Me! Me! Me! It's all about me! lol I hate to be that way, and I know I have been lately. But I'm still just NOT settled into my new life yet. I don't know when I'll be.
Things I did this week that were not work:
1. Tanner and I went and rented horror movies and we all watched them Wednesday night.
2. Took Kyle and rented a car for mom.
3. Got Tanner's costume in the mail. He was begging to be a werewolf. And talked me into buying him a $48.00 werewolf costume. But have to admit it's a pretty good one. I also ordered a couple of costumes for the madrigal dinner and he had to try those on too, of course.
3. Got Tanner's costume in the mail. He was begging to be a werewolf. And talked me into buying him a $48.00 werewolf costume. But have to admit it's a pretty good one. I also ordered a couple of costumes for the madrigal dinner and he had to try those on too, of course.
And I don't think people really want to hear about work. But otherwise, I have nothing to write about. And God knows I could stand to tell SOMEBODY about work because no one wants to hear it much these days lol. So, I guess, I'm going to be writing a lot about work this week. So anyone uninterested might just skip this week. But I think I need the outlet. Anyone bored enough to read, thanks for listening! You're awesome! lol
Sometimes you just reach a point where you are SO overwhelmed and backed up on work and have too many irons in too many fires that you just have to STOP. And I reached that point this week. So today I just STOPPED. Figured Friday was as good a day as any. So I started planning on Tuesday to just STOP on Friday. I told Mrs. Leese don’t worry about coming in on Friday. One choir had earned a party by having 100% of their choir fees brought in (still waiting on the other 3).
One choir, who has been rather easy to deal with all year, decided to take their turn at being a pain in the ass this week. A girl got pissed at me on Monday morning and went off at the mouth as only a teenage girl can do. So I had to write my first choir kid up for the year. Then Wednesday morning the entire alto section decided they hate this song that we’ve been working on forever (probably because we’ve worked on it forever) and basically just quit singing it. They’ve decided they’d rather do all Christmas songs. Which is not going to happen. Didn’t plan a party for THEM on Friday, needless to say. But since some of our dresses came in I decided we would just take the day to try on dresses and get everyone’s perfect size so that I could order more. And if there is any time left I would search through the shelves and look for emergency easy songs we can throw together fast for the concert Nov. 18 in case they continue to go on strike for that one song.
Show Choir has managed to do ok in about the last 4 weeks. Although for the last week we’ve missed Jenifer and worried about her, and had several students out sick a lot it seems. Everytime we got to the "Ice Ice Baby" section of "Dance Evolution" the girls would stop and say "aw this is the Jenifer part!!!" They had a hard time doing it without her, just didn't seem right lol. That's the section that Jen made up. But hopefully everyone will be back next week. But we’ve only had one significant uproar in about 4 weeks now, which is GOOD for them. And on that day I just stood in front of them, turned my head, put my hand up and said…….. “I can NOT WORK with you PEOPLE!!!!!” in as dramatic a fashion as I could muster. They stopped, but grinned. I like it when you can do something that totally shocks them and they get thrown off. Nothing more fun. Anyway, the point is, I decided to let them have a party today also because they’ve made progress. And because they found out about the other class having a party and were GREEN with ENVY. But they insisted that I have a completely different pot of rotel dip for them because they don’t want to be eating out of the same pot as some OTHER choir. This is probably my most frustrating, but most entertaining group of kids! Gotta love ‘em.
So. In women's choir, 13 girls put the HURT on some sausage rotel. They would have eaten double what I brought if I had brought it. And that's on top of cupcakes and cookies they brought as well. And in show choir, there were only 6 people there and they ate yet another complete batch of rotel and would have eaten more. I had intended to invite Tyler, Kyle, and Blake for lunch to eat the leftovers but I forgot. I was glad I forgot because there weren't any!
Madrigals are WAY behind on knowing their music for the Madrigal Dinner. I find myself drilling little details to DEATH in every song, sometimes spending the whole hour on 2 or 3 pages of one song. I know that’s not a good thing. It’s not that they can’t do it. It’s just not perfect yet and that makes me nervous lol. So today I decided we would just STOP, take a look at the big picture, and set goals for what to know by what day, etc. It ended up that show choir had so much fun listening to Seussical music while eating that they would not leave and go to lunch. So they stayed, and together with the Madrigals they sang Seussical music and then the Madrigals wanted to learn the show choir music so they did that. It was actually an interesting process to watch. Show choir kids teaching Renaissance musicians to sing and dance with soul, emotion, and flair. They actually made for one awesome group. Gave me ideas for next year at least.
I keep thinking that one day I'll go to work and all of a sudden they will just magically know everything. Like, it's gonna all come together, all in one day. One can hope.
And as for the 6th period general music class – they’ve just been oddly well behaved lately. Probably because so many are suspended right now lol. Seriously, I average about 5-7 out of 24 kids suspended on any given day. But I decided to give some kids a chance to make up work they either didn't turn in or were absent for, which was almost everyone. So they made up work. And I taught about 4 of them how to play the theme to Halloween on the piano which kept them all entertained for about 30 minutes.
Ah. And I built my own "closet" in my office this week. My office is seriously getting cram packed. But I have all these costumes and dresses and stuff, I need somewhere to hang them that people can't get access to. And also, while plundering around in the stage set storage room I found some cute little flower things that looked perfect for our Dr. Seuss musical we're gonna do. So I took them on down with me and put them in the office. My mission with the plundering is to find a paper mache boar's head that they swear exists, but so far no luck finding it. I may have to commission the sculpture of a new one.
After school today, for the FIRST time ever, I had ALMOST all of my madrigal actors present for rehearsal. We are always missing at least half of them. But today, we were only missing 2. And I got to see a much better view of what we are going to have for the comedy portion of the dinner. And I felt much better. Now if they will just all memorize it, keep showing up, and find decent costumes. I've been doing actor rehearsals after school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and show choir practice after school every Tuesday and Wednesday.
Have I mentioned that a few weeks ago one of my students asked me, basically, if I would finish raising him? Like be his legal guardian? FOR REAL I am NOT kidding. Floored me. He is involved in one of those push-pull custody kinda things between parents, grandparents, other family, etc., always back and forth. I politely explained that I just couldn't do that, having kids of my own and all. I've probably just said way way too much on the blog here, but that one I just couldn't keep to myself any longer. And then there was the girl one day who said "Mrs. Gardner my doctor told me something really bad yesterday and I can't tell you what it is." I said...."ok......". A little while later she said "want me to tell you what it is???" I said only if you want to. She started to tell me and others were listening so she said she'd tell me later. I really didn't want to know. She never did tell me. And she has not come back to school since then. Makes me feel bad now. There's just NO telling. I'm sure that's all TMI as well. Then......me, the maid, the security guard, and the assistant principal have been trying to catch 4 boys smoking all week long. They stand at the end of the building up the hill and smoke. If I walk out the front door of my building they see me and run off. They aren't close enough for me to identify. I took my camera today and tried to zoom in to their spot but they didn't come today. At this point, it's becoming a mission of mine. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes now to catch them, and I DON'T know why. I'm GOING to find out who they are lol. And can't wait to see them get caught. I guess I'm morphing into a true high school teacher after all! But I've still not yet learned to go ballistic over shirt tails. And I'm not yet insane enough. Give me a few more months.
I had a choir parent meeting Thursday night at 6. To start up the official Choir Booster Club. We got a lot done, officers elected, brainstormed ideas. But we were there til 7:30! An hour longer than I had expected. Rusty was like...........where the #$%^ are you at????? It was after 8 by the time I got home. But I'm very glad to have a parent group to call on now.
My every single day is a complete and total different adventure. I totally love it. But at the same time, I'm having to neglect so much else I'm worried I'll burn out too fast. I hope not. I've got to teach at least 16 more years.
My first order of concert dresses came in this week. I did a GREAT job picking them out. No matter what size, height, weight, body style any girl had, the dress looked AWESOME on them. They were all smiles and twirls. Even the ones who have been bitching all this time (I don't want that ugly ol' dress, etc) liked it. I ordered one of every size for us to try on to get sizes. Now I just have to order the rest. And get the money to order the rest lol. Aren't they lovely? If nothing else, I can receive credit for bringing Vicksburg High School into the 21st century this year. I'll be proud of that fact for years to come. These beat choir robes anyday, if you ask me.
I was in the school newspaper this month. In there twice, actually. In a photo on the front where they were signing the contract with our Adopt-A-School partner. I was asked to be there because I didn’t have a class that period. Then they did an article on all the new teachers. My picture in that one was terrible. But the article was ok. But where it says child/person, I had just said child. I imagine some teenager made that change so as not to be considered a “child” lol. But was probably a good idea. As far as hobbies, I started to say "I no longer have hobbies, I'm a high school choir director". But I figured I could at least reminisce about my OLD hobbies. A few of my 6th period kids asked me how I got in the paper TWO times. I told them it was because I am extremely important to the school. roflmao! I stated that I "attended" USM and MC. The way they put it, it sounds as if I graduated from BOTH places. Which is fine by me. Your best salesman is always yourself, right? And I actually said MUCH more stuff than they quoted, as you can imagine. I had to write it down on paper so you KNOW I was doing some talking there. If they had asked me in person, I'd have had very few words:
“Tracy Gardner is the choir director. She graduated from USM and MS College with a major in Music Education. Her hobbies include reading, home improvement projects, playing the piano, learning about computers, spending time with her family, and traveling. Gardner said, ‘I have taught at both Cedars Elementary and Warrenton Elementary, so many of the students have had me as a teacher.’ I believe in educating the whole child/person. I teach choir and music related topics, but I also believe in taking advantage of teaching anything else that may arise, whether it’s English, history, or even manners and etiquette.”
Yep that’s me. As far as the manners and etiquette, we’re talking BASIC skills here because so many of these kids just do not know what an appropriate response to any situation is. And they seriously just DON’T know. Like, how to respond to a performance of a choir or orchestra, etc. How to speak to elders, when to NOT flip out over something. I have one student who absolutely can NOT refer to me by anything resembling a proper name. And he seriously just doesn't know better. He's called me "man", "boo-boo", "hey you", "yo lady", and so on. I'd get pissed if I didnt' realize that.............he just doesn't know. He has finally learned to call me by name. Thank God, for his sake. I could go on about this topic but anyway…..
People at home are starting to get frustrated I think. Rusty and the kids have all been excited about my new job for me all this time, and eager to hear about my days and such. But things are starting to happen that they are getting tired of, just little things lol. Tanner just can’t BELIEVE we’re out of tea all the time. I’m just not home to make it til nearly 6 on most days and then I just don’t feel like it! He and Tyler both know how to make it but they so far won’t do it. I told him once they want it bad enough they will make it, and that I only make tea on weekends now. Rusty has picked up some cigarette route work in Jackson and has had to go there after work 2-3 days a week and doesn’t get home til late either. NO laundry gets done except on weekends. My Wal Mart habit has drastically been reduced. We run out of stuff lol. Nobody wants to hear about my day anymore, they’re tired of hearing me worry about choir money and fundraising and talk about kids being good or bad. So I guess it’s just frustrating all the way around lol. Not sure yet what to do about it, guess we just have to get used to it. It’s going to get really rough from January-March. Or really NOW through March. But after March, things should be great.
I'm currently rolling on the floor. Tanner just walked in and said......"OK it's FRIDAY can you POSSIBLY make us some TEA NOW????"
So I guess I'll go make tea.
