Fitness Days 6 & 7

Also done.  Today is Day 8 and I'm going to hit the gym before I get into the zillion other things I have planned for today.  I have to admit, although the goal of going to the gym for 70 days straight is lofty, it feels good to have stuck to it through the first week (even when it meant 2 days of getting up at 5:30am because I knew I was busy after work and wouldn't be able to make it then), and it's fun to have a challenge to prove to myself that I can do it.

On a totally unrelated note, yesterday I brought 6 wine bottles to school and spent one period of grade 7 science talking about acoustics and resonance with my girls, and how it is affected by physical space (i.e. the more open space inside the chamber, the lower the pitch of an instrument will be, etc.).  So then we took those wine bottles and tuned them to a pentatonic scale by adding or subtracting water and played "Amazing Grace."  The school's Green Club was judging each homeroom class' recycled structures that we were to be building this week, and the homemade recycled musical instrument was ours.  We even ended the song with a chord (5-1-3, or second inversion).  It was absolutely hilarious and fun, and the girls loved it.  We videotaped it and I'd love to post it here but privacy laws won't allow me to post material with my students in it, which is really too bad because they were so cute.  I've always wanted to do something like that (although my original plan was to perform "Fur Elise" at a Greystones variety night fundraiser, but that plan never did pan out.... so "Amazing Grace" with grade 7s took its place!). :oD

Today I'm rehearsing with a pit orchestra for the musical "Fiddler on the Roof."  I'm playing alto sax (probably, or maybe bari) for the St. Mary High School's production which starts in 2 WEEKS.  Oy.  We've got our work cut out for us!  It should be fun though - I've always been onstage and never in the pit, so this will be a different experience for me.  Pretty awesome though I think.  We'll see how it comes together soon I suppose!  We've got a very small core group of music teachers and semi-professional musicians, so I'm thinking we'll be able to pull it off.

9 weeks until IMC!!!!

(PS - Top photo = Danielle and me at the Forks in Winnipeg over Easter break.  Photo immediately above = Kaleigh and me in Brandon over Easter break.  1, 2, 3, JUMP!)

Reasons why I love my job:

- My students crack me up all the time (like today, when one of my senior band percussionists had timpani mallets in her hand and then was caught off-guard when I said "Back to the beginning" - where she needs to play a roll on the triangle.  Not wanting to disappoint, she quickly grabbed the triangle in her hand, and picked up the triangle beater in the same hand that was already holding the timpani mallets, and proceeded to do the most awkward roll I've ever seen... while laughing uncontrollably the whole time).

- I feel comfortable asking any teacher or administrator for advice at any time, and they're always willing to provide it.  They ask me for ideas as well, which makes me feel like a competent and creative teacher.

- I get to choose music that I love, for EVERY one of my 4 bands and 2 choirs.

- The thought of how many amazing new scores I'll get to learn, rehearse, direct, and perform over the course of the next 30 years is incredibly exciting.

- Having a Grade 7 homeroom class feels like being a camp counsellor every day - I get to be a role model for young students, and while I have to keep them in line at times, we always have a lot of fun.

- I have the freedom to plan fun lessons that will entertain the students while also teaching them important concepts (like the scavenger hunt we did this morning in my Grade 7 Science class, where I had hidden 18 exam review questions around the room and teams had to find them and answer them).

- My students tell me when I've made a difference, and it gives me warm fuzzies every single time.

- My school has a beautiful auditorium with gorgeous marble steps leading up to a stage where I get to rehearse 4 bands full of girls in green kilts who work hard, play expressively, make me laugh, drive me insane, frustrate me to no end, make me smile, inspire me, and remind me why I love my job..... sometimes all in one day.

- Hearing the difference in sound, technical ability, etc. of my bands from September to now makes me feel like I really AM making a difference.  Whew.

- On Monday a group of senior students arrived from Japan and are now visiting our school for 3 weeks.  Yesterday 4 of the girls joined my jazz choir rehearsal.  We had a ton of fun, and our sound was awesome.  Today I had the same 4 girls in my senior band (3 on trumpet and 1 on flute), and I was SO blown away by how well the group played, the Japanese students and my own students alike, that I sent my trombone player to the office to get our principal to the auditorium to listen.  She came back with the principal and another teacher who sat and listened to the group play Sousa's "Nobles of the Mystic Shrine" (love love LOVE that piece).  The trumpet section knocked everyone's socks off, and the principal insisted that we perform at the school assembly on Monday.  Rehearsing with these girls was such an amazing experience for me as a music teacher, and it was awesome for my girls to hear what a balanced band sounds like, not to mention what technical and musical proficiency can be achieved with regular practice.  Everyone was in a fantastic mood after that rehearsal, and our Japanese students will be back again for another rehearsal tomorrow... I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

- Sigh.  I love my job.  Period.

:oD

I was going to blog about how the weather is getting nicer....

.... but then I checked www.theweathernetwork.com and discovered quite the opposite:

Feels like -46C?  Welcome to the first official day of Canadian winter.  We're officially on holidays now until January 5th, which is exciting and much-needed.  It has been a very busy 4 months!  Our big Christmas concert was on Wednesday, and fortunately it went very well!  Of the 8 performing music groups we have at our school, I am in charge of 6 of them.  I have 4 bands, a choir, and a jazz choir.... extremely busy but very rewarding.  There are also 2 orchestra groups that another music teacher leads.  I had never organized a concert before, but it went very well and was well-received by the audience.  Now I'm exhausted and looking forward to the holidays to recuperate!

I'm heading to Saskatoon today to do some stocking stuffer shopping, and then before you know it it will be Christmas Eve.  I have big plans for Boxing Day that I can't share on this blog for fear of someone finding it before they should.... but don't worry, there will be a big update after the plan is executed!!!!  Hehehe, I'm so mysterious.....

I will update again with all of the well wishes and reflections on another year gone by.  In the meantime, I hope you friends in New Zealand are enjoying the sun for me.  I'll freeze a finger off for each of you. :op

On the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond

.... (a line from Loch Lomond, one of the pieces we're playing in Senior Band).

SOOOOO it has been forever and a day since I updated this thing.  I still check your blogs regularly, darling blogger friends, but I know I really haven't kept up here..... life is CRAZY.  Crazy crazy crazy.  If I can try to describe my life as of late (aka first year teaching, all day every day) in a few words or phrases, it would look something like this:

- busy

- exhausting

- exciting

- HUGE learning curve

- musically frustrating

- musically rewarding

- musically challenging ("Miss Campbell, how do I play high B on the clarinet again?"  "Miss Campbell, my trumpet valves are sticking."  "Miss Campbell, I don't know how to read music.")

- enlightening

- overwhelming

- stressful

- gigantic adjustment in every possible way

- fun

- empowering

- humbling

- etc. etc. etc.

So there you have it.  Life is dramatically different now that I have entered the life of a beginning teacher.  I teach students from grades 7-12 (or forms 2-7, for my New Zealand friends), in multiple subject areas (Science, Computers, Information Processing, Band, Choir, Vocal Jazz), and I have a grade 7 homeroom (form) class.  For the most part I have wonderful students who make me happy, make me laugh, make me think, and occasionally make me pull my hair out.  They're great.  The job is great.  My staff is AMAZING.  Life is good.

And I'm SO TIRED.  Haha.

There's the update.  I'll try to keep up with the blog as much as possible, but for my teacher friends out there, I'm sure you can appreciate the overwhelming schedule that your first year of teaching brings.... so, while I have good intentions of keeping up, my posts may still be few and far between.

In other news, I miss you NZ guys tons.  I made some phone calls the other day to some of my kiwi friends (Jude, Julia, Aidyn, Tommy, etc.), and hearing their accents again made me SO happy and warm and fuzzy on the inside.  When I get a spare moment (and when I have more than $11 to my name..... hurry up, pay day! haha) I will try to give some of you a call.  It'd be great to catch up, and I could really use a distractor in the midst of my lesson planning. :o)

Speaking of which, off I go!  I'm actually just going to chill for a while and then I'll get to planning.... and then to bed by 10 tonight, for sure!  I need SLEEEEEEP!!!!!

Love love love you guys!!!!  Arohanui!!!

New (musical) beginnings

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this yet.... crazy!  This news is exactly 1 week old today.... but still very, very exciting!  I got the most FANTASTIC birthday present last week, 1 day before my actual birthday: a full-time contract to teach Grade 7-12 band (or for my New Zealand friends reading this, Year 8-13 or Form 2-7), senior choir, jazz choir, and likely junior choir, jazz band, and handbells.  On the non-music side of things, I will be teaching 0.3 in other subject areas, still TBA.  I am thrilled about this position, and I can hardly wait to start in August!  The school is Rivier Academy, which is in my hometown (bonus!).  SO EXCITING!!!

The front view of Rivier

The music room - my new home!!!

This is perfect, as I was JUST starting to miss answering to "Miss Campbell...." :o)

Finished.

Well that's it, folks. I'm done my internship at Hutt Valley High School. I'm still not quite sure where the time went, but alas it is gone, and now I have the weekend to pack up before moving on to Australia, and finally Vancouver before heading home to Saskatoon in just over 2 weeks. In the meantime, here's a photo recap of some of the week - farewell parties, organizing the office, packing up, and just generally having fun and enjoying my last bit of time at HVHS.

Roger stopped in to our Year 11 farewell party on Wednesday

Stephen looking jaunty in his modest party hat, supplied thoughtfully by the 11MU students

Megan made us a cake on behalf of the Year 11 Music class

Year 11 Music party

My last HVHS orchestra rehearsal this morning



A short video clip of this morning's orchestra rehearsal

After my last Year 13 lesson today we went outside to take pictures - here we are spelling "MUSIC" (hopefully you can see what we were going for!)

A true "action shot" of some of my Year 13s! :o)

My Year 13 girls skipped Spell 3 and part of Spell 4 to shop for farewell presents for me. They then presented me with a huge array of gifts during my Spell 4 Year 9 class. Here they're sitting on the stairs up to the recording studio, watching me open my presents.

The assortment of gifts I received from my students (the jar of Marmite and the card on the right are courtesy of the Year 11 class, while the barette directly in front of the Marmite and the flower card came from a student that I worked with in the Barbershop group. Everything else is from my Year 13 girls - kiwi lollies including Jaffas, Pineapple Lumps, and kiwifruit chocolate, a paua shell bracelet, a magnet, 4 buttons, a NZ identity bag, a hilarious card, and a bottle of Lemon and Paeroa.... I am spoiled!)

A before shot of my desk (complete with my own beautiful gold party hat from the Year 11 Music farewell)

After shot - now that's organization!

My beloved whiteboard in M2, full of scrawled guitar exercises, lesson outlines, chord charts, and assessment criteria from my Year 9 Guitar classes

This is my classroom. Goodbye M2. I'll miss you.

The view of M2 from the students' perspective

Empty hallways outside the Music office. These green doors are practice rooms, and are almost always bursting with sound from classical clarinet to rock bands.

So there you have it. What an experience all of this has been. I will miss this place probably more than I know at this point... it likely won't sink in until I leave New Zealand, or even until I'm comfortably back in Canada. It has been incredible. My colleagues have been fantastic. My students have been amazing. I have been so fortunate in my internship experience, and all I can think about as I look back is how much I have grown. It has been life changing, to say the least.

I can't even think of a way to adequately wrap up this blog post, other than to say once again that I have been so lucky to have such an incredible experience in New Zealand. So thank you to everyone who played a part in it. To Stephen: Thank you for being so supportive, encouraging, and inspiring. Thank you for pushing me to challenge myself. You have helped to make my internship experience more meaningful than I could have ever thought possible. To my students: keep learning, keep challenging yourselves, and keep seeing the beauty in music and the joy that creating and performing can bring to you and to your audience. Remember to avoid comma splices in your formal writing, and for goodness sakes, don't capitalize the word "Trumpet." It's not a proper noun. Keep asking questions, challenging your assumptions, and expanding your horizons. And most of all, keep living and loving music. You have discovered one of the most beautiful aspects of life so hang onto it no matter what, because even if you have nothing else in life, you can still have music.

Cheers to everyone at HVHS for an incredible 4 months. I'll miss you.

Let the farewells begin....

The fact that I have only 2 days of internship left has finally started to sink in. Last night we had our Year 13 performance evening, which was very entertaining and a wee bit sentimental. Almost everyone in the class performed, including myself (singing jazz with Andrew on piano) and Stephen (who played a piano/clarinet duet with Hannah that he composed in his 7th form year, when he was the same age as our students are now). Then, for the grand finale, the whole class got together to sing one of Andrew's original compositions, aptly entitled "Leaving Song." Andrew sang a few verses solo, I wrote my own verse to sing solo, and then the whole class sang the chorus in harmony:

This year has been a journey across the ocean wide.
There was so much for me to learn but you stood there by my side.
And now that I am leaving too, it's time that we must part.
You've been an inspiration and you're always in my heart.

It's sad to see you're leaving as we see you on your way.
For the years you have been teaching, we wish that you could stay.
And for all we've learned together we thank you in every way.
As we move into the future, we hope you'll come back someday.

Then this morning at staff briefing, Steve Chapman (HVHS Principal) thanked me publicly for my contributions to the Music Dept., gave a nice speech about me and my time here, and wished me well for the future. The speech was met with applause from the entire staff - it was such a nice tribute.

In the middle of the day there was a knock on our office door. It was Helen, a student in Katriona's music class, with a card and a gift for me. The card said something like, "I heard that you are leaving this Friday. I want you to know that even though you didn't teach our music class, it was really good to have you help with the Barbershop Chorus. You have an amazing voice! It has been so great to get to know you. Now that you are leaving, we are all crying... like this!" (followed by an adorable anime sketch of somebody on their knees, wailing away, crying streaming fountains of tears). She gave me a silver hair barette speckled with lime green gemstones... my favourite colour! It was such a surprising and thoughtful gift... it really made my day.

Then in Spell 5 (last period of the day) Stephen and I were deliberately kept out of the classroom for the first couple minutes of our Year 11 class, and when we were called in we were met with all of our students cheering, and a room full of streamers, balloons, noise-makers, and 2 ridiculously giant gold party hats. The students gave us gifts, baked a cake, brought food and drinks, and scrawled out "Goodbye Mr. Lange and Miss Campbell!" across the whiteboard. We had tons of fun, ate lots of food, took some pictures, and then spent the last half of the spell composing and recording an original piece for balloons, party favours, Pringles cans, and a guitar and a Coke bottle (because we had to do something musically enriching with the lesson, right?). We notated our composition with a graphic score on the whiteboard, and then recorded it on Stephen's laptop using the program Audacity. I also recorded it on my video camera, so I'm sure you'll all be keen to listen to it when I get back to Canada, right? ;o)

After school I said farewell at Volante rehearsal. Leaving Roger was particularly difficult, as he has been so good to me during my time in NZ, both at HVHS with Volante and in Wellington Youth Choir. WYC has been such a huge part of my growth here in New Zealand, and that opportunity would not have been possible without Roger's thoughtful offer for me to sing with the choir for the remainder of the season. I got choked up as I hugged him, and the choir applauded as I left the room. What a great group of people.

Stephen, Gary, Katriona and I went for afternoon tea at the New Dowse, and I was presented with a gift on behalf of the 3 of them - a card with endearing personal messages from each of them, a set of beautiful NZ greeting cards and envelopes, and a blown glass koru necklace. We visited over tea, smoothies, hot chocolate, etc. and then disbanded for the evening.

So, my day was full of farewells, parties, gifts, feel-good moments, and a few tears mixed in there too. And don't forget those ridiculous gold party hats. Now I'm gearing up for my last 2 days at HVHS and a farewell party at our place on Saturday night before flying away from the Wellington airport on Monday. I will be crying my eyes out when I leave here.... but what a beautiful 4 months it has been.

I am the luckiest.

Random photo post!

Things are insane at HVHS. It's awesome, but exhausting! Stephen and I had another silly moment after school today where we got the giggles whilst writing Year 9 reports (it's at this point that we start thinking that "Ummm... Todd? Todd Todd. Todd is... Todd" counts as a constructive report comment).... everyone's brain is in utter chaos, but we're sticking together and getting through the insane week little by little.

I thought I would take this opportunity to throw a random picture post your way. Some of these pics go back almost 2 months, while others are obviously more recent. These are just a few of the snaps I felt the need to post today, another rainy spring day in the Hutt Valley.

HVHS from across Woburn Road (August)

Katriona, Tessa, Stephen, and Gary practicing "I've Got Rhythm" for the HVHS Music Festival

Poppy likes to crawl up sleeves. This one caught me off-guard, as the sleeves in my Lululemon hoodie are quite fitted.... she really had to work her way up there!

This was the first real-life koru I saw in NZ (Rotorua).

Jude and Julia visiting just outside the hot pools in Taupo

Stephen's birthday celebration at the New Dowse cafe

Jude, Julia and I got dressed up and went out for a nice dinner before I took off on the south island trip.

Fish took a picture of the dolphins in Kaikoura - so cool!

A sign at the Irish pub in Picton

Tommy playing a gig on the ferry to Wellington

It was a bit windy on the ride home!

That's all for now... supper's ready!

Week 10 moments

Time for an HVHS teaching update! Things have been going extremely well at school, and although this week is utter insanity (last week of term, my sole charge week, writing Year 9 reports, Year 11 and Year 13 performances and assessment reports, Year 9 guitar assessments, etc.), it has actually been a very positive experience. I had my Global Student Teaching supervisor Jill observe my final Year 13 Jazz History lesson today, and it went really well. It was a successful lesson, although I didn't feel it was my best (mainly because of a couple pacing issues due to the fact that my Year 13s haven't had a Jazz History lesson in 3 weeks, so all of their answers and discussions took longer as they had to recall all of the information). Nonetheless, Jill's comments on my teaching were extremely positive. A few quotes for the interested:

"I can tell already that you are a very proficient teacher..... and I don't say that often."

*jokingly* "It was almost a waste of time for me to come here and observe you doing exactly what I knew you could do!"

"You will have absolutely no problem finding a job.... and if you do, I want to know why!"

So, needless to say, I was very happy with how the day went in that regard. I also had my Year 9D guitar assessments today, and at the end of the spell when I was supervising the students putting their guitars back in the storage room, one boy stayed behind after putting his guitar away, looking like he had something to say. He sheepishly said to me, "It's been good, Miss, being in your guitar class. And I'm sorry about a couple things right at the beginning...." (we'd had a little "chat" in the first 2 lessons about some disruptive behaviour, i.e. horsing around with his friend in the classroom while I was distributing guitars to the rest of the class) ".... but it's really been good. Thank you." So that was a completely unexpected and really nice moment today. Then when I went back into the classroom I had a couple more boys waiting around to say thank you, to wish me a good term break, and to ask me if I was going to travel New Zealand on my 2 weeks off, so all in all it was definitely a nice way to end the day. I also got another very complimentary interim report from Stephen, so to make a long story short, today was fabulous! Definitely a lot of feel-good moments today (including at lunch time when Salma, one of my students from the last line of Year 9 guitar, stopped to have a visit with me outside the hall and asked me worriedly if I would be back in Term 4. When I said that I would be back for 4 weeks, she grinned and said, relieved, "Oh ok, good!"). I love HVHS!

Despite the fact that I still have copious amounts of work to do tonight (Year 11 performance assessment reports, Year 9 general music assessment marking, Year 9 general music reports.... oy vey....), I feel very content. I have another Orchestra performance tomorrow at assembly in Spell 1 so I'll have to get everything for tomorrow prepared for tonight, as performing in Spell 1 means that I lose my non-contact (prep) period. Life around here, as I said before, is utter insanity. But, it's all good. :o) And besides, you know me.... I've never been one to sit around idly anyway..... bring on the next challenge!

(I maybe shouldn't say that and tempt fate, as Gary, Katriona, Stephen and I are planning on having all of the Year 9s gather together in one room tomorrow and watch the DVD "High School Musical" in the last spell of the day. I can sense the impending chaos!)

So with that, I leave you with another video. This one isn't super recent, as I've only just figured out how to compress videos for the blog. I actually took this video of Grace a few weeks ago when we were hanging out on Courtenay Place in Wellington, likely during one of our traditional Tuesday get-togethers. So here you are - meet Grace in 3D! (Oh, and for the record, the shout-out to Auntie Diane is really to Auntie Diane and Uncle Ron.... didn't mean to leave anyone out! Haha. And if somehow you missed the in-joke about double chins, you must go back a few posts to find the infamous double chin pictures.... they're really too attractive to pass up)!

Tattoo design idea

I'm playing with tattoo design ideas. I think I'll get my new tattoo on my 2-week break, so that I can give it a bit of time to start healing before I go back to school. I sketched a few ideas the other day, and I think this is starting to look a bit more like what I want... a koru in blues and greens, with a black outline.... and it looked enough like a bass clef that I decided to draw 2 dots beside it to give it double meaning (personal growth, and music). What do you think?:


And here's a shot of my desk in the HVHS Music Department (that's my new IBook, Verdi):

I can't believe Week 6 is over already! 4 more weeks to go in Term 3, then a 2-week break, then 4 weeks of Term 4 and I'll be done! It's amazing how time flies!

This week went extremely well. I had 2 lessons that were less-than-adequate in terms of student focus and classroom management (both Year 9 classes, go figure... the equivalent of grade 8), and as a result I switched my focus to being more firm and/or stern when the situations warranted such a response. It worked wonders... my students were much better for the following lessons. They were more focused, more involved in the lessons, more concerned with putting their hands up to answer questions instead of calling out of turn, etc. (I even gave 2 detentions for girls who came late to class 3 times in a row... for the next class, they showed up early! Yay!). So while this week had its ups and downs, it certainly went well overall. I had another fun lesson with the Year 13s on Jazz History, where I had them listen to recordings that we hadn't studied in class, and they had to tell me which style they thought it was and why (i.e. "This is be-bop because it's a really upbeat tempo, the harmonic rhythm is fast, the solos are virtuosic and technically difficult," or "this is swing because there are full sections of saxophones and horns, the music sounds very arranged, and there is more of an emphasis on ensemble playing instead of improvised solos," etc.), and then they had to pin the title of the tune and the performers on the Jazz History timeline that we created at the back of the room. I'm really pleased with their understanding of the topic, and they seem quite interested as well, so consider this unit a SUCCESS! We only have a few more lessons in Jazz History left... I have to admit that I will be slightly sad to see this unit go. It's been fun!

ONE WEEK TO AUCKLAND!!!!!! :oD I'm so excited to spend the weekend making great music with great new friends! It will be really nice to get to know the people from Wellington Youth Choir a bit better - I have a few acquaintances in the choir, and I know lots of names and faces, but I haven't made all the connections quite yet. It will be a fun weekend for sure. :o)

I should run.... the comfy lounge, TV, and heater are beckoning me!

Happy Saturday!

It's a semi-windy, on-the-verge-of-raining-all-day Saturday here in Lower Hutt, and I'm quite enjoying it. I'm about to head off to Fi's parents' place for supper, as Fi's sister Carol is in town from the south island with her adorable daughter Megan (and possibly husband Murray?). Sam is letting me drive his red Miata convertable there.... eeeep! He's going to back it out of the driveway for me, and I'm going to drive it there. Crazy stuff! I'd better be good with it! Hahaha.

I can't believe I'm half way through Term 3 at school now. Isn't it crazy how time flies?! Mom, dad, Karyn, does it feel like I've been gone for over a month already? I don't know about you, but I feel like I just got here. I'm going to have to start planning what I'm doing on my term break, coming up in 5 weeks here... I might even choose to go to Australia during that time and then travel part of the north island (Waitomo, Rotorua, etc.) before going back to school, then take some time at the end of my stay to check out the south island. I'm not sure what my plans are yet though - I might travel the south island on my break and do Australia in November, as originally planned. Whatever I do, it will be fun! I just need to start planning.

I had a good week at school again. Gary had the most unexpected compliment for me on Friday - he said to me "One of my students, whom you've only met once, came up to me today and said 'That Miss Campbell is so nice! And she's SO pretty!'" I know the girl who he was talking about, and although I've only met her once, she says hi to me every time I see her... and she uses my full name too ("Miss Campbell") as opposed to just "Miss," which a lot of the students get into the habit of saying. I've been consistent with my students in that when they ask me a question or say hi to me using just "Miss" I'll pretend like I don't hear them and I'll say "Miss what?" And they reply with "Oh right, Miss Campbell." It's been working well so far - a lot of them will correct themselves automatically now. One of my Year 11 boys had the funniest way of addressing me though... when I was walking around helping my students with their theory work, he called me over and said "Miss," and when I corrected him he said "I mean, I have a question, madame, m'lady." I laughed out loud and said "Miss Campbell will do just fine." It was pretty funny though. That kid has a sense of humour, and what he lacks in focus and work ethic, he makes up for in sincerity.

Our HVHS Music Festival is coming up on Monday night! We have extra rehearsals for Orchestra and Wind Ensemble tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully every last-minute thing will come together then. The orchestra is sounding heaps better than they had been over the past few weeks, so that's promising. I'm conducting "Summertime in Venice" - my debut as a "real" band director! Almost. Haha. The school hall is all set up now, and hopefully we'll be able to fill it with family, friends, and the general public. The hall is usually full for Music Festival - we've got a REALLY good show lined up too, so I wouldn't be surprised if it sells out. It's a jazz theme this year, because there are tons of very talented jazz musicians in our student body, especially in Years 11 and 13. There are a few jazz combos, jazz bands, and even a solo (Mayer, one of my Year 13 students, is playing "Blues for Alice" - I'm excited to hear it! He's a fantastic guitarist). It should be a blast! I'll be sure to have my camera/video camera there so I can have a nice keepsake for when I'm back in Canada. :o)

I'd better get ready for supper now - we're leaving in about 10 minutes. I hope everything is awesome at home! Thanks for the comments everyone... it's so nice to hear from you!!!!!

What do you think of my new template?

More pictures, and an update!

Another picture post! I promise to post more meaningful pictures (i.e. my house, HVHS, Kelson, etc.) at some point, but for now I'm just so darn amused by these Photobooth pictures! I swear, I need to buy a Mac just for this program alone. Hahaha.

This one is pretty much one of my favourites.

I look like Quagmire from Family Guy! And I love Grace laughing at me from the corner of the picture. Haha.

I apparently was NOT impressed with myself.

Grace's forehead and chin are usually this big in real life. I'd say this is a pretty accurate representation.

Brett gets extra funny points for a super curvy mustache (and a Humpty Dumpty vertical smile, right Karyn?!)!

Comic book!

Grace and I are in a horror movie!

Pop art!

This is the sketch feature. I am looking at Grace adoringly, but she's more interested in making dumb faces at herself in her computer camera.

Out for hot chocolate at Gloria Jean's - Lambton Quay, Wellington

Grace and I meet up in Wellington every Tuesday (and usually on Friday and/or Saturday), and it's become tradition to take Photobooth pictures every time we see each other. Our albums will be huge by the time we go home!

In random exciting news from today, Fiona and Sam are thinking of buying a new car soon and keeping their old one so I can drive it myself! YAY! (Don't worry mom, they're going to teach me to drive standard with my left hand, sitting on the right side of the car, driving on the left side of the road, going through roundabouts "backwards," etc..... I'm getting used to it just from being a passenger for the past month and a bit!)!!! Having my own car would give me SO much more independence, which would be absolutely so fantastic and convenient for all of us - Fi and Sam wouldn't have to worry about bailing me out of situations in which I miss the last bus, they wouldn't have to drive me to/from school, we wouldn't have to be texting each other all the time to see if I should take the bus or if I need a ride, etc. And not to mention the convenience of driving myself into the city for Wellington Youth Choir rehearsals and stuff. Ahh, it would be so awesome!

And of course things are still going really well at HVHS. As I've said before, internship has its ups and its downs, but Stephen is absolutely fantastic, and I'm learning tons. I'm getting the hang of lesson planning, classroom management, questioning strategies, etc. Today Stephen and I planned our Year 11 assessment, so we'll be testing them next week on John Psathas' "Waiting for the Aeroplane" (the piano piece that I've been teaching them through score analysis), and Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata." I also taught my first "Listening through jazz history" lesson to my Year 13s today, and that was a lot of fun. I have a very eager group of students, and we're able to have very involved and intelligent discussions about the music that we're studying. I led them through listening and analysis of music from the New Orleans, Chicago, and Swing eras today, and tomorrow we'll do Be-Bop, Cool Jazz, and Fusion. We're also creating a "Jazz Through the Ages" timeline on the back wall of our music classroom - I made a poster for Bossa Nova, since it's my favourite style and we're not going to be able to study it in this unit (unfortunately!). I've been talking to them about it casually though, and a few of them are really keen to hear the Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto/Astrud Gilberto recording of "The Girl From Ipanema" (which I've raved about, so now they're interested), and they keep asking me if we get to study it, or if I can sing it to them in Portuguese. I'll see if I can get my hands on a recording for them... I'm sure I could find time to play it for them at some point, and it would be a shame not to expose them to it, especially when they're so keen to learn about it without me actually "forcing" them to study it. :o) Stephen commented on my personal interest in and enthusiasm for the topic of jazz history today, and he said that the students are really responding to it. I'm having a blast teaching this unit, and I'm so lucky that Stephen has let me take over!!!

That being said, I have to plan the next listening lesson for tomorrow, so I'd better get on that. I'm also teaching a Year 9 class on pitch tomorrow in spell 5 (last period of the day), so that will be INTERESTING. I know the class well, despite having not taught them myself yet.... they can be quite rambunctious, so pair that with the last class of the day, and Friday. It should be a challenge. But, that's what I'm here for! Bring it on! :o)

(Oh, and thanks for the hot dog card, Karyn! HOT DOG CLUB FOREVER!!!!!)!

PS - As of tomorrow, Friday August 17th, we're officially halfway through Term 3! Amazing! I'm over 1/3 done my internship already.... time flies! I think it's almost time to start thinking about where I'm going to travel on my 2-week break!

Fun with Photobooth!

As promised, here are some of the pictures that Grace and I took at the coffee shop on Tuesday. She's got more funny ones too, that I haven't saved on my computer yet - in one of them I look like Quagmire from Family Guy (I will DEFINITELY post that one once she gets it onto Facebook so I can steal it!). Anyway, I think these pictures almost defy explanation, so I will just leave it to you to add your own captions in your mind! Haha.

(And in case you were curious, my Year 9 guitar class went extremely well! No behaviour problems whatsoever! It was amazing. I'm not sure if it was because I went to extra lengths to make sure that everything was orderly in the classroom, i.e. they were lined up outside the door and told the expectations before they ever entered the room, etc., but I was pleasantly surprised! It was awesome. And it's fun to think that I'm a guitar teacher! Cool beans.)

Tomorrow Grace and I are getting together at Te Papa museum in Wellington, where we will be meeting a guy named Paul from Wisconsin. He just got to New Zealand yesterday morning, and will be starting his internship on Monday. Jill, our supervisor, e-mailed us his phone number and suggested that we get together with him for coffee or something so that he's not alone all weekend in a new city, in a new country, anticipating his internship with nobody to talk to. I called him tonight, and he seems a little overwhelmed but quite nice, and easy to talk to. It will be nice to have another person in our age range to hang out with while we're here. And another visit to Te Papa never hurt anyone! :o)