...And all of a sudden, I’m a teacher!

YAY! I seriously can’t believe it’s been just 9 days since I last wrote! Every week I am here has felt so long in the best way; it has definitely helped to have so many different educational opportunities week by week.

I greatly enjoyed my “first” First Friday experience! I walked around downtown with Sophia, and I had my first fish taco. It was from a food truck, and it was AMAZING! So fresh and delicious! We ran into some people we had met at the Institute, which was just another cool reminder that I’m living in a small, tight-knit community that is even tighter in its musical circles. We met some new people and have already had multiple offers for gigs as a group around the city! I think I might get more gigs here than I did in Chicago! It definitely helps to only have a few other cellists here. :P

Running downtown!

Last weekend was a relaxing one full of lots of sunlight and down time. I explored around downtown on Saturday on my own. I walked through the shops and participated in some fabulous people-watching as I watched the tourists lurk around in the touristy shops and on the streets. I ended up sitting for a couple hours in a park on the ocean and saw a bride and groom see each other for the first time!!! Ahh! And then I fell asleep. And then I got sunburned. No regrets, though!! Even though my calves are now a different shade from the rest of my legs. As I look at the forecast for the next ten days and see straight rain every day, I pat myself on my sunburned back for all the sun I have managed to get on those good days. On Sunday, I and the other girls saw the music classroom at Glacier Valley Elementary School (where we will be teaching regularly) for the first time and helped Lorrie clean it up and move things around. It was very exciting to be in there, where all the magic happens!!! And that magic is soon coming upon us...as in, this Thursday. Whoa. School starts this Thursday! But after this week, I feel much more prepared for it.

So I really loved the Juneau Basic Arts Institute because I learned a lot about teaching and implementing the arts and met some awesome teacher colleagues. This week, we got down to business and really honed in on music pedagogy. And, we gained unintentional teaching experience! Monday and Tuesday were spent in the Glacier Valley (GV) classroom all day, as Lorrie taught us different songs (including ones on the African drums!) and dances. We had great discussions, and Lorrie provided us with fabulous packets full of resources for music teachers. I now have copies of a lot of the lyrics and music of the songs she commonly uses. I also learned a lot about behavior management during those two days, which is just as important as teaching the content and is often harder! Lorrie’s big behavior management philosophy is “consequences with empathy”, which I absolutely love. Instead of scolding kids and making them feel like their behavior is their identity, she makes her expectations clear, and if students act up, she will be kind but firm with implementing those consequences. She also believes in not singling out students when they are engaging in smaller behavioral disturbances (such as talking while she is talking). Instead, she commends the students who are behaving properly and respectfully, thanking them for their quiet, attentive listening. And you know what- it totally works!!! After spending two days in the classroom, we were able to see Lorrie at work at a summer strings workshop for Juneau kids, ages 10-18. And while we thought we would spend those three days observing and then each teaching one percussion group class, we ended up teaching a lot! This was the first year of the workshop, and it became clear that more teachers were needed after a couple of classes on day one. And thankfully, we three fresh, new teachers were eager and totally willing to do whatever we could to help and gain more teaching experience! While it was a little surprising at first and definitely felt scary, I think it was actually better to show up that first day and find out that they would need me to lead a masterclass later that day. It gave me barely any time to freak out! And I got into that classroom full of 20 10-14ish-year olds and just owned it. I did not expect that, but I loved it, and I wasn’t the least bit nervous! And when I heard that the next day, I would no longer be co-teaching that class with the amazing violin teacher who was instrumental in JAMM’s success, Mr. Xia, I felt excited. Excited to spend an hour with 20 kids on my second day of teaching?! Yes, I am a little crazy. But I just love being with kids.

The compliment sandwich.

I also taught a percussion class and a lower strings technique class, but the masterclass felt like my shining glory because of what I did with the kids those next two days. I came up with the idea of creating a string version of American Idol for the kids, having three of them at a time be judges and allowing each student to perform if they wanted to. Not only did the kids completely love it (one of them told me I was the best masterclass teacher EVER...of course, I’m pretty sure that was his first masterclass experience...), but I think they learned important things about being a musician because of it. I focused on teaching the kids how to give helpful criticism to others by using the “compliment sandwich” (say a compliment, give a helpful criticism, and finish off with a nice compliment that will make the performer feel warm and fuzzy inside), and I talked with them about proper audience etiquette and how to have good stage presence. And I felt like I learned so much from that experience. I’m learning about myself as a teacher each time I lead in a classroom. On the second day of finishing American Idol, Lorrie and other teacher friends sat in on the class, and they were extremely helpful with pointing out behavioral/potential behavioral issues happening in the classroom. They were my other pairs of eyes, which helped a lot. The “having the eyes in the back of your head” skill is one I want to develop this year! And while I don’t want to be that terrifying teacher who always yells at the kids because I know what they’re doing all the time, I think it will be helpful to apply that idea of “consequences with empathy” by showing my students that respect can be a significant part of the classroom environment, if they learn to take responsibility for their actions and invest in their learning time. So those three days of applying what I learned the previous two days were extremely helpful for me. And at the end of each day, we would debrief with Lorrie about how we were feeling, and she gave us helpful comments and criticisms about how we taught the classes she observed. And even when she wasn’t in that particular class, she listened to us describe it and gave helpful feedback. Having her unending support has been a significant reason why I know this MAT program will work. I feel completely invested in and am completely, pleasantly surprised by the organization of this program thus far. Even though it’s in its first year, there really haven’t been many unexpected aspects, and I have never felt like this program is unclear or disorganized. I also really have felt that everything I have participated in at this point has been completely relevant and extremely helpful. I feel my teaching “toolbox” and my brain growing exponentially after every class!

And this week has another change of pace that will, I’m sure, be another huge learning experience for me that I previously mentioned: school starts for the kids! So I will be doing in-service the first three days of the week, being trained and preparing for school. I’m excited to meet the other teachers at school tomorrow. It’s just crazy to me that all of a sudden, I’m colleagues with these awesome teachers! I wonder if I get a cool lanyard and ID badge?! I’m a BIG KID NOW!!!! Ahhhhhh!!!!!! I will say that I looked at the schedule for this week and did not think about how early school starts for younger kids. So, having to be at school at 7:30am does sound a little like death and already makes me tired...but it’s so worth it. :) I walked away from the workshop that first day feeling completely energized and was all smiles, even though I had been with 40 kids from 8:30 to 3:30 that day. It’s all so worth it.

The salmon hatchery.

Also, praise the Lord for weekends. Having two complete days off has been such a gift. And by Friday, you’d better believe I was falling asleep if I ever had to sit still! That was sort of awkward when we were sitting in a circle around the kids as they performed in a final showcase, and I was facing all the students’ parents...OOPS. But I feel much better after a couple nights of longer sleep. Yesterday began with a fantastic tour led by one of our teaching colleagues of the local salmon hatchery. And the craziest thing- her dad brought that place into existence! She knew everything about it. And about salmon! I FINALLY learned about salmon and its different kinds, so I can check that off the list! AND….I SAW SEALS. That was my first seal-sighting. And while they just looked like slippery black lumps in the water, just knowing they were there got me so excited. So, thank you so much to Amy Jo for that wonderful tour! It was super fun. I then spent the afternoon on Sue’s back porch. :) And then I went for a run down the very same flume trail I never thought I would face again! I don’t know why, but I was just feeling inspired to face my fears again. I think it was the salmon. Plus, it was so nice out, and I didn’t really know where else I could have run...but it was amazing!!! I’m more adjusted to the idea of possibly seeing a bear and have been educated on what to do, so I felt fine about that. I really, really enjoyed running on the once-terrifying bridge. And the craziest thing- running takes significantly less time than walking! Who knew?! So I didn’t even have time to think about the scary waterfall or anything. I even sat on some rocks overlooking the waterfall at the trail entrance afterwards. Did I turn around every couple minutes to make sure I wasn’t about to become an afternoon bear snack? Yes. Did I have two possible escape routes planned out in my mind? YES. Boom. And then, we finally united with our final quartet member, Lindsay, last night! Her family had us over at their gorgeous cabin that is right on the ocean, and it was so nice. She is super sweet, and her family can COOK. I had fresh fish they had caught the day before, and we sight-read quartet music together. It was so great!!

The Mendenhall Quartet- Lindsay, Sophia, Heidi, and I
are the four UAS MAT students!

The Mendenhall Glacier!

And then today, I went to church for the third time and totally loved it. And then, I hiked to the glacier with the quartet girls, plus a few friends!!!! It was definitely one of those hikes that I really didn’t enjoy at the time, but now that I’m in bed in warm clothes and am showered, I’m feeling a lot better about it haha!!! It took us 4.5 hours, and it wasn’t super grueling. It was the terrain that completely freaked me out. We were walking on tight trails through creeks, scaling down large rock faces (definitely slipped and fell on one of those at the beginning! So I was obviously very excited to keep going for hours after that...haha), climbing up large rocky cliffs, and walking on mountainsides with plenty of loose rocks that could easily be my travel buddies in my plummet down the mountain. Maybe I am being dramatic, but for someone who still has very minimal hiking or really outdoors experience in general, it was scary!!! But my group was awesome, and I enjoyed making a lot of jokes about it all. They kept reassuring me that if I fell and broke something, a helicopter could come airlift us out. So I was excited about the prospect of having my first helicopter ride. However, I decided to avoid that scenario and enjoyed sitting down on the rocks as I slid down steep hills. A little butt-surfing never hurt anyone, right?! And then we finally got to the glacier and it was so worth it!!! It was amazing to be near something so huge and sort of gentle-looking. The way it sloped and curved, highlighted with deep aqua blues in its crevices, made it look so grand and inviting. I loved it. I also loved being there because that meant I was away from the possibility of slipping and falling for a few minutes. The hike back was significantly faster and less terrifying, so I felt good about it! But the moment I saw the parking lot, I started laughing joyously and raised my hands to the heavens. We had made it. Honestly, every time I come back from these hikes I feel incredibly thankful for God’s protection of my safety. Because you really never know, and I know that not everyone has returned from these hikes. It’s a sobering thought that always puts things into perspective when I get back in the car and return home. The hike was very hard on my knees, as we were taking large, heavy steps down rocky cliffs, so I am wondering how long I can stay in this bed before I become the star of the next hit reality tv show. Maybe it’ll be called, “The Girl Who Never Got out of Bed”. Nice and simple. But I am open to taking creative suggestions.

But yeah, enjoying the gorgeous nature here has been refreshing to my body and soul. I love sitting

Birthday pancakes!!

in nature. It makes my problems seem so small, but not in a diminishing or demeaning way. I look at the mountains and large streams and just feel God’s protection and love. I know that He is taking care of me as I am on this journey. And it’s really great because I really haven’t felt lonely that much since being here. I definitely miss my sense of “normal” and my loved ones, but He has totally provided with incredible people here. And that definitely hit me this past week because it was my birthday!! Even though it was on a weeknight and we had been in classes all day, Sophia and Heidi were amazing and helped me cook breakfast for dinner (one of my personal favorites). We had pancakes with candles and everything! I really enjoy just cooking together and talking. I then tried a “Duck Fart”, which is an Alaskan alcohol staple! It was pretty good, but the bartender had to mix it better because I could not do it like a shot, which is how it is intended to be. She looked at me and was like, “How old are you?!”. NO SHAME. We were hoping to do karaoke together that night as well, but it didn’t work out, so we are hoping to go another time! But it was a blast. And lo and behold, I got home that night to find a birthday present from my hostess, Sue, on my bed!!!! I felt incredibly loved. And having wonderful people at church and Lorrie has made it even greater. Ahh I love it here!

So, yeah! I got some good teaching experience this past week and am excited to be in the classroom more this week!!! I’m feeling very thankful- thankful to be here, to be with these people, to work with these kids, and to just be alive, especially after today!!!! As Lorrie would say, “YAY!!!!!”