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Happy Friday!

We are full on into the last stretch of school and boy it feels good. I have a lot of wrapping up to do but just to see and feel the light at the end of the tunnel is amazing. I am feeling very celebratory that I finished my first year as a full time, middle school band director with lots of successes. Hopefully I make my job sound super easy and fun but there are frustrations, long hours, bad attitudes from students, tough parent phone calls and tears in my office. 

I just got back from our annual band director's conference and the end of the year is such a good time to attend. It is always a good time for reflection on the past year and ways to make changes for the new year. One things for sure about teaching is that there are never a shortage of opportunities for growth and change! Several sessions talked about building pride in your program and how the director is really the one who sets the climate for the whole program. Sometimes I lose sight of how much impact I have with my students and it is my goal to keep it in the front of my mind. Everyone knows how good it feels when someone tells them "they did awesome!" and they mean it- I have the opportunities every day to make 130 students feel good about themselves and that is a big job that needs to take seriously. Of course my students are probably not going to be professionals or music teachers, but by being in my program they can become better people and lead better lives, just like music as done for me. It is so hard to remember all this when you are in the trenches but I think that band directors do have important jobs! :o) 

Anyway, we've been watching movies in band to celebrate the end of the year and I chose Mamma Mia and Les Miserables since we played selections from those at our concert (Mamma Mia for 7th and Les Miserables for 8th, after a note was sent home for parental approval because well, it is PG 13). I have found out that maybe middle school boys do not find those to be their favorite musicals (even though I think the do secretly like Mamma Mia). So I browsed Amazon again for some more movies to add to my viewing library and came up with these ones:

One boy actually said, "we should watch Newsies!" so guess what? Now I have it! I also picked two marching band ones since we do it in 8th grade and then West Side Story since I think we might play the music from that next year. I don't watch a ton of movies in class but they are so much easier to hand to a sub rather than try and find a lesson for kids to do that doesn't involve playing when I am gone. I also noticed that if the movie is something I am enthusiastic about, the kids also get into it. My 6th graders were not really getting into Fantasia until I started chiming in "Do you hear the low brass? See how they use those instruments to make it seem creepy? Don't our tubas sound creepy, too? What makes the sparkle sound? Do you hear the cymbal crash to sound like lightening?". It is like kids don't even know what is neat until you tell them that it is. 

Michael has been getting up super early lately and so we've been squeezing in some extra snuggle time in the mornings! 

This weekend we are busy planting, planting, planting! I've been running around the last two afternoons getting all my plants and today we will get them in. I am looking forward to having some color back in my yard and watching things grow! I may have gone a little overboard on the petunias but I found them for a great price at Menards and they can make such a big impact for very little care in my landscaping. They are my best keep secret (that is really not a secret!). 

Also, for any blog followers that don't know me in real life or follow me on facebook- Scott and I are expecting twin baby girls in September! 

I will be talking about this much more in the future but wanted to share it with you just to get the beans finally out. We are so blessed and are just out of our minds with excitement. God is good!

Have a great weekend!