End of Term 1

The last week of Term 1 was only 4 days long because of Good Friday. Personally, every Friday is a Good Friday. This week was mostly devoted to students handing in their assignments, and making presentations. My Year 13s had compositions to hand in whereas my Year 12s had arrangements. Next term, I'll be teaching musical composition to my Year 12s, showing them how to write melodies, countermelodies, harmonies, and instrumentation. They finished the term learning about rock operas, such Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, and Jesus Christ Superstar.

I finished teaching the fugue to my Year 13s and by the looks of their faces, they understand the characteristics. The fugue that I chose for them to analyse was the 'Fugue in C Minor', Book 1 from J.S. Bach's Well Tempered Clavier. Lucky for them, they were allowed to listen to the music; I didn't have that luxury when writing my analysis test for the Royal Conservatory. To make it easier for them to see how a fugue is put together, I created a visual resource with the terms pasted on colourful construction paper. Once the sheet music was properly analysed, they had to organize the cards in the same order as the terms appeared on the sheet music. This greatly helped them understand that writing a fugue isn't as tough as it looks. My associate & college observer were impressed by my resource, giving me extra points before suggesting that I laminate the cards to avoid damage by future students.

My Year 9 Alternative English class (kids with ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, etc.) had dramatic monologues to prepare for Thursday. The monologues were to be based on a character from the movie Stand And Deliver. Most of the students chose the calculus teacher Mr. Escalante because they said he was the easiest. Of course, some chose the student characters, and even showed up wearing costumes. Naturally, there were several students who didn't have anything prepared, but the teacher, Mrs. MacDonald made them go up & improvise. I have to admit that one of the students, who is troublesome a lot, was quite good at acting out his gangster like character. He could really make it as an actor if he only applied himself.

Wednesday's assembly wasn't as interesting as last week's, but it had its moments. One part that was tumultuous was when student council made all the seniors stand up and sing Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' The singalong, well, didn't go as well as student council had hoped. (Here's the Muppet's Version for you to listen to). Apparently, several years ago, the teachers made all the junior grades sing a song during assembly. Oh, how many times do I remember when I was in elementary school & got in trouble because I flatly refused to sing. Boy, I was a rebel without a cause.

Since there were no classes on Friday, I didn't get a chance to do a repeat conducting performance with the orchestra. Luckily, I still had jazz & ukulele bands to go to. The jazz band it currently working on 'Car Wash', and a jazz arrangement of 'Stairway To Heaven'. As for the ukulele band, were just plucking away basic songs like 'He's Got The World (In His Hands)' and 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'.

Thursday was also a short day because teachers & students needed Period 5 to clean up the classrooms & hand out report cards. I can't remember what they're officially called but the reports don't mark academics but classroom behaviour and relationships with teachers & students. Academic report cards come at the end of Terms 2 & 4. Naturally, there was a End of the Term end party held in the Teachers Lounge with no theme, but free alcohol! Oh, there was also finger food like Brie cheese, grapes, biscuits (crackers in North America), and fruit. Most of the student teachers that I talked to said that they would be travelling over the holidays, to Auckland, Hamilton, and Queenstown.

With Term 1 now over, I can look forward to two weeks vacation. My older brother Roman is flying over to visit & we're going to be touring the North Island for 12 days. The lucky cities are, [drum roll]: Nelson, Wellington, Napier, and Rotorua. Yes, I am aware that Nelson is not on the North Island (Northern tip of the South Island), but hey, when you have to bus up from Christchurch, you need a place to rest and explore a bit. Since I'll be travelling for most of the break, I better get back to working on my Unit Plan for my Year 12s.

It's most likely that I won't start writing about my journeys until I've returned. Sorry about the impending BLOG blackout but I'll the time to gather photos, plan my future posts, and of course, enjoy the experiences.