Blog Hiatus

It has been roughly 5 months since I have last blogged. I believe August 20th was the last day that I blogged. That roughly coincides with my first day at Burke...I'm sure there is no connection. In the past semester, there has been a lot going on. I am just going to use this first blog back to do a semester in review, and then HOPEFULLY blog more often. Honestly, the main reason I am back on the ol' blog is because I had the opportunity to see some old students this weekend, and one of them shared with me that I haven't blogged lately, and that I needed to get into a better habit. Thanks a bunch Micah...way to make me feel guilty. I also know that I will probably forget some key "happenings" from the past 5 months, so please forgive me if I don't include an event that you feel is important! Also, the organized part of me feels like this should be written in order of months...so here ya go.

August: August was a BUSY month. I didn't realize that starting a new job would entail so many meetings! I believe we had close to two full weeks of new teacher meetings, and then building specific meetings to follow. Man was I nervous for the first day with kids, but everything went smooth and I survived.

September: I really can't think of anything important that happened in September. I spent September continuing to become comfortable in my new position. At this point in the year, I was concerned with how easy/quick the transition would be for my students at Burke. I'm a very relational type of guy, and teaching kids I didn't have relationships with was hard. My show choir came around real quick as I believe a few team building exercises broke down their walls and opened them up. We also had the opportunity to perform at our Open House, and this helped get the show choir into gear quick.

October: In October I had my first Burke concert. To be completely honest, it went okay. The groups sang decent...not to where I would like for them to be, but that is life. On a positive note, I feel like the transition to how I "do" concerts went well. At Burke, we always seem to share concerts with some group, and on the first concert we had the Orchestra play, as well as some small groups/solos to help with transition. The audience was not huge, but the turn out was good. I had heard horror of mixed choir kids not coming, but only had a few no shows for the concert. This concept was new to me...and I hope that as I continue my time at Burke, this situation will become less frequent.

November: I had my first opportunity to take kids to All-State for choir. This year Burke had 3 students representing Burke. The whole all-state preparation/experience at Burke was interesting for the first time. At Ogallala, we hosted auditions..and I was very comfortable with the whole procedure. I had a fair amount of kids audition when I was at Ogallala, and I always felt like I knew where they were at preparation wise. At Burke, I didn't feel this way. I actually had a few kids not show up for auditions...NOT COOL! One struggle I have had so far with my students is follow through. On numerous accounts, kids have said they were going to do something only to back out and often times not even tell me. As my students in Ogallala know, this is something that I don't tolerate! Along with all-state, we had our auditions for the spring musical, "Thoroughly Modern Millie."

December: This month was BUSY! Our show choir goes out and performs in the public for different "holiday" gatherings. I believe we had 8 extra performances during the 2 weeks before winter break. Although this made for some long days, I loved it. It reminded me of the wonderful Singing Valentines Day trips I had with my Ogallala Students. I am inspired by how much those kids love to perform, and it was so much fun watching them. We had the opportunity to perform in a plethora of venues, ranging from the Joslyn Art Museam to the VFW.

January: It truly feels like January has been going on FOREVER. The FIRST day back from break, we began musical rehearsals. The show choir also performed the first day back, which meant I had the opportunity to be with students from 6:45 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Honestly, it hasn't felt like it has slowed down much since. We hit musical rehearsals hard, practicing from 3-6 Monday through Friday. On Saturdays I come back to school for 3 hours as the tech crew works on set design. Although it is a lot of time, I LOVE IT! The musical is February 28, March 1, and March 2...and I can't wait for this experience! This Saturday (January 26th) I had the opportunity to direct the Singing Youth of Nebraska Festival Choir in North Platte. This group consisted of 110 kids from 10 different schools in the North Platte area. What a blast! I was hesitant to follow through with the commitment, because for the 3 1/2 days leading up to the event I had NO VOICE! I survived through the day, and the concert was quite enjoyable. My only complaint is that the kids put in so much work, and then there is a 15 minute concert and it is all over. The kids performed well and I made sure to let them know that they were the best behaved festival choir that I have ever directed (and yes I have directed other festival choirs). Then after the concert Danielle and I went back to Ogallala to see some friends and stay the night. We caught up with friends, then went to McDonald's to have dessert with some of our old students. It was great catching up and hearing about all of their successes they have been having!

After writing that all down, I feel like I only talked about work...which feels like that is true. Adjusting to the new job has been an adventure to say the least, but it has been enjoyable. I will add another post reflecting on the first semester as a resident of Omaha...and what has been the biggest surprises and hardest things to deal with. Sorry for the verbal vomit of information, but I feel like I need to just get in the routine of putting my thoughts on page. Hopefully this is not a return blog that also becomes a blog that sits alone for another 5 months! Have a great rest of the weekend and a WONDERFUL week!