Wow, it's been a while...

So, it's definitely been a while since I've posted anything. But, I've been inspired by one of my best friends to try this again.
     
       I suppose I should start by summarizing what has happened since I last posted. First, I graduated from Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi with my Bachelor of Music with Teaching Certification in May 2011 with Cum Laude honors.

                                                            the lovely Rebekah and I :)
       
A few days after graduation I left to go to New York with several friends. Let me just say, that was an amazing trip. I had so much fun and even got to see a couple shows while I was there

                                                       a collage of my favorite pictures
      
      After that, I spent the summer working and applying for jobs. I ended up with one interview but didn't get that job. I then started subbing in Flour Bluff in October 2011 and ended up with a long term sub position at the Junior High that took me from mid January to the end of the year. I was extremely blessed to end up with that job and thoroughly enjoyed it. When the next summer came, I started my job search again. This time, I landed what has turned to be my dream job.
      
       Last summer, I was hired to be the music teacher at Yorktown Christian Academy. I cannot say enough about this school, the staff there, and the kids and parents.  I love it there. My coworkers are more than coworkers, they have become genuine friends and are so amazingly supportive. The students there are just as amazing and I enjoy every minute I get to spend with them. God definitely knew what he was doing in placing me there. I am so excited to go back next year.

       So, overall, life has been pretty good. Other things that have happened: My cousin Kristy and I turned 25:

                                                                25th birthday dinner

my little sister turned 18 and graduated from high school, and my brother and I both have moved out of our parents house.

             So, yes, life is good and I have no real complaints. I have a job that I love, a great family, and the two best friends a girl could ask for :).

Jackie

 

Abby

 

So, I guess that's all for now, I hope to be better about keeping this updated now. :)

 Jessica

wow...

Student Teaching has gone by soo fast. I have learned so much this this semester and have had some things confirmed.
a) I am definitely NOT meant to be a choir director, lol. I enjoyed working with the junior high and high school students and toyed with maybe being a junior high director, but it is defiitely not for me.
b) I AM meant to teach elementary general music, which is what I originally wanted to do anyway. I switched a few weeks ago to this and I absolutely love it. Being there has definitely just confirmed that this is what I want to do.
If someone had told me 10 years ago that I would be where I am today, I do not know that I would have believed them. At 13 and in 7th grade, I had vague ideas of what I wanted to do but didn't know for sure. When we had to pick a career for a paper in English, I think I picked child care provider, so that's obviously no where near where I am headed. Now, I just hope I can find a job for August. Things look pretty bleak in the teaching world right now so I am just praying and believing that the right job will be there for me. I keep telling myself when I have a job in August not if I have a job. It still baffles me that I graduate from college in less than a month. Where has time gone? It seems like I just graduated high school and college life was just beginning. I have made some incredible friends and met incredibly talented people and had some amazing professors.
In other, not quite as deep thoughts, I leave in month for New York!! :D I have had this trip dangled in front of me a couple of times before and things didn't work out, but this time it's a for sure thing. I am so absolutely excited to finally be going. I'm going with a group from my former chamber choir at TAMUCC, Camerata Isla. Last summer, our tour went too Missouri for a members wedding and it was such a blast. Hopefully this trip is just as great. :)

Student Teaching...

     Wow, um, so I haven't posted in like forever. But, I've been super busy with the end of last semester and the beginning of this one. I survived field basing with Dr. Cunningham (no small feat, I assure you, and my fellow PST's will attest to that) and am on to student teaching. I am back with the same clinical teacher from last semester (my old HS choir director) which also means I have the same kids. It was fun to walk in and see their reactions when I came back. They were all excited (JH moreso than HS, but, lol) It's definately been an interesting experience. My first day back they were doing mock TAKS testing at the JH so I didn't get to see my first class of JH students and didn't spend that long with the other class. The next week, on the Monday, we had a lockdown drill during the JH advanced choir. Fortunatley, the kids were really good and knew exactly what to do and cooperated well. Then, that Wednesday, the power was out for the first two and a half hours or so of school so nothing was accomplished that day. At the HS the lights got blown out in the choir room so we had the kids in the teaching theatre. School was cancelled Thursday and Friday due to the weather. We had a really big cold front come through and ice over the roads so the city essentially shut down that Thursday and part of Friday. That Saturday was Solo/Ensemble. Not all of our kids showed up but the ones that did did really well. Six JH went and 4 got 1's and 2 got 2's, and there are 14 HS students advancing to state solo/ensemble plus the HS madrigal. Then my clinical teacher took our all-state choir student to TMEA and I got to be the teacher for three days. That was definately an interesting experience. Overall, it went pretty well, but definately some interesting moments. I've taught the varsity women's choir a piece for their concert in a couple weeks and am going to start a piece with the advanced JH choir on Tuesday for my observation. It's a French piece so hopefully it goes well. It hasn't all been work this semester though. I got to go to San Antonio for Province Weekend with some of my sisters in January and that was a lot of fun. I also joined the Corpus Christi Chorale to do Handel's Messiah. It's hard to believe I'm almost halfway done with the semester and I'll be graduating in May. Hopefully I'll find a job for the fall :)

Moving Forward...

This semester has been one of the craziest I have ever experienced. And being a music major, that's saying something, lol. I have grown to love field basing and being at the school. I have taught several more times with the whole class and run many sectionals, each time getting better and better. I always said I want to teach elementary school, I want to teach elementary school, but I really don't know anymore. I never thought I would say this, but I absolutely love my junior high kids. I don't know what it is, but they have managed to endear themselves so much to me and I just love being there with them. I am honestly considering teaching a middle or junior high school choir now. I like the high school kids just fine too, but teaching them intimidates me too much to actually want to teach at the high school level. (I still have yet to teach there, all my lessons have been with the junior high advanced choir). I had my peer observation today and I think it went well. My evaluator (the lovely Ms. Rebekah Sanchez) liked it and thought it was really good. And let me just say, I did her peer evaluation as well, and she is going to be one fabulous flute teacher. Her students are going to very lucky to have her. :) I looked at my planner the other day and realized that I now have only 3 times left in my clinical classroom. I'm really kinda sad about that. I love my kids too much that I want to finish the year out with them. Hopefully I will get assigned back there to student teach next semester so I can see them again.

Real World experience...

So, today i walked into my clinical classroom and the first thing I noticed was that my teacher wasn't there and there's a sub. Well, my site professor has been talking about how by mid-semester we should be able to take over and teach the class if our clinical teacher is gone and there is a sub. So, I thought, here's my chance to prove myself, to show myself that I can do this. So, since I have the advanced jh choir music, I grabbed my binder, looked through the pieces, found what I could play, and decided what to rehearse when the kids got there. Then, I found the beginning choirs music and the cd accompaniment for it and was ready to go for them too. 2nd period comes and in comes the advanced group. And just like Dr. Cunningham tought us, I said ladies and gentlemen, on the risers please with your music. Obviously Mr. Fernandez isn't here today so I will be running rehearsal now please listen for attendance. Then the sub took role and off I went with sightreading and running through pieces. It went the same way in the beginning group. The sub even told me he was impressed. It was so totally awesome. I left with such a huge grin on my face. If you had told me even just the other day that I would do that, I would have laughed. But the neat thing is, it came so natural. It was just like, Mr. Fernandez isn't here, all right, no problem, I'll do this, this, and this. It was such a confidence booster :) 

The beginning of the the end of a chapter...

So, this is my last year of undergrad. I honestly don't know how I feel about that. On one hand it's exciting, but on the other, I'm completely terrified. I'm doing my field basing this semester and it's really stretching me. It's really different being in a classroom and being in a teacher position and not the student. Even though I've been teaching Sunday School, being in an actual school is different. Although, I do think that Sunday School and VBS have helped me. I LOVE doing VBS. It is always one of the highlights of my summer, although this summer had lots of highlights...the Camerata tour, the Star Wars concert, World Changer's in Birmingham, and of course, teaching the music at VBS. I guess I'll just take this semester one step at time and learn the whole way :)