End of Year Insanity - GO!!

So we're down to the last 9 weeks of this school year, and in case things weren't busy enough, I know without a doubt that my world will explode with activity until late June.

But it's all good, and I know this.  I've taken a step back from most of my out of school commitments for the past month, and that's been good for me.  Everything that is coming is all good stuff - remind me of that in about 5 weeks or so!

I'll be returning to my usual weekly rehearsal and concert schedule with the Heart of Texas Concert Band next week...gearing up for what will be a super amazing summer concert schedule, including a performance at the Texas Bandmasters' Association conference in late July.  I haven't seen my friends there in a little over a month, and I'm ready to go back!

After next week I will only have 2 more PTA performances for the year, and both will feature the choirs at my campuses - hallelujah!  At one of my campuses, getting students to show up for those performances is like pulling teeth...their PTA is new and so there is not a strong tradition of doing this, and I don't have a lot of support from the other teachers and parents in getting the kiddos there.  I know my fellow teachers have other things on their minds though, so I am understanding.  I wish they would lend more of a hand, but it probably won't really happen until next year.  All good things take time, and Rome wasn't built in a day, I suppose.  I'll still be happy to reach the first week of May and be done with those PTA performances until the fall.  Even a mediocre production takes a lot of work on my part, in and out of class.

That same campus where the PTA tradition is still trying to get off the ground, DOES have a strong musical performance tradition though - a full campus concert at the middle school they primarily feed into.  They do this twice a year, once in December and again in May.  Getting just under 400 children ready to sing on the same night?  Nearly drove me crazy going into Christmas, but I think I'm better prepared to tackle this after having done it once.  Time will tell.

Then there are my two private clarinet lesson kiddos - who are super low stress for me, but it still takes up some of my evening time two nights a week, when otherwise I might want to be home already.

STAAR testing still has one more week yet...we had the first round of major testing at the end of March, and the other half will be the last week of this month.  Major testing invariably disrupts my normal class schedule, even though my direct involvement is comparatively minimal to other people on campus.

Aside from testing, there are also the myriad assemblies, field days, and field trips that are taken during the last quarter of the year...and just trying to figure out exactly how many lessons each class has remaining can make my head spin sometimes, especially when I KNOW that there are things that haven't made it to the calendar yet, but are sure to affect how much teaching I can accomplish in the time we have left!

Here we GO!!