Finally, teachin' kids.

So I know I went off of more than one major tangent the other day, but will write a much more positive (and informative) post. Monday I interviewed and they told me that they would let me know by the following Monday. Thank god it didn't take that long. I know they had at least one more interview on Tuesday morning, but by that afternoon I had a text from Dasher saying that he had gotten a reference call and gave me a "glowing reference" (love him) and that he thought that I would get the job. I also had a page to call a 608 number, which when I called was the assistant principal. She pretty much said, "Oh yeah, we'd like to offer you the position" and that was it. I accepted right away, but was trying to sort of ask, "what now?". The only answer I got from her was to ask HR and HR just said they'd mail me a packet about everything so...Also they originally entered my start date as Dec. 2nd, but since I am already a district employee and subbing there every day they realized that wasn't fair so it was bumped up immediately to today (Thursday). I have no idea what's going on in terms of benefits, contracts, computer log-in info, phone number, etc. But whatever I need will come so I'm not stressed at all. I got a key to my room from Cindy, the other music teacher, so that's all I really need at this point. I log into the computer as a sub still so I have internet...
Things haven't changed too much yet in terms of the material I'm teaching. I started out not knowing if I was permanent so I was doing generic sub plans and with the way elementary works I just kept doing them through the week so that every class did the same thing. Next week is a short week so I guess I'll just do something Thanksgiving stuff. The following week I really want to start over. I need to learn names, establish rules, and maintain some routines. Lucky for me, most kids are just so excited to have a real music teacher that they already really like me, especially the Hispanic kids. They really took a liking fast and that's surprising considering I don't speak Spanish.
Leopold has a similar socio-economic breakdown to Falk, but it is much larger (about 680 students as opposed to most schools being 300 or so) and has a lower percentage of black students. I think in general it's about 30% white 30% black 30% hispanic and 10% asain. There are whole classes in each grade level that are taught only in Spanish, except for art, music, and phy ed. Interesting. I have a list of common phrases ("sit down") and I'm going to learn as fast as I can. I am already finding myself trying to use it wherever I can. It's cute. And though there is a language barrier, the students are very respectful. In the other classes it can be really hit or miss. It's no worse than Falk and from what time I spent there, it actually seems a little better. My Thursday/Friday classes are notably more difficult (sorry, but also notably more black).
Like I said, the kids are generally all very excited to have me there. One girl said she didn't like me because I called her bluff on her spot on the seating chart, but whatever. Her anger can't be my problem all the time. Lots of kids light up when they come to the door and say things like, "yes!! you're here!" and "Mrs. so and so, I love our music teacher!". It feels SOO good and makes me feel reassured about teaching elementary for the year. I am not planning on teaching here past the year, but there is a lot I can take from it and a lot of fun to be had!
Tomorrow, and possibly over the weekend, I get to spend lots of time making my room MY room and I am in desperate need of some posters. It's hard not to want to do everything Liz's way, but she's so confident and convincing (like I am with band) so I trust that her ideas are solid ideas. I want to start from scratch with kodaly with them, but don't want to make the other teacher feel awkward because she doesn't really address solfege and stuff. So I'd like to throw some hand signs up, some motivational/musical posters, some expectations, etc. But it's going to take some time to put everything together, especially because my handwriting sucks and I'll need to do a lot of print, cut, paste.
So anyways, there's a lot to do, but like I said, I don't feel stressed at all. My head feels more clear than it has in a long time. All of the other teachers have been really nice and coming down just to introduce themselves and so I know I have lots of people to go to, especially if the school isn't going to really give me any directions. It's nice because there aren't sky-high expectations, but there is a lot of excitement to have the position filled so I feel almost like a local celebrity at school (2 months open after 2 years of long-term subs?). One kid who guess that I played tuba because "tuba rocks" said after one day that I'm the best music teacher he ever had. Two reactions to that: SAD and SWEET. Glad to have it a little easy in terms of earning their trust, but disheartened to hear that their school has had a history with not fulfilling their end of the music education portion. Imagine if he had Liz for a day.
I'll write more soon I'm sure, now that I have things to update about...