks yet, but some progress in a couple of areas.
First and foremost, I had a job interview! Kind of a big deal for me. First, because it was my first job interview since before my daughter was born. (And that interview only sort of counts because the guy that interviewed me was the one that recommended I apply for the job in the first place, so I would have had to totally blow it to not get that one.) The bigger deal was that it was the first time I've applied for a job as a music teacher. I started school in 2003, left in 2006 for my mission, came home in 2008, got married, moved to California, had a kid, moved to Utah and finally got back to school part time. With some persistence and ingenuity I managed to finish a degree as a Bachelor of Science in Music in 2013, two moves later and about 2 months before my son was born. Upside: A degree! Downside: You can't student-teach over the internet, so I don't have a teaching certificate. But, all is not lost! My current state has a sort of emergency certification they can use if they decide they want to hire me anyway.
A little about the job I interviewed for: It's part-time, elementary music, and I would be working with a full-time teacher who really seems to know what she's doing. She's been working at the school for a couple of years and has a well-established program. I would take all of one grade level and half of another, filling in where she just doesn't have the hours. This would be perfect because I would only have to find a babysitter for a couple of hours each day, and because it would allow me to work with someone; sharing ideas and getting support where I, as a first-time, not-100%-sure-what-I'm-doing, teacher will need it. I can totally rock the job, but I know I will have days where I won't be so sure about that.
I'll hear back about it sometime this week, with any luck by Wednesday. So, good vibes please. :)
I checked into a couple of other things on my list, some of which turned out more promising than others. Red Cross offers CPR classes on base about 6 times a year (there is a fee.) The next one is next Saturday and after that there is one in October. I think I'm going to sign up for the one in October, partially because Friday is our anniversary (7 years, no itch in sight :) and we want to go out on Saturday. But the option is there so I can sign up whenever I'm ready. Yea for military perks!
I also looked into Orff Certification. I got started on that a little late, which is a bummer. The Washington chapter actually had it's Level 1 certification class this week. They only offer them once a year, in August, so teachers can take them during the summer. It's nice to know that it is there and they have other workshops and what-not, but I won't be able to work on the certification itself until next summer at the soonest. This is also a bummer because I was hoping to incorporate the Orff material into the elementary job, if I get it. But there are workshops, so I might be able to get my feet wet with those during the school year.
So, since very few people know what Orff is, here's a link to the website http://aosa.org/. Basically it's a school of music-educational thought that incorporates a lot of movement, percussion, dance and improvisation into elementary music. I like the concepts because the more ways you can present information the more likely it is to be internalized by the students. When the students get to dance, hit things and make up what they want, the learning process becomes much more like play, which is the way it ought to be.
That's about it for goal progress. I did finish a book about pirates this week. It was surprisingly dry. The author wrote much more like a researcher than a story teller so even the sections about sea battles and mutiny ended up being kind of dull. Up for this week is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. I decided I needed to read more books not by old white guys, and this seemed like a good place to start. Also, I'm trying to work my way through Rough Stone Rolling. It's actually really good, but a bit of a beast. I feel like I need to keep checking the references section in the back to see if he put any good clarifications in there. But it is great reading.
Other minor things: Started training for a 10k. Not a specific race because everything is on Sundays up here, but I found the route for one so I think I can just run it on my own and still count it. And, my daughter started swimming lessons this week. Since now I spend half an hour, four days a week watching people swim laps while I wait for her lesson to finish, I really want to go get a suit and goggles and start swimming on my cross training days. We'll see.
Turns out goals can be a lot harder to work on when you have little people that keep wanting things like food, love, attention, snacks, hugs, naps, clean clothes, food, rides, stories, games and food. But, I have to remind myself that the goal is not to completely focus on me, but to give me something to work on so I don't completely lose me.
No comments:
Post a Comment