First Week Out of the Way

Rocking...
8-25-07

Well, my first week as a seasoned veteran teacher (well, a second year teacher) has come to a close and I feel very good about it so far.

First off is the state of my room. It’s been remodeled! Well, not completely, but I’ve received new carpet and a new paint job. There’s an interesting back-story to this: I had put in a request for the work to be donw three months ago before school got out. I returned to Lake Village, visited my room, and noticed that nothing had happened. I had the same, gum covered floor. The same scuffed up walls with “Dawn loves Chad” written under the blackboard, and the same exposed air conditioner unit and heavy duty power cable just screaming “Dangle from me and get zapped!” Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.

I approached the assistant superintendent and told him that nothing had been done: no paint, no carpet, unsafe conditions. He told me they would take care of it. A week later, still nothing. Finally, a fellow teacher, a good friend and nearby trailer teacher (career orientation), is also a contractor. His room, similar to mine, was in bad need of a face lift. He offered to get his guys to fix up both of our rooms, and the school would pay him later.

So there I was, Sunday night, the day before school, with brand new carpet, a fresh paint smell, and all of my desks, file cabinets, and tables on one side of the room. In approximately 12 hours, my room would be invaded with children, and having my room set up for half of the class would not work. I called a friend and had him come help me out with moving my furniture in the sweltering heat (my air conditioner wasn’t working, and even though t was 7:00 p.m. we were still breaking heat records in Lake Village).

Monday arrived and I had an (almost) brand new room, a new set of students, and a new look on life. Walking into the school I was aware of the procedures, the staff, the way things were run. I knew how to clock in, how to make it easy to take role, and most importantly: I knew what I expected from my kids when they walked into my room.

A week later I now have a crew of minions. My 6^th graders follow instructions the first time, and when they don’t we re-do whatever it was I instructed. Things like lining up and coming into class have become ridiculously easy, and now the real challenge isn’t classroom management, but how to get my kids to learn! Amazing! It’s a big difference moving from not worrying about behavior to knowing your kids will follow instructions.

I also have two choirs this year, an all girls middle school choir and a mixed high school choir. Luckily all of the students in these choirs want to be in class, so this will make a huge difference from last year. I’m still working on my confidence in front of the groups, but the training I received this past summer coupled with a year under my belt has already made a world of difference.

For both classes this week it has been logistical stuff: procedures, operations, warm-ups, rules, etc., and throughout all of this I’ve noticed that I’m asking more questions and am definitely more aware of myself and what I say in class. Last year I lectured a lot without engaging my speakers. This year I ask them questions all the time. If I say “This rule is here” I ask “why do you think I have it? Does anyone think this rule does not make any sense? You might think ‘No talking? That won’t do anything.’ Tell me.’” It’s been going well so far, but maybe I’m just in the magical “honey moon” period of teaching. Or…maybe I’ve finally found the balance between strict and too strict. We’ll see.

Overall I feel great. I’m posting this on a Sunday night and I don’t have the impending sense of doom that usually felt before a school week. I’m energized, excited, and ready to get some kids to learn music.

Hope all is well at home. Scroll below for pictures of my classroom!

Cheers,

-Nate
“See, everybody is somebody, but nobody wants to be themselves. And if I ever wanted to understand me, I’d have to talk to someone else.” Gnarls Barkley

Epic Journey

Education.

Well, I arrived to Fargo late and made it into my dorm room just fine after taking the cab. It was nothing like the movie, then again, I’ve never seen the movie. People do talk funny up there though.

I spent the next five days in Moorehead, Minnesota which is right across the river from Fargo at Concordia College. It was here that I attended the Rene Clausen choral school. This has probably been the best thing that I’ve done in awhile as far as getting myself geared up to be a better teacher. I was surrounded by people who were talented musicians in their own right and who were all committed to music and specifically choral education at all education levels. The workshop was led by Rene Clausen, who is the choral conductor for the Concordia choir, a world-class choir renowned for its beauty and tone. Also leading lectures was Anton Armstrong, the director of the also renowned St. Olaf choir and Craig Arnold, director of the Luther College Choir (which goes under a name I’ve forgotten at the moment. I think they’re the Nordic Singers).

Anywho, each one of these directors gave me valuable insight into the profession that I’ve fallen into. I have learned how to disseminate scores, the basics of conducting, how to pick music, what resources I need to get my hands on to know about warm-ups, better strategies for teaching sight-reading. Most insightful was a lecture on the proper way of performing African American spirituals and their significance from Anton Armstrong. I’m more convinced than ever that our concert on the 22^nd will be a wonderful opportunity for my kids to show what they can do and to celebrate the diverse contributions that came from such dire and terrible conditions. It is in the spirituals that we find the most genuine and humble proclamations of the Christian faith, and I would argue all of the good aspects of Christianity: love thy neighbor, humbleness, and a strong hopebecause of and thanks to faith. I’ve also tapped into a valuable network of choral conductors from around the country whom I can go to if I have any questions. It was an amazing experience and I’m glad I had the opportunity to participate.

Following the choral school I realized why Amtrak isn’t exactly the most lauded form of transportation in America. I had a scheduled 2:30 a.m. departure from Fargo to Columbus, Wisconsin where Uncle Tom and Aunt Nancy were to pick me up. Deciding to get there a little early, I grabbed a cab at 2 and arrived at the station on time. To my dismay, the white board at the front of the window read that the train would be in around 6 a.m. Four hours late. Luckily the lobby was a people-watchers delight, and my gameboy DS kept me company along with my newly acquired choir teacher materials.

I spent the next five days with Uncle Tom and Aunt Nancy at their lake house in Lake Mills, Wisconsin where I got to see (again) most of mom’s side of the family. It was wonderful. I always enjoy reconnecting with family, and I enjoyed sitting with quality Wisconsin beer (Linenkugel=amazing), good cheese curds (which I accidentally left in the fridge), and my new copy of Harry Potter, which I held off on finishing for my train ride back to Greenwood, and then managed to leave in Aunt Nancy's car as she left the train station (only 200 pages to go). While at Lake Mills I also got to play on Uncle Tom’s jet ski, which I’m very good at riding and falling off of, but I still can’t figure out how to get back on the damn thing without someone yelling “are you ok?” and then keeping it balanced while I haul myself back up. Fun.

So a special thanks goes out to Uncle Tom and Aunt Nancy, who were wonderfully kind in letting me stay with them and picking me up/dropping me off where I needed to go. I’m now back on the train, this time heading south to Greenwood, Mississippi. The city I’ve known in my youth as a mythical place, Chicago, is on the left side of the train and the sky is red with the recently set sun. I think I’ve done a good job making the most of this summer.

Cheers,

-Nate

“Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me oh Lord. Standin’ in the need of prayer.” –Old Spiritual.

On the Open Track

(This post consists primarily of random thoughts on my journey to Fargo including: reflections of home, reflections on train travel, and random ramblings).

Well, coming home again has been an amazing experience as it was back during Winter Break. I’ll give a quick recap of all I did in the short amount of time I was back in Washington:

I first arrived in Spokane via airplane thanks to my friend Jim Lundy giving me a ride to Little Rock, so special thanks to Jim. I got into Spokane around 11 Monday night and immediately left for the West side the next morning to meet up with my friends Chad and Jilian to spend the Fourth of July on Orcas Island. It was amazingly beautiful, and I spent a couple of nights on Orcas in near perfect weather at a house literally on top of a mountain with an amazing view of the sound, the Olympics, and the neighboring islands. Upon returning to Seattle I stayed at Jilian’s and helped entertain some of her friends that came into town from Minnesota who turned out to be really cool and I enjoyed seeing the touristy sights of Seattle (Pikes Place, Snoqualmie Falls, etc.). I also learned I don’t have the guts to cliff jump to this day, which is unfortunate as I missed an opportunity to really show off my latent masculinity: “Look at me! I can jump off of high cliffs into water! I’m really cool!”

Jilian and I hit the road after that to visit Aunt Annie and our friends in Walla Walla. I didn’t get a chance to head to campus but I did have a great time visiting our old favorite bar, the “Green” and partaking in Aunt Annie’s famous breakfast.

After that I headed back to Harrington for a few days. While home I got to catch up with my two good friends Brian and Adam, and invariably found myself staying up entirely too late with Adam playing Wii sports. Whenever I come home to visit Adam very few things change, and us staying up late playing video games will probably happen until we’re both old men. Anna, Collin, Mom, Dad and I all went out to the bars on Wednesday night and Jilian had to return back to the west side via Amtrak. I also got to meet up with Mr. Peterson and talk about education and my old high school. Apparently we’re getting a new principal and a few of the older teachers from my school are starting to move out or retire.

I then got the urge to head back to Seattle one last time to visit a certain someone, which I did again and enjoyed. Highlights included seeing my friends Gareth, Tyler, Gracielle, and Andrew, most of whom I haven’t seen since Christmas. We watched Harry Potter at the Imax in 3D as well, which was a lot of fun. The screen and surround sound system definitely make a difference, although I wasn’t a big enough Harry Potter geek to dress up in costume or get all of the jokes in the movie.

Upon returning back to Harrington I got a warm welcome from my parents and we had a picnic at the park with all of our close proximity Fitzpatrick relatives featuring Dad’s burnt barbeque chicken and mom’s famous ribs. All in all a great time.

And now I’m currently typing this blog in the coach car of the Empire Builder on my way to Fargo, N.D. where I’ll take a cab to the Concordia College campus for my choir director’s school. So far my impressions of the train have been good: the staff are very friendly, but the people who actually take the train are rubbing me the wrong way. Well, maybe just the guy behind me anyway. At around 2 a.m., when I boarded the train, everyone in the coach was asleep except for the guy behind me, who decided to answer his cell phone and reply, quite loudly, “Hey, F you! I’m in Fin Spokane, mother F’er.” Great. Later this morning apparently the dvd he was watching on his laptop was funny because his giggles kept me from sleeping the extra four hours I probably needed. Lastly, the man talked to himself. Now granted, I talk to myself quite a bit, especially when driving and let a few expletives out especially while I’m driving, but I look at a train as sort of a public place, and try to keep that behavior to a minimum. I guess he’s been the only eccentric one so far, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled. Oh, right now he’s listening to System of a Down’s number one hit, Toxicity. How do I know? He’s singing it! I hope he’s getting off at Whitefish.

The land around the train is beautiful though and the weather is great. We’re going through the best parts of Montana at the moment though I’m kicking myself because I forgot to get headphones. There’s got to be a spot somewhere to pick them up.

I’m now writing probably about 120 miles or so east of Glacier National Park, the most scenic part of the journey and also the part that I decided to sleep through. My raucous train-car neighbor had been replaced with two gossiping 14 year olds but now a quiet lady sits behind me so the stars have finally aligned in my favor.

Another neat thing that they’re doing on the train is allowing a band of wandering musicians to play in the lounge car. No kidding. They have a fiddle player and a guitar player that play bluegrass and country, right in the car. I’m now hanging out in the lounge car waiting for more hits as we cruise through the flat Montana prairie. The sky isn’t very clear due to all of the forest fires, but it’s still a nice day.

Cheers,

-Nate

“Well I’m driving out west on I-90, yeah I’m going to see my baby. She’s waiting for me in the land of sea and rain.”-Me