Positives This Week

Okay, one thing that was positive, cool or unexpected each day...

Tuesday: I emailed our improv poster image to our printing company. They emailed back saying that the resolution was too low and needed to be at least 300 dpi. I was at a total loss since image editing is not really my thing. I figured out how to use Adobe Paint to create posters through trial and error, but had no idea how to increase the dpi. After spending 30 minutes poking around on the internet, I found a program that can increase the dpi of an existing image. It was super excited to be able to use the image I had created and that I solved a technical problem on my own. (I looks better at higher resolution too.)

Wednesday: I'm teaching a voice unit to my beginning students. I'm a trained singer and use a lot of that training to teach breath control and projection. As an introduction I use the song Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better from Annie Get Your Gun sung by Bernadette Peters. At one pint she holds out a note for about 25 seconds. I use that as an example of what breath control allows a performer to do. At one point, I was able to hold that note out in one breath. I told my kids that and they wanted a demonstration. I wasn't sure I could do it because I am out of practice. But I tried it in class and was able to hold the note out as long as Peters. It's nice to know that my training isn't completely gone and that I can be an example of what I teach to my students.

Thursday: I listened to, and was inspired by the workshop about student written monologues that I discussed in this post.

Friday: Two positives that stuck out today. First, I had a meeting with my assistant principal to discuss an upcoming observation. We also discussed the auditorium. I laid out a few concerns I have about long hours in the auditorium taking away from my ability to give my best to my students and told him they are my priority. I will not work extreme hours in the auditorium if that means my students will lose time or preparation on my part. I'm proud of myself for clearly making my students my priority to my administration. I only have so much to give, and I don't want to drain everything I have setting lights and fighting with sound. My students deserve better than that.

I also discovered a way to improve my attitude. I was listening to music at the end of my prep period, and a song with a tune that made me feel upbeat came on. I'm not sure why as it's not a particularly cheerful song (The Parting Glass by Celtic Woman) but I loved the tune. I was singing it at the beginning of my last period, and it put me in a good mood. I felt more energized, more excited to be there, more positive around my students. As I kept singing it while my students were working in groups, I felt more energized. I love to sing, but forgot how much it improves my mood. Often my singing is a reflection of a good mood (a student observed that I sing more and yell less this year then I did last year) but maybe I can use it to create a good mood.