Today was our last official day of school. It's a little strange, though, because I know I'll be there tomorrow after graduation finishing a project, as well as there on Monday fighting for some scheduling issues and finishing more projects, and there Tuesday through Friday for summer orchestra camp. Summers in a year-round district are short anyway, but they're even shorter for those of us who teach in fine arts.
Since most of my friends (and therefore, most of the people who will read this post) are teachers, I know I'm preaching to the choir. And I'm not complaining, because I love my job. But I do hate it when I hear people say things like "Wouldn't it be nice to only work 180 days out of the year from 8 to 3?" or "Why do teachers need a pay raise? I work just as hard." Chances are, you really don't work as hard. And we really don't only work 180 days out of the year, and 8 to 3 is a sick joke. Ask me sometime how many people in my profession are: a)divorced, b)living alone, c)the crazy cat lady. Our stats are abysmal.
Here, for your reading pleasure, my year in review, beginning with July of 2011 and going until July 2012. I still have my very well-kept planner from this year, so this is easy to do! This is long, but I want it out there for all of the people who think we have an easy job. Not so! Keep in mind that what I'm listing here is in addition to the regular school day, Monday through Friday. I don't get to school super early, but I try to get there before 8. I rarely leave before 6 pm.
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| Sometimes we'll get called to do gigs. My kids thought this made a nice picture in a library where we performed. |
July 18-22, 2011: IB teacher training in Montezuma, NM. It was a good time, and I'd go back in a heartbeat...but it was still work!
July 25, 2011: back to school for teachers. This is a week of inservice (meetings and trainings) as well as "work days." This means putting together my handbook, running back and forth from the theatre department to the student activities manager to schedule my concerts, copying parts, selecting music, finalizing class lists, making sure instruments are in working order to be checked out to new students, filling out and turning in purchase orders, and generally preparing the room.
August 1, 2011 and month of August: back to school for students. This is everything that "back to school" entails. For fine arts, this is often teaching new rehearsal rules (and reviewing old ones), teaching completely new technique, etc. We do a back to school picnic in which the upperclassmen make t-shirts for the freshmen and the sections compete against each other in stupid games. It's fun, and I spend a lot of money on pizza and t-shirts. The district orchestra teachers also hold two beginner clinics for new middle school students on two Saturdays of the month, and there is always a region-wide meeting in which we discuss business. It usually takes the majority of the day Saturday. If you're keeping score, that's three out of four Saturdays in the month of August that we're working.
September 2011: ah, Labor Day! This is usually the month when we start having head director meetings and the month in which I start after school rehearsals. They go until 5:30 in the evening or later. This is also the month in which football games start, and clubs and organizations can sign up to work concessions for a fundraiser. That's a job that goes from about 5-10 pm and is genuinely hard labor. The kids do most of the work, but a sponsor must be present and always ends up doing quite a bit as well. Somewhere in here the high school directors usually sponsor a clinic or two to help the middle school kids with region audition music, as well as do some clinics of our own. These are usually Saturdays or late evenings.
October 2011: we're a year-round district, so the first two weeks of October are intercession. However, the first Saturday was middle school all-region auditions, in which I heard over 70 middle school cello players play the same two excerpts for an audition. It literally took all day (but we do have fun judging). I spent at least two days at my school or at another school preparing my own students for their auditions. On the last Saturday, I judged high school cello auditions, and the following Monday, judged the 9th grade auditions. The last Saturday of the month was taping for all-state auditions. I didn't go this year to help because I had scarlet fever :( The last week of the month was our movie concert, and we literally started reading Christmas music the very next day. Please don't get mad when it's December 1st and I tell you that I really can't handle "Sleigh Ride." I've been hearing it for over a month already.
November 2011: the middle school all-region clinic was November 10-12. I normally don't get involved in the middle school clinics, but this year I actually got to be a conductor for one of the groups! It was a lot of fun but a lot of work. Rehearsals were Thursday evening, Friday evening, and Saturday until the afternoon, and then we had a concert. Fortunately, November also means Thanksgiving break. Hooray!
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| At middle school region. |
December 2011: Holiday concert. This is a massive undertaking. This year, ours featured over 15 tunes, several of which incorporated other groups (choir, band, mariachi). It got rescheduled due to weather (HUGE pain in the rear). Mercifully, winter break is two weeks, and this is one break during which we don't tend to work. However, entries for solo and ensemble were due on January 25th, so I picked out music for something like 40 events and put together ensembles before we left.
January 2012: back to school on the 4th. High school all-region clinic was the 12-14th, and it ran much the same way as the middle school clinic. This year I was an organizer for one of the groups, which mean that before auditions in October I had to have the folders of music ready for everyone. I wasn't able to do a great job on this because I was sick, but it was still a lot of work. Entries for solo and ensemble were due on the 25th, and we started rehearsals as soon as we got back from break. Entering solos and ensembles involves collecting entry fees and an online entry process.
February 2012: middle school solo and ensemble was on the 4th, and I judged. Again, it's literally an all-day event. Judges are paid, but it goes through our paycheck and gets taxed until just a little over half is left. It's a great experience but it is mentally exhausting. Our state music convention was February 8-10. I didn't go this year, but if I had any students make state I would have been responsible for them there. Many directors end up going for this. Again, a great experience, but mentally exhausting. High school solo and ensemble was the 18th. After hours of after school rehearsal, wrangling an accompanist, etc, the kids go play in front of a judge. I had something like four hours of kids performing that day. I hauled around a lot of scores, rehearsed last-minute, talked kids down from meltdowns or near meltdowns, ran from room to room, moved instruments, tuned instruments, tracked down missing music, you name it. Again, totally exhausting. Just for good measure, the week before solo and ensemble we threw in a jazz concert. Why not.
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| My kids' response to our insane number of entries at solo and ensemble this year. |
March 2012: the beginning of contest season. If you've never experienced a Texas UIL contest, you have no idea and there's really no way to accurately put it into words. In addition to the regular day, rehearsals were running fast and furious until about 6pm every day. With two orchestras (five sections within each orchestra needing section rehearsals), it was a lot of rehearsals.
April 2012: our spring break this year was the first two weeks of April, which was two weeks later than it normally is. It drove everyone crazy. Since my IB students had their exam in early May, we had two days over break in which we did practice exams and study sessions. I also held one two hour rehearsal a week during break. Our pre-festival concert was April 16th, and district contest was April 20th and 21st (again, that's a Saturday gone). TAKS testing was a whole week in late April, and the entire school devotes all of its energy into administering these tests. Rehearsals are allowed for a little bit after school, but for the most part they're frowned upon that week. This is incredibly nerve-wracking for those of us who still have UIL.
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| In 2010, I broke my big toe at district orchestra contest. I went on stage barefoot and went to the ER only after I'd listened to the judges' comment tapes. I'm hardcore like that. |
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| Fun with instrument inventory. God bless the barcodes and the people at the fixed asset office. |
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It's a very long bus ride to state.
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July 2012: days in July that I'm working (so far): 17, 18, 19. Teachers go back to school the 23rd, and students come back the 30th, and then we start all over again.
Well, folks, there you have it. Now imagine doing this with a chronic illness that causes pain and serious fatigue. Now imagine what it must be like to direct high school marching band (twice the contest plus all those football games! Ugh! Glad I teach strings!). And no, our stipends aren't THAT big. They're very nice, and our fine arts department takes very good care of us. But it's still a lot of work.
I'm closing with a picture of my colleague and I working on making our instrument storage room a happier place. We were tired of looking at all the scuffs and dings. It was really kind of depressing. And yes, I bought all the paint myself.
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| Music Teacher Gothic. |
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