Mama's Got A New Job (AKA, Why I Don't Blog As Much)

You may notice, gentle readers, that I am not blogging at the same ferocious speed I used to. There are a lot of reasons for that: in short, I have a busier schedule due to my kids' busier schedule (I don't have time to sit at the computer for hours at a time any more). Also, I am getting to be an old lady and my brain is often too tired to blog after a long day.

And here's one more excuse: I got a new job this winter! Here's my picture from work:

If that looks like a yearbook photo to you, that's because it is! That's right, I appeared in a school yearbook for the first time since I graduated high school (22 years ago, YIKES). The reason? I started teaching music to the K-3 students at Great Expectations Academy this winter.

This is how they all looked on the last day of school this year. So much bigger!

 This job was unplanned and definitely unexpected. Some days I can still barely believe I have this job; other days, I wonder how long I will have it. I guess we will see as time goes by. But so far, it has been an educational, intense, and enriching experience. It has also been exhausting, and more time-consuming than I had expected.

A little background: two years ago, my friend Shannon and I were unhappy with the music teacher situation at our kids' school. We decided to apply for the position ourselves, reasoning that we could "do a better job" than the current teacher (who, as far as we could tell, had lots of dance experience but little to no proper musical education). We determined to split the classes and each teach about half of them (making a lighter burden for each of us).

We sharpened up our resumes (a mortifying experience for us both; we've both been stay-at-home moms for so long!), and submitted them to the school. We were very nervous, mostly about what would happen if we were to get the job! We both still had a preschool kid at home, and we weren't sure how much work would be expected of us. We weren't sure we wanted to work for the school (we thought it might be awkward to work in close proximity with the administration & staff, with whom I have exchanged angry e-mails in the past). In short, we were a little afraid of taking the job if it were offered to us.

Summer went by, and the next school year began. We found out right away that the music teacher position had been filled by someone else (thankfully, not the previous year's teacher, who had moved away!). Shannon and I both breathed a silent prayer of relief; we were happy the situation had been resolved, and happy with the new music teacher. At the same time, both Shannon and I sent our youngest children to school (Aurora and Caleb are close friends, incidentally...Caleb even asked Aurora to be his "girlfriend" this last school year, haha!). It felt like a new chapter in our lives was beginning, and we would take our time figuring out what that chapter was.

Flash forward about a year and a half, to January 2017. One night, shortly after winter break ended, I received a call from Mark (the school director and my daughter's band teacher), asking me if I wanted the music teacher job, effective immediately. As it turned out, the previous music teacher (whom I quite liked) had quit unexpectedly over Christmas. He left no reason for his departure, and he left no forwarding information. And he wasn't the only teacher who'd unexpectedly left the school; in fact, the art teacher left GEA at that exact same time (this position, ironically, would also be filled by two homemakers; they are both friends of mine). The school was left scrambling, and frustrated. Sadly, this is a thing that has happened often to Great Expectations; as a charter school, their pay scale is smaller than that of the local public schools, and I suspect that drives away some of the "special" teachers (art, music, PE, etc). Regardless, I was disappointed to hear about their leaving; whatever else their reasons for leaving may have been, they did not handle the situation professionally.

To say I was floored by Mark's offer is an understatement. I had almost forgotten I'd applied there in the first place. In fact, I had had the impression that I was not well liked by the staff and administration (remember those angry e-mails I mentioned earlier?). In addition, my personal duties & responsibilities had shifted a bit in the last year. I had some regular community service jobs I was working on; I had added several more piano students (including several home-schooled students during the day), and my kids were getting much busier with their after-school/extracurricular activities. I was initially afraid I wouldn't be able to successfully do what they asked, or (worse) do a terrible job of it.

I thought it over for a few nights, and then determined to call Shannon about it and ask if she wanted to go halfsies with me. After all, she'd wanted to help me out last time this opportunity presented itself; perhaps she'd feel the same way now. Besides, I was too insecure in my own abilities (and too stressed out) to seriously consider taking on the job entirely by myself. To my relief, Shannon agreed to split the labor 50/50 with me, and to my greater relief, the school's administration thought that was a fine idea. I cannot overstate how grateful I am for Shannon's help; it is very encouraging to have a different "voice" offering advice and counsel, and helping me hone & clarify my own teaching ideas. Her agreement to help is even more impressive when I realized that she had already accepted a huge responsibility from the LDS Church related to the Tucson Temple (more on that in a future blog post). Suffice it to say, her schedule was already packed, and she still said yes! What a great friend and great person she is.

After an interview, and some tedious paperwork, we were suddenly employees of the school. You are probably going to laugh at me when I tell you that this job wiped me out at first. On an average week, I only worked at the school for four hours! I taught three classes on Thursdays and one on Fridays. Shannon and I would occasionally fill in for each other while the other was unavailable (on a cruise, in my case; I made up the off day to her later that month!). And yet, these few extra classes completely wiped me out, especially for the first couple of months (we started teaching in early February). I am quite a wimp, aren't I? I really don't handle change well. Oh, and teaching kids to play the recorder...I don't handle that well, either! (Thankfully, we only teach the recorder to third-graders, so I didn't have to deal with the shrill whistling din for too long each week).

Here are my justifications for my tiredness: I was still doing my community service during the week, and helping out my girls with all their schoolwork and extracurriculars, and still teaching 12-14 kids piano privately in my home every week. Besides all that, Shannon and I had to plan 100% of our lessons from scratch. There was no curriculum for music in place at our kids' school at all; we were making it up on the fly every week! Let's just say Pinterest became our best friend this year; we found a wealth of great ideas and fun activities that were lifesavers on more than one occasion.

I knew going into this job that I had the skill set required. I have taught music privately for more than eight years now. I have also had church assignments that gave me needed experience; I was our ward's Primary president for a few years, and a ward choir director for another couple of years. Those assignments gave me the experience of teaching music, leading music, and working closely with children. This job, I knew, would be a mash-up of all those things...it would be a little like all of them, and probably something else besides. I was mostly right; at first, much of my job was in disciplining the kids and getting them to pay attention to me! The "something else" that I referred to was this: many of the kids simply did not want to learn about music. Some would sulk on the sidelines and refuse to participate; others would act extra disruptive to make everyone share in their misery. In the past, I'd only taught kids who were either excited to be learning, or at least coerced into reverence/politeness by their families (this applies to both piano lessons and Primary lessons at church). Learning to deal with uncooperative, unenthusiastic kids was very hard for me at first; it really sets my inner control freak into a tizzy!

Learning to shrug off discouragements and to roll with the unexpected became routine for me as the year went on. The kids eventually warmed up to me (I think), and I was able to plan my lessons more or less on time (I hope I will get a bit better about that later!). Even though the lesson planning was very time-consuming, it helped me focus and become more disciplined, not only with regards to this job, but with other aspects of my life as well. Shannon and I both learned a lot on the job...we learned about patience, about improvising, about adjusting our lesson plans to the needs of our individual classes. We also learned about working with administration and office staff at the school to expedite some of our learning. I am happy to say that all of the GEA staff was very helpful to us throughout the school year, and very forgiving and understanding of our imperfections.

We had hoped to finish the year on a high note (perhaps an assembly?), but our inexperience had us temper our expectations somewhat. We managed to have our recorder-playing third graders perform one song per class in front of a large school program (an assembly put on by the performing arts class). Lots of parents & teachers were there, and thankfully the kids performed well enough to deserve their applause! After that, the end of the school year came quickly. I was both flattered and embarrassed by the gifts thrown our way at the end of the year:

Like these lovely flowers! And a big bromeliad plant too (not pictured)

Shannon and I went back for one more meeting before summer began. In that meeting, we discussed our expectations for the following school year. To my surprise, both Shannon and I decided we wanted to give this teaching gig another try, for a whole school year this time! The administration was eager for that idea, with one added wrinkle: this fall, Shannon and I will attempt to start up a choir class featuring fourth and fifth graders. It is a bit daunting, but we think it will be a fun experiment as well! We both look at this year as a learning experience (probably more so for us than for the kids!), and we are eager to sharpen our teaching skills next year.

We both realize now (more than we did before) the sacrifices we will make and the changes that a job adds to our schedules. We sleep a little less than we did; we are more preoccupied too. We have to eliminate some things from our schedules (I don't have as much time for "girl's lunches out" or for extra community projects). I still hope to do community service, but I don't have time for weekly engagements any longer. I have to plan my piano teaching schedule and my girls' activity schedule very carefully (of course, this problem isn't unique to me). But these are all challenges I hope to conquer and improve on as time goes by.

So there you have it...I'm a (part-time) working mom now. This is likely the most I will write about the job on this blog; I don't plan on giving day-to-day specifics, out of respect for student/school privacy and confidentiality. So don't look for personal job stories here; but I will likely have a tidbit or two to share now and then!

Celeste with her amazing 3rd grade teacher Ms. Lenzi

Aurora's spectacular first-grade teacher, Ms. Salmieri

I have so much respect now for full-time teachers (and I respected them pretty well before this job, too)!! They are super-heroes. I don't know how they can give so much of themselves to their students; my introvert self is completely worn out after just a few hours with them. I honestly didn't expect to ever teach at a school, and I have caught myself pondering my life and how funny and unpredictable it has sometimes been. This job, in some ways, has been an answer to our family's prayers; it has helped us weather a few financial storms that blew through our home this year. I am grateful for the opportunity to earn extra money, and I think that I will continue to learn and grow doing this work.

At the end of the day, however, my first priority will still be my girls. Working outside the home has been an important step for me, one that I want to eventually follow up on. I sincerely hope someday to be working full-time once again. However, I feel strongly that that time has not yet arrived. I want to be as available as possible for my girls, and hope they will feel that I value my time with them and give them the attention & care they need.