#life of a teacher

[earnmysong]

me: *writes thousand-word-plus happy endings for various fictional favorites*

me: *tasked with spewing a thousand words, minimum, on aspirations and goals, including how my current skills along with doctoral studies of leadership and innovation will help to attain those goals*: ‘may i please have an Ed.D from marymount?’ OR ‘i’d like to identify the reason why my middle school building was renovated last year and i can’t access without assistance because some genius put the badge buzzer at the apex of a freaking corner and innovate the hell out of it’

neither suffice? OKAY THEN. i’ll ruminate.

[was my decision to actually apply brought on by one of my kids going ‘mr. j [my colleague], you don’t need a wheelchair because you’re a teacher’ today? who can say! butttt fuck yes! look, i understand this student’s parents wanted to send him to school with his cast and without the added hassle of a mobility aid. so they told him, essentially, wheelchairs are for the lesser, the weak. i get it. still. i’ve neverrrrr felt so salty at work before!]

[stingrayextraordinaire]

Another year, another group of my delightful ninth graders trying to spell the word "tragedy" for their Romeo and Juliet assignment.

Last year's collection

[carpethedamndiemdejavu]

- James Baldwin talking about Love

[fatima-ezzahra]

"Life is only good for studying and teaching mathematics."

[kitamars]

various trad doodles i made while i was supposed to be paying attention in class

[thepeacefulgarden]

[teawithswift]

I have had a cold this entire holiday period and I go back to work on Tuesday with all the kids and germs and I’m going to struggle if I’m not 100% healthy

[perfectquote]

I hope that you never, not even for one second, become a secondary character in your own story.

spanish teacher

[hiveswap]

[morganbritton132]

The cameras at the VMAs: *cut to Eddie Munson’s husband when he’s on stage to present an award*

Steve’s students, past and present, watching at home: Was that my math teacher??

[inmymomera]

2 weeks left of summer break 😫

[earnmysong]

3 & 11 for your YE meme!

thanksssss, friend!

musical artist i started listening to this year: the only person who fits this description is dua lipa! all other regulars in the rotation are old friends. ever since 'barbie', though, dua and i are well-acquainted and i have high hopes for the future! not to mention, i adore her current hair color an inordinate amount!

something i want to do again next year: i did a really cool lesson on how nature can positively impact anxiety and stress for my work-ready kids last spring. we finished off by making bird feeders out of cardboard tubes, honey, and seeds. everything ran super smoothly, the kids were engaged the whole time, and i'm looking forward to the sequel come march or april. [i don't typically recycle many lessons, but this is definitely worth making an exception!]

[stingrayextraordinaire]

My students’ adventures in trying to spell “tragedy” for their Romeo and Juliet quiz.

[lazylittledragon]

i will never have this attitude to anything else in any part of life but i did not down monster and coffee and sit in my university library all night and experience rollercoaster level anxiety on the countdown to last submissions just so people can write their essays with chatgpt

[ohitslen]

Average university experience

[kingofthewilderwest]

Viola is the most gorgeous-sounding instrument on the planet, but how I became a violist in music school is one of the dumber sets of circumstances I’ve had in music life. You’ve heard of the violinist to violist pipeline? Get ready for… another level beyond THAT.

Guys, I’m a flautist.

And I’m not, like, a slouch on flute? I’m no queen toot toot but I know which end you blow out of. In high school, I was competitive. Nothing extraordinary, but I did all the honor ensembles and made first chair flute All State Orchestra. Ahhh, the memories! XD

I came into my freshman year of college as a philosophy and linguistics double-major, then quickly realized I NEEEEDED formal music again. I was crawling up the walls. I was writhing on the floors. I was ready to eat wallpaper. I was prepared to do anything to get back into the music world.

So in my sophomore year I added music composition as a degree.

I auditioned in with piano and flute as my mains. In addition to the private composition lessons, I was signed up for private piano lessons (flute slots were limited to people getting a degree in flute - understandable enough).

But then came ensemble requirements. Something you’d think would be the easiest and most flexible thing to take care of. This was a good school. Please, not Curtis or Julliard or a conservatory or something, but a good school. We had LOTS of ensembles. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, grab an ensemble and go, right?

Naw.

To graduate, we had to enroll in one ensemble every semester. You couldn’t double up to complete the requirement faster and it had to be on your primary instrument. I was already at a disadvantage because I was doing the degree in three years. Thankfulllly, thankfully, the administration gave me an exception and allowed me to double up for credits.

Didn’t solve all my issues, though. Because here’s the thing: everyone in the flute studio could play circles around me. A composition major without flute instruction is not going to be able to compete with a performance major learning from some of the best people in the country.

So. By their own rules. I could neither get lessons on my primary nor would I have the chance of auditioning into a single ensemble on my primary.

This meant the only ensemble I could get into was the non-audition, lowest tier band. And because there was marching band during fall semesters, that meant the lowest tier band only met in the spring. So that gave me… 3 out of the 8 ensemble credits I needed on my primary.

And I’m looking at the administration, like, “Dudes, you have to work with me. Not getting my degree because I can’t get a few 1 credit ensemble courses is bat guano.” But my other primary, piano, was even more limited for ensemble credit options. What to do? What to do?

Well. In high school. I had a viola teacher. Sort of. I mean, I dated her. She offered to teach me viola during the summers, I paid her a little cash, and we more often than not paid attention to the viola before paying attention to other matters.

Humorous description aside, we were classmates in the same grade. We just happened to make a viola lesson arrangement within our broader relationship. This wasn't the only time we made such arrangements; I later taught her younger sister flute. And like, lessons were a convenient way to meet regularly without our families cuing in on our non-viola relationship.

We had a nasty falling out. So nasty. We were dumb. I was dumb. Don’t need to get into details. But I got two summers’ worth of viola lessons out of this and I owned a cheap@$$ viola I bought secondhand for $100 USD.

So. With my grand total of less than a year of “formal” [cough] viola instruction, where I could barely aim my bow at the correct string, I suggested This Great Music College should accept viola for my ensemble credits. Then I could enroll in the non-audition orchestra. Which, unlike its band counterpart, DID meet every semester. So, between the 3 ensemble credits for band and the 6 ensemble credits of orchestra, I COULD get my required 8+ credits acquired.

This plan was agreed upon.

So now I’m a flautist officially turned violist. A viola-approximate pestilence they can’t get rid of. Every semester they have to hear my yowling and know this is the grave of their own making. We must lie in it. I am second desk viola, not because of merit, but because I’m a music major, and I guess that meant I got preference. I did their optional chair auditions, they accepted that as "good enough," now here I am near the front. I am not where I should be. At all. Last year I was playing the flute solo of Dvorak's Eighth. Now I'm on Dvorak's Eighth near the front of the violas. What.

My problems were ended, though, right? I got what I wanted, right?

Well. There’s one final stupidity in this venture.

You see..... my “viola teacher.” My ex-partner. My now-turned-enemy. Had also enrolled in this college.

And was our section leader.