So today Danielle and I had the pleasure to travel 5 hours down interstate 80 to arrive in our new hometown...Omaha! It has been quite the journey leading up to our move, and there are mixed emotions with the new challenges and experiences that are soon to come our way.
So you may all be wondering WHY we are leaving Ogallala so soon. No, it is not because we are anxious to get out of there. It is quite the opposite, as it was very tough to leave today. The reason we have moved up so quickly is because we are both finishing our Masters degrees this summer, and session starts on Monday, June 4th. We couldn't wait and move until this weekend because I have an NCDA Board Meeting on Saturday in Kearney. So here is what my summer looks like (and for those of you who think teachers get summers off, think again)
6/2/12: NCDA Board Meeting
6/4-7/6: Summer classes at UNL
7/7: NMEA Young Leadership Workshop at Doane College
7/8-7/11: NCDA Summer Conference
8/7-8/9: New Teacher Institute at OPS
8/10 & 8/13: New Teacher Workshops at OPS
8/14-8/17: Teacher Inservice
8/20: Students Begin School
So according to my schedule, I have a 3 1/2 week window of opportunity to enjoy my summer, hopefully be moving into a house, and quickly preparing for a new school year in a new building. Although it seems like my summer is jam packed, I am excited. All I know is that next summer, I am forcing myself to take the summer "off" and relax, spend time with my wife and NOT worry about summer classes!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
It's been a great run
As most of you know, Danielle and I will be moving to the Eastern part of the state, as we have both accepted jobs in the Omaha area. Danielle will be teaching 11th & 12th grade English at Gretna High School and I will be teaching vocal music at Omaha Burke. That being said, I thought I would reflect a bit on my time in Ogallala. As a disclaimer, the rest of this post will jump around...so be prepared!
Today I spent my last day as a "staff member" of Ogallala, and turned in my keys and said goodbye. It was bittersweet. Actually, today was really easy. It was yesterday that kind of hit me. My last period of the day yesterday was my concert choir, which generally is the students I have spent the most amount of time with in my 4 year tenure at OPSD. The period was quite hectic, as kids were in and out, making trips to their lockers, the guidance counselor, and other random places to get their check out sheets signed. As "chaos" ensued around me, I just sat back and watched. It was surreal looking at these students and thinking back on the great memories. After the stress of moving and summer school wears off, I will take some time to sit back and reflect even more on my last 4 years of education.
Just off the top of my head, I can say that I have grown immensely as an educator while being here in Ogallala. I have made my share of colossal mistakes and have had many opportunities to experience success. I don't think a lot of people truly understand what it means to teach, how it feels to teach. I am constantly second guessing and looking back on decisions I make. What I have REALLY come to realize in my time in Ogallala is that even though I make a decision for what I feel is the best for the students, not everybody else will agree with that. I am slowly coming to the realization that people are going to be upset with me. People are not always going to like what I am doing or how I handle a situation. Sometimes that is just life. What is important is that I constantly reflect on the outcome and how I handled the situation. I can also say that the past 4 years have helped me to realize how much I truly love working with youth. Their energy and personalities are so contagious and they teach me so much every day.
I also learned that sometimes traditions are good, and sometimes they are not so good. I have begun some "traditions" with the OHS Choir department that I am excited to see continue. I also know that if it doesn't continue, then the director had a good reason to discontinue them. And if his reasoning is not legit...oh well. I say that because I know exactly what it is like to have to make decisions that others may not agree with. One tradition that I started...and ended...was the signing of the wall. One day I just decided it would be cool to let the students sign the wall of my office. Below are some pictures of my wall, and it is amazing how a simple signature and message really brings out each individual personality. These small things are what really make a difference to me! I hope you enjoy reading the messages (if it is big enough) and for those students who read this, thank you for giving a piece of you to me the past 4 years...I truly appreciate it!
Today I spent my last day as a "staff member" of Ogallala, and turned in my keys and said goodbye. It was bittersweet. Actually, today was really easy. It was yesterday that kind of hit me. My last period of the day yesterday was my concert choir, which generally is the students I have spent the most amount of time with in my 4 year tenure at OPSD. The period was quite hectic, as kids were in and out, making trips to their lockers, the guidance counselor, and other random places to get their check out sheets signed. As "chaos" ensued around me, I just sat back and watched. It was surreal looking at these students and thinking back on the great memories. After the stress of moving and summer school wears off, I will take some time to sit back and reflect even more on my last 4 years of education.
Just off the top of my head, I can say that I have grown immensely as an educator while being here in Ogallala. I have made my share of colossal mistakes and have had many opportunities to experience success. I don't think a lot of people truly understand what it means to teach, how it feels to teach. I am constantly second guessing and looking back on decisions I make. What I have REALLY come to realize in my time in Ogallala is that even though I make a decision for what I feel is the best for the students, not everybody else will agree with that. I am slowly coming to the realization that people are going to be upset with me. People are not always going to like what I am doing or how I handle a situation. Sometimes that is just life. What is important is that I constantly reflect on the outcome and how I handled the situation. I can also say that the past 4 years have helped me to realize how much I truly love working with youth. Their energy and personalities are so contagious and they teach me so much every day.
I also learned that sometimes traditions are good, and sometimes they are not so good. I have begun some "traditions" with the OHS Choir department that I am excited to see continue. I also know that if it doesn't continue, then the director had a good reason to discontinue them. And if his reasoning is not legit...oh well. I say that because I know exactly what it is like to have to make decisions that others may not agree with. One tradition that I started...and ended...was the signing of the wall. One day I just decided it would be cool to let the students sign the wall of my office. Below are some pictures of my wall, and it is amazing how a simple signature and message really brings out each individual personality. These small things are what really make a difference to me! I hope you enjoy reading the messages (if it is big enough) and for those students who read this, thank you for giving a piece of you to me the past 4 years...I truly appreciate it!
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
OMS Choir Concert
So it is over. Tonight was my last time that I will get to share the stage with the youth of Ogallala. After 4 wonderful years at Ogallala, tonight I conducted the OMS choirs for the last time. To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm going to write. I'm not sure what the purpose of this post is, but I feel that after tonight I owed it to my students to post something.
First off, I need to say that I LOVE working with middle schoolers...most of the time. When one goes through college for education, very little time and effort is spent on middle school education. It is kind of that area that everybody avoids. "Nobody" understands middle school kids. They are unpredictable, stinky, emotionally unstable...They are also forgiving, hard working and loyal.
For the last concert, I didn't expect anything from the middle school classes. Instead, they gave me multiple gifts. To better understand the gifts, I need to explain one of them. The giant ball is called a hoberman sphere, and I use it to teach dynamics. When we use it in class, the kids love it. I always whine that I wanted to buy the big 5 ft ball, but I was too cheap. Well tonight the show choir surprised me with an upgraded, large hoberman sphere (pictured below)
The last gift I can't share today, but hope to upload later. After the 8th grade choir was finished tonight, I began to call the rest of the groups up for our mass choir song. As I was talking, I was politely interrupted by some show choir members, who told me they had a gift. I was expecting to receive something like the above items, but this was different. They then proceeded to ask me to go down into the house and take a sit. As I went to take a seat, they all gathered around the piano and assumed a nice posed position. Once I sat, Mrs. Albee began playing and the show choir sang "For Good" from Wicked. I had never taught them this song. I had no idea that this was going to happen. These 28 middle school kids went above and beyond and learned this song to "gift" to me at this concert. They met at 7 in the morning on days we didn't have show choir. At times they would meet at a church, and other times they would meet at school. I felt SO appreciated when they sang this song. I didn't plan on becoming emotional at the concert, but this sign of respect and admiration pushed me over the edge. I really didn't know what kind of a difference I made to these kids, but the looks on their faces, the tears in their eyes said differently.
I could go on forever about how this single act has touched my life in a way I can't explain. It goes to show that it is important to stick it out. That even if you feel like you aren't making a difference, there is somebody who notices. Thank you to my students for showing their love and respect they have for me. Thank you to my MS kids for teaching me that it is okay to be yourself and show that you love music. Thank you to the parents for continually supporting their children and their love for singing. I can't wait to hear about all of the great things that are going to come from these students in the years to come!
First off, I need to say that I LOVE working with middle schoolers...most of the time. When one goes through college for education, very little time and effort is spent on middle school education. It is kind of that area that everybody avoids. "Nobody" understands middle school kids. They are unpredictable, stinky, emotionally unstable...They are also forgiving, hard working and loyal.
For the last concert, I didn't expect anything from the middle school classes. Instead, they gave me multiple gifts. To better understand the gifts, I need to explain one of them. The giant ball is called a hoberman sphere, and I use it to teach dynamics. When we use it in class, the kids love it. I always whine that I wanted to buy the big 5 ft ball, but I was too cheap. Well tonight the show choir surprised me with an upgraded, large hoberman sphere (pictured below)
The second gift was from one of my 7th grade students. Man does this kid have character. Every day, Timmy comes to my class and tells me that he likes my shirt. It doesn't matter WHAT I'm wearing, it is just his thing. So of course, of anything that Timmy could give me, it would be a shirt. This shirt is serves two purposes, because the students also enjoy the fact that I have no hair. Every day they find some kind of joke that includes baldness. Now some adults would argue that this is disrespectful, but I tell myself that their joking is a sign of approval, a sign of affection. That being said, Timmy used his wit to create the following t-shirt:
I could go on forever about how this single act has touched my life in a way I can't explain. It goes to show that it is important to stick it out. That even if you feel like you aren't making a difference, there is somebody who notices. Thank you to my students for showing their love and respect they have for me. Thank you to my MS kids for teaching me that it is okay to be yourself and show that you love music. Thank you to the parents for continually supporting their children and their love for singing. I can't wait to hear about all of the great things that are going to come from these students in the years to come!
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Bigger & Better...
Please...don't jump to conclusions until after you read the blog. This week God answered a prayer that many of our close friends and families were praying, and that is that a job would open up for me. On Friday, May 4th I had the opportunity to go to Omaha and interview for a vocal music position at Omaha Burke. Long story short, I received a phone call on Thursday from Human Resources and was asked if I was interested in being a Burke Bulldog. Of course I was overwhelmed with excitement and happily accepted the position.
After my adrenaline decreased, I took some time to email some of my colleagues and let them know of the change. One colleague emailed me back and said congratulations, and that I was off to bigger and better things. That phrase got me thinking..."bigger and better"...
I want to make sure people understand that bigger does NOT equal better! That has NEVER been my mindset. What opportunities I will gain from living in a large city/teaching in a small district will be offset by the things I will lose by NOT living in a small community. I believe better can be achieved regardless of size. I have seen and experienced greatness in communities of 650 and I have read stories of disappointment from communities of 500,000.
I guess my point is not to get caught up in the size or population of a location. Don't believe that this population has a direct relationship with the success. Measure success in growth! I believe that we all have opportunity to grow. I always tell my students that a stagnant lake will quickly start to smell like "poo" because it is not moving. I also believe strongly that you are either moving forward or backwards, and rarely do we simply maintain and not move. As my wife and I move out to Eastern Nebraska to start the next phase of our life, we will take many great lessons and memories with us that we have received from the wonderful community of Ogallala.
After my adrenaline decreased, I took some time to email some of my colleagues and let them know of the change. One colleague emailed me back and said congratulations, and that I was off to bigger and better things. That phrase got me thinking..."bigger and better"...
I want to make sure people understand that bigger does NOT equal better! That has NEVER been my mindset. What opportunities I will gain from living in a large city/teaching in a small district will be offset by the things I will lose by NOT living in a small community. I believe better can be achieved regardless of size. I have seen and experienced greatness in communities of 650 and I have read stories of disappointment from communities of 500,000.
I guess my point is not to get caught up in the size or population of a location. Don't believe that this population has a direct relationship with the success. Measure success in growth! I believe that we all have opportunity to grow. I always tell my students that a stagnant lake will quickly start to smell like "poo" because it is not moving. I also believe strongly that you are either moving forward or backwards, and rarely do we simply maintain and not move. As my wife and I move out to Eastern Nebraska to start the next phase of our life, we will take many great lessons and memories with us that we have received from the wonderful community of Ogallala.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Facing Your Addictions
I have a confession to make....I am an addict. I think that all people have addictions, some more harmful than others. For many who know me, you know what some of my "addictions" or "weaknesses" are. The people who TRULY understand my weaknesses include my wife and the employees of Lou Kraus Music. I am addicted to drums!
There, I said it! Happy now? Going through college, I was primarily a vocal focused music educator, and played in marching band for one semester. After I began teaching, I really found that I had a love for percussion instruments. Below are some pictures of drums that I have purchased for myself and/or for the school district at which I work. As a choral director, I think it is important that I find resources that help to enhance the performance of a piece, and often times that can be done with percussion.
I was first introduced to the cajon when Curtis Isaacson conducted the UNK Festival Choir. I was just amazed at what kind of sounds he could get out of a simple box. On the inside of the box are snares that can be turned on and off. It is very easy to emulate the sound of a trap set with this wonderful instrument, without all of the equipment of a trap set! The other great things about a cajon is that you can get anything from a cheap beginner model to an expensive professional model, to whatever fits your needs.
Second is the Djembe, of which I probably enjoy playing on the most. I am by no means amazing, but I just enjoy the opportunity to make music with my students. The Djembe can be used on a variety of styles, but most frequently appears in African pieces.
These are the only two instruments that I own, but I KNOW that as I continue to teach I will continue to grow my "arsenal" of instruments. My wife may not be a complete fan of this addiction, but I suppose it is better than crack cocaine ;)
So the lesson to learn is that we all have addictions, we just have to decide how we want those to factor into our lives. Do we want our addictions to rule us and control us, or do we use our addictions to enhance the enjoyment of our lives in a positive matter?
There, I said it! Happy now? Going through college, I was primarily a vocal focused music educator, and played in marching band for one semester. After I began teaching, I really found that I had a love for percussion instruments. Below are some pictures of drums that I have purchased for myself and/or for the school district at which I work. As a choral director, I think it is important that I find resources that help to enhance the performance of a piece, and often times that can be done with percussion.
 |
| Toca TCAJ-BW Cajon Drum |
 |
| Toca Mechanically Tuned Djembe 12" |
I was first introduced to the cajon when Curtis Isaacson conducted the UNK Festival Choir. I was just amazed at what kind of sounds he could get out of a simple box. On the inside of the box are snares that can be turned on and off. It is very easy to emulate the sound of a trap set with this wonderful instrument, without all of the equipment of a trap set! The other great things about a cajon is that you can get anything from a cheap beginner model to an expensive professional model, to whatever fits your needs.
Second is the Djembe, of which I probably enjoy playing on the most. I am by no means amazing, but I just enjoy the opportunity to make music with my students. The Djembe can be used on a variety of styles, but most frequently appears in African pieces.
These are the only two instruments that I own, but I KNOW that as I continue to teach I will continue to grow my "arsenal" of instruments. My wife may not be a complete fan of this addiction, but I suppose it is better than crack cocaine ;)
So the lesson to learn is that we all have addictions, we just have to decide how we want those to factor into our lives. Do we want our addictions to rule us and control us, or do we use our addictions to enhance the enjoyment of our lives in a positive matter?
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