The End...?

I can't believe it's already here. I have two more days of work left this summer in the Backcountry Office, and I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. It hasn't helped that my summer was shorter than last year, but I think I am going to have to start getting used to shorter summers on the public school schedule as opposed to the longer college summers. That will be just the first of many adjustments.

As I have been preparing for the school year (that starts Monday!), I have been running all sorts of work-related errands and planning out as much as possible, but I still have been finding myself breaking down in tears from the stress I'm creating as I think about my situation.

Looking back, I realize how INCREDIBLY important it is to not skip classes. Ever. I am going to reluctantly admit right now that I didn't take the strings classes seriously. As a "band" instrumentalist, I never thought that any of the string information would be pertinent to me and didn't completely pay attention in the Strings Technique classes and I didn't attend every class during Teaching Methods when we were covering the string areas. Boy, am I regretting that.

One of my graduation gifts was a $100 gift certificate to Amazon. I used that to purchase the following books:


I Know Sousa, Not Sopranos! A Survival Guide for the Band Director Teaching Choirs
The Boy's Changing Voice: New Solutions for Today's Choral Director
The Choral Warm-Up Collection
A Handbook for Beginning Choral Educators
Teaching Strings

Now I know these books aren't going to give me all the answers to everything I will come across over the next year, but at least it's a start! Tom gave me my first violin last week which was refreshing, since the last time I touched the instruments was in the classes five years ago. He was really patient, which I appreciated, and I have practiced every single day so I can be partially ready for school to start. My goal is to stay enough ahead of my students this year so I never lose my credibility.

I called Mom twice this week, breaking down in tears. Don't get me wrong--I am VERY excited to start teaching--this is what I've been working towards the past 5+ years! I just feel like a fish out of water, not sure what is going on in the uncomfortable world around me, but I am going to work my hardest to flop my way back to the water. I've started lesson planning and already created templates to use for each class so I can just check the boxes and have everything set each day. I have attended the pre-first week meeting and been talking with all my principals to get everything straightened out. You would be surprised at the amount of paperwork there is to fill out between insurance, direct deposits, beneficiaries, sick banks, and those silly W4s that I STILL have to call home to decipher!!

Despite my worries however, everything is falling into place. I am still waiting on my CO Teacher License to process and I still need to change my driver's license and plates, but I have my apartment set and I know where I'm going, which is definitely a start. I can't wait to see what this next week will bring me...all I can be guarunteed of is exhaustion! :)