First week of school

Job description of this week in my own words:

Teach students music between the ages of 3 to 15. Sometimes this may mean having a class of 4 year olds follwed by the lass of 15 year olds with no time in between to prepare the room. Sign up to run one club a week after school. Teach year one students science, art and geography 3 afternoons a week. Show up for evening homework prep with the boarding students. These students may require help with their homework in any subject including chemistry or physics, so if they ask a question regarding anything maths related, smile and tell them good luck with that. Meet up with the private music teachers to discuss after school lessons. Attend weekly staff meetings two mornings a week. Remember to meet with the entire primary department and then run to the arts faculty meeting to discuss music timetable. Plan with lower primary teachers after school the following day. When timetable begins feeling normal, receive a new timetable which switches all the teen students lesson times so now they come to music first class every morning of the week. Clean out the instrument storage closet mourning the loss of many vandalized instruments. Leave school at 5:30 on Friday to go home and collapse into bed.

It was a very busy first week. Teaching is tiring but overall it is pretty great. I get a constant supply of hugs from the little preschoolers and hellos/ high fives from the elementary students. I had the chance to empathize with a few of the older primary students who were feeling huge waves of homesickness. Thursday evening a bunch of my junior students came by just to say hi because the light was on in the music room after 5:00. Two senior students even came by to practice their guitars while I was cleaning out the storage closet bringing music into my silent music room (my cd player broke on wednesday and I have not yet received a replacement). It's these moments that help me remember why I decided to become a teacher...