Gimme a Break

It's the second day of Fall Break here in West Texas and it couldn't have come at a better time. I definitely need the rest! I'm looking forward to enjoying a few days with no classes or lessons to plan. I have to admit that I'm a little bummed that I wasn't able to fit in my annual pilgrimage to Malibu for the short holiday. Looking back over social media posts from past October visits has definitely reminded me of the adventures, love, and laughter of SoCal. Thankfully I'll get to make a brief visit in January for a brother's wedding. It won't quite be like the October adventures, but it will be a needed opportunity to connect with cherished friends again.

Since I'm not traveling this Fall Break, I've made plans for my stay-cation instead. The biggest thing on my agenda is lots of sleep in preparation for production week of Little Shop of Horrors. Besides that, I'll be catching up on some television and reading while avoiding practicing for a few days. I am considering a day trip to Amarillo to visit an art museum....but we will see how that pans out. All I know right now is that the couch feels glorious, so I'm gonna curl up with my book again and pass a few days as leisurely as possible!

 

Ready or Not....

Students are roaming the halls. A cacophony of sound fills the air again. Introductory lessons are being presented and lesson times are being scheduled. Private practice sessions and ensemble rehearsals are in full swing. That's right.....the fall semester of classes are finally underway in the School of Music at WBU.

Professors have been preparing for this moment for a few weeks. Faculty and student schedules alike are quickly becoming packed, but we wouldn't have it any other way. It's a privilege to get to do what we love -- make music! There's so much excitement and expectation in the air that you can feel the electricity.

I will stand before my first classes of the semester tomorrow morning. That means I get to ease into the new semester -- making last minute changes to my schedule, observing the new students, and reconnecting with those returning. The first day of school is always filled with so much potential. We don't know exactly what this school year has in store, but we're all excited to start riding this wave together. Now, let's just see what's going to happen.....

Paperwork is the Pits!

I absolutely love making music. I love getting to work with young students and presenting performances to showcase their hard work and talent. I love the fact that I get paid to make music daily. However, I hate filling out paperwork in order to get paid.

Let me give you a little background before I launch into this rant. I have been contracted to accompany a few instrumental students from Plainview High School for an upcoming competition this weekend. I did some similar work for another area high school a few weeks back as well. For that school, I simply had to provide my social security number and my fee; a check was cut and sent right away. That's the situation that I am used to when working as a contracted professional in high schools in Arkansas, Tennessee, California, and now -- Texas.

But wait! Plainview is going to need additional information. I spent a significant chunk of my lunch hour filling out a part-time job application -- did I mention that this job will involve a total of 8 hours of work by the time the contest is over? -- that was PAGES UPON PAGES in length. Come on! Do I really need to decline health insurance? How many times must I declare that I am a U.S. citizen? I understand that much of this is mandated by the federal government, but I find myself wondering if my short-term involvement actually requires all of this. Based on the comments of the employees that were trying to get all of the paperwork together, they were not entirely sure that it was necessary.....but their supervisors demanded it be done, so here we are. My work with the school district will most likely be done before this mass of paperwork is actually processed! This is insane! No wonder people shy away from getting involved with public school districts for short-term commitments.

Now that I've ranted about the lunacy of the situation, I'll accept the fact that I've lost those precious minutes of my life, chalk it up as another example of inane bureaucratic crap, and prepare to take a voided check back to the business office so I can actually get paid the money that I'm working to earn.

Injustice

Few things get my dander up more than witnessing injustice. I'm not even talking about the horrible "big" things that we see on national news. I hate to see someone treated unfairly because they are low man on the totem pole or because they have no one to fight for them. I've been the victim before and know how awful it feels. I guess that's why I'm willing to make some noise when I see it happening.

One of my students is facing some unfairness right now. Let's call it what it is...injustice. In order to insure his privacy, I won't disclose any of the details of the situation. I will say that things that were assured to him by the school have not been provided. These are not luxuries either; they are essential services necessary for his success. The student asked if I had any insight into the situation or could offer ideas that might get his phone calls returned by the negligent office. I was in a furor! The student was following the protocol he had been given, but was seeing no results. He didn't know how to fight any further.

Despite some students' opinions to the contrary, I am always an advocate for students who are legitimately attempting to succeed. I told my student that I didn't have the answer, but that I could certainly raise the issue to appropriate parties until we got something done. I've been dealing with this situation for a week now. It's not necessarily how I planned to spend my week, but it has been the right thing to do. I'm just hoping that the right will prevail in this situation soon so this tender student can have the materials he needs before the semester reaches its mid-point.

Here We Go!

I am still in denial. I don't want to accept the fact that August is here again. That means it's time to start prepping for another semester of teaching. This has gotten to be a normal routine and not too difficult. This year, however, I'm facing a couple of new challenges.  All I know is that both of these should be interesting and provide some entertainment in the months ahead.

The first new challenge comes at Mid-South Community College. This semester I'll be returning to my teaching of College Survival Skills. If you've spoken with me very much about teaching, you know this is a class that I have DESPISED teaching in the past. The major problems were results of course content, technology issues, and lack of clear expectations for the faculty. Since the program has undergone a total transformation at the hands of a gifted faculty director, I have high hopes for the program at the moment. Faculty members will function as advisors and mentors to the students, a fact that I think will result in better dialogue between students and teachers. The only downside for me is that I have been assigned the Saturday morning section of the course. Ugh! I'm trying to keep a positive attitude about this by acknowledging that I'll be done with my teaching at 10am and have the rest of the weekend to myself. We'll just have to see if I can maintain the same positive outlook for the next 16 weeks! As this post is being published, I am sitting in the first of several training sessions for the faculty members teaching College Survival. (Just so there's no misunderstanding, I schedule my posts to publish at 10am on MWF. I've not been blogging while in the seminar!)

The more exciting (and frightening) new challenge will take place at Union University. This fall I will teach the third semester of the class piano sequence. There are two sections of the course that I'm scheduled to cover. I'm excited because I'm finally getting to teach a major course in my discipline. I'm frightened nervous because I've done a limited amount of class piano teaching in graduate school. I know I'm capable of successfully teaching the course and look forward to the challenge. I just have to get my mind wrapped around what's ahead and begin planning for a new course.

For those of you doing the math, that's 2 new courses (3 sections total) added to 3 sections of music appreciation as well as continuing as one of Union's staff pianists. That's 6 classes! I'm thrilled! I'm also going to be a very busy man who is going to be burning up the roads between West Memphis and Jackson. For now, I wouldn't have it any other way either.  I suppose the only thing to say is that it's almost time for the craziness insanity fun to begin!

A Rough Start......

I didn't think that getting keys to my classroom would be such a saga. I've been trying to obtain them for two days and still haven't had any success. It almost feels as though the "powers that be" are conspiring against me - LOL!

It all began Monday morning. My first class of the semester was scheduled to begin at 8am. I was expected to get keys last week at adjunct orientation (which is a total waste of time in my opinion since the content has been exactly the same for 6 semesters in a row), but was out of pocket due to a rehearsal I had previously committed to.  I didn't think it would be a big deal.....I showed up in the office at 7:30 to sign in for my keys. At 7:55, I finally had to ask a colleague to unlock the door to my classroom. The single person who can issue keys still had not arrived on campus by the end of my class.

My Tuesday class is in the evening. I realized that given the potential for ice and the fact that the lone authorized key agent was a day-time employee, I should probably head to campus to get the key. Before leaving my house at 10:30, I checked the college's website to make sure there was no announcement of plans to close early. I pull onto campus just before 11 and discover a ghost town, but the buildings are still unlocked. I go to the academic office to find the lights out and the doors sealed shut. As I return to my car, I learn that the campus was closed at 11am (the only way I knew what was going on was thanks to the plasma television -- educational funds hard at work -- flashing announcements).

Is it a big deal? Not really. Is it inconvenient?  Definitely. The beginning of a new semester is always inconvenient.....so that's nothing new. I understand why the keys are turned in at the end of each semester. Honestly, I'm really not upset.....it's just been a rough start to another semester (that I really haven't been looking forward to) and it seems as though nothing is going smoothly yet. I guess I've just been thrown off-kilter by the ragged schedule that will be interrupted again with the MLK holiday on Monday. I just need a stable routine.......then I won't be so cranky in a few days.

Now I think I'm going to crawl back in bed (at 6pm) and see if rolling out on the OTHER side will improve what's left of my day.  Happy Hump Day, y'all!