Still Treading Water ...

Aack! More than two weeks since I've posted! I haven't neglected my blog like this since my 5-week European studying/backpacking adventure in summer 2007.

Yes, I'm still treading water on the job. My work hours this week alone have been:

Monday- 8am-8:30pm
Tuesday- 7am-5pm
Wednesday- 8am-6:30pm

Today's hours will be: 7:30am-6pm (Why oh why did I volunteer to "chaperone" an after-school event today?!)

In addition to my lesson planning (which actually takes the least amount of time; I'm sending constant prayers of gratitude in the direction of AlmaMater and GradSchool for preparing me so well), I've got so many time-consuming additional tasks:

• adapting plans for students with IEPs
• grading papers/classwork/ daily participation grades
• entering in grades on the computer program
• attending and holding extra rehearsals to prepare my students for upcoming performances/auditions
• creating my curriculum from scratch (well, I have a district-wide curriculum, but I'm designing my own program ... all based on the repertoire and the skills I believe students ought to be developing-- no textbooks in my class)
• emails/contact with parents (huge! I had no idea how many parents would constantly have questions or concern ... and wait until their little babies don't get the "easy A" they expected in my class when report cards come out!)
• handling extras like uniforms, trip-planning, etc.
• assisting with fire drills and other necessary time-wasters

A few bright spots in the past couple weeks:

• Seeing Westley two weekends in a row
• Having my principal walk in and sit in on a (fantastic) lesson for 30 minutes with my most musically-talented class doing fabulously, hearing him sing along, and watching him grin as he left
• Treating myself to a well-deserved latte before school this week
• Finding the perfect pieces with fit with the theme of my concert
• 100% of my kids who auditioned for a select out-of-school group made it!!!
• Unexpected hugs and smiles from happy students
• Getting caught up on some yucky grading
• Getting a note from my principal saying that he'd stood outside my door on another day during another class and had "heard angels singing"
• Learning a few more teachers' names
• Letting myself "sleep in" until 5:45am yesterday morning
• Having a little time to read for pleasure

All in all, still loving it ... even though I am a little tired. :-) I'm earning every penny of my salary (and more, I think)!