But wait...THERE'S MORE!!

“Finish what you start, even when it’s tough- that’s grit. Climb that mountain- you might fall, but just stick with it!”

-Excerpt from the Growth Mindset rap we teachers wrote at the Juneau Basic Arts Institute last summer, when I first started my journey. :)

First of all, if you have ever seen any infomercial, my post title should be read with that exact tone of voice. ;) Shout-out to Steve Balderston, who does a pretty killer impression of a telemarketer with this phrase!!!

All our cute JAMM cellists at UAS Egan Library on Saturday!

So, I am sorry that my post is super late this week! Some pretty big things happened in the last 10 or so days, so I have lots to write about!

Let’s just break it down by the various events.

First, my teacher work sample is finished!! I turned in this final assignment before the deadline so I could focus on my school lesson plans and the cello ensemble concert. It felt great to compile all my findings from my unit plan in one place and share what I have learned through this five-week journey. My students continue to present their final projects, which are slideshows with pictures, a jazz song, and a script read over it. Although it was a lot of work to teach the kids how to use the technology required for the project, it was so worth it. Their classroom teacher (who is incredibly kind and helpful- I could not have done this unit so smoothly without her!) even commented that the final project was so engaging and motivating for her class; she gave students time in class to work on it, and they really got into finding fun photos to capture their stories about music.

That was Wednesday. Now, Friday was a busy day: Sophia and I were subbing for Lorrie, and we were tasked with removing all 50+ chairs and 25+ stands from the music room, making sure each was labeled for the cello ensemble concert at UAS. Thankfully, Meghan, my standpartner in the Symphony and cello teacher colleague at GV who also arranged this entire epic concert, put in a work order with the district for them to move the chairs and stands to the UAS library where the concert was. So all we needed to do was have them ready to go! Maintenance came and picked them up, and we made sure all the cellists also packed up their instruments before the end of the day. In addition to that, the quartet had a sneaky surprise cooking on Friday: we wanted to do something special to thank one of our fabulous kindergarten teachers who actually helped start JAMM at Glacier Valley and has been a faithful, integral volunteer with JAMM ever since. She is retiring at the end of this year, so we and the students put together a homemade gift to thank her for everything and wish her well. But we also wanted to thank Lorrie for all the incredible work she has done, and our fifth graders who were the first class of JAMM students and are now moving on to middle school wanted to take part in her gift in a big way. So we wrote a short song to a familiar tune, “Beautiful Skies” from the Mark O’Connor music methods books for Lorrie and gave her a homemade gift as well. Check out our song for her here. The kids meant every word, and it was very special. :)

Then, the cello ensemble concert! Meghan and I arrived at UAS at 9:30am to set up all 50 chairs and their stands for the second grade through adult-aged cellists performing. Then, came the Juneau Symphony cello choir rehearsal at 11. We rehearsed until 1, when students started arriving! Everything was back-to-back, and of course, when the concert began, time just seemed to fly by. The Juneau Symphony cello choir tackled a big goal of putting together 9 pieces, performed by 9 cellists together. The music ranged from tangos, to hymns, to “classical classics”, if you will. The performance could not have gone smoother, especially since the dress rehearsal was pretty rough and stress-filled (isn’t that always the case?!)! Check out one of our pieces, Oblivion, here.

The Scholarship for Strings concert featured over 50 cellists from our community. It was so special!

Then, all our JAMM cellists from Glacier Valley, Auke Bay, and Riverbend elementary schools joined us, in addition to some of our middle and high school cellists from the district. Together, we performed five pieces. Here’s one. :) It was glorious to have over 50 cellists from ages seven to over sixty playing music together. And it was a great fundraiser for the MAT scholarship fund for our next group of teaching artists coming in. I haven’t heard the total amount raised yet, but every chair was filled, and people were standing in the back. So, that’s a good sign!!

Many appreciative thank you’s were said, and I walked home with delicious chocolates and multiple bouquets of beautiful flowers. People in Juneau sure know how to be appreciative of one another, and I felt so grateful for that and for everyone’s hard work to make that event possible. :)

That night, I actually chaperoned Prom for Thunder Mountain!! It was held at a nice hotel downtown called the Baranof, and it was a blast. I mostly did it to get to know the other teachers and students at TM who I never see, since Sophia and I are tucked back in the orchestra/choir/band hallway and leave the building halfway through the day. The other teachers were awesome and hilarious, and the kids were so mature and respectful of one another and the chaperones. It was a fun night!

We did it!! I, Sophia, and Heidi are pictured here. Lindsay began the program late
and can choose to walk in the graduation next year. :)

And then, graduation!!! I got up on Sunday, went to church pretty exhausted after staying out late, and headed over the the UAS recreation center for graduation. The ceremony was so uniquely Alaskan: there were decorations all over the walls with form line design and the UAS logo, and we processed in to Alaska Native dancers and drummers performing. It was amazing! Multiple speeches were made, and I was pretty cold by the time they asked the graduates to stand up and wait to walk onto the stage. I was standing next to Sophia and Heidi and a few other MAT colleagues whom I had actually never met in person but had heard in class every Thursday. How crazy! The nerves and excitement were built up for us all as we walked up the ramp to the stage. And then, the cameraman handed his camera to the guy next to me (who I knew from class) and told us we could take some group selfies as we walked up. We not only did that, but the MAT graduate holding the camera proceeded to take selfies as his name was called, he was hooded with his Master’s hood, and he walked across the stage. It was hilarious! It was truly a special moment to stand up on that stage and hear my name called, attached with a “Master of Arts in Teaching” at the end. I was beaming as I bent down to have my hood put on me, and I continued to smile as I shook the hands of all the men standing on the stage (why were there only men, I do not know! Especially since ⅔ of UAS graduates are female, apparently!). I walked off and returned to my seat, full of pride. The ceremony ended, and I joined Eric and Teri, Lorrie, and the other girls for hugs, flowers, and a photoshoot! It was still very exciting and shocking what had just happened. As the photos continued, it began to hit me, though, that my family is usually all here with me for these big events. And while they were all diligently watching online and taking every screenshot of me they could, it didn’t feel the same. I reminded myself of all the times they have been there for me and felt very grateful for those who are with me in Alaska, cheering me on. Eric and Teri took me out to dinner, and the celebrations continued throughout the evening.

Sunday was full of many emotions: excitement, pride, nostalgia, and joy. But Monday...that was a whole other ball park of emotions! The exhaustion of staying up late working on my teacher work sample, rehearsing for the cello ensemble concert, chaperoning Prom, and spending time with friends, definitely took a toll, and I was a complete ghost by Monday. I also began to wonder if choosing to walk in graduation was the best thing for me, mentally and emotionally. To celebrate a close of a chapter and still continue writing that very chapter the following day just felt wrong. By Monday night, I was feeling like I really needed a break. Thankfully, I had supporters around me who understood, and the load was slightly lifted the next day, which helped my transition back into my 13-hour Tuesday’s go smoother. Sophia and I got together after we taught our private lessons and watched the sun set over Auke Bay, eating ice cream and giggling loudly about who know’s what (we were both deliriously tired), and we finished off the night with a movie.

And the final big event of the week was the final JAMM informance over the year, which was yesterday! It was a special, tear-filled time of celebrating all our students, JoAnn (our kindergarten teacher), and Lorrie. Showing our surprise video for Lorrie worked out great, and I was so relieved to have that secret out of the bag! In addition to the homemade gift for JoAnn, our chamber group had been working on the Star Wars theme song, which we performed for her in the dark with “light saber bows” (which were actually glow sticks taped to bows- it looked awesome!). So we concluded the informance with the Star Wars surprise, and it was epic. Pictures and videos will be posted on Facebook as soon as they become available!

As the week wraps up, I have gotten many congratulations from people. Tyree announced to the orchestra on Monday that we graduated with our Master’s degrees and revealed to our students all that Sophia and I have been doing this year: conducting the orchestras, teaching other classes at TM, teaching music at GV and with JAMM, and taking online classes to earn our Masters. They seemed pretty surprised! I think our students don’t always realize all that teachers do, but I also think we don’t always realize everything they do! The librarian with whom I team-teach for my unit plan announced the same thing to my fourth graders, and they were so happy for me. I told them the best gift they could give me was a picture of me with all of them, so that’s exactly what we did. It’s my new lock screen photo, and it makes me happy. :) A couple of my private students gave me gifts to congratulate me as well, thanking me for my work with them. These tiny things make me realize that I am definitely happy I walked for graduation and that I am very loved here. It means a lot to me. The best gift of all that I received this week, though, came from one of my unit plan fourth graders. He is one of the sweetest, most helpful students at Glacier Valley, and he also came to the cello ensemble concert this weekend. He came up to me nervously at the end of class this week, and said, “Miss Ruth...I wanted to let you know that I want to play the cello next year...because...I saw you play it this weekend, and you play it so well”. It just made my heart soar to hear that all the years in the practice room, all the nerve-wracking performances in studio class and the lessons I worked so hard to prepare for, inspired a young student to learn the instrument I play. Yay!!!

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been asked constantly what my plans are for next year. This weekend brought it to a whole new level- I was asked at least three times a day this weekend. It can be overwhelming, for sure. I have a few potential prospects in Juneau and elsewhere, and I am waiting to see what opens up and where I am accepted. I don’t want to officially announce anything through writing until I know, but those close to me are free to reach out! This next step will be a big one, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever feel ready for it. But I would definitely love to continue this Alaskan adventure, if I can help it!

Stay tuned for another post this weekend or later on in the week! I am now at blog post #38, which is hard to believe. :) Thank you to those who are still hanging in there, especially with longer posts like these. :)

Watching the sun set over Auke Bay! The sun doesn't set until 9pm in Juneau these days, and it is getting brighter, faster and faster. I don't know how I'll sleep with such beauty all around me this summer!