It's been awhile

It has been a stressful 5 months since I last posted something...so here goes.

I said to my wife yesterday that I finally felt balanced again.  I have been productive around the house and begun re-losing some of the weight I had put on since the marathon. When you keep eating like you are training for a marathon without actually training for a marathon, you are going to put some pounds on. Recently (February), I resigned my position as a site administrator in order to go back to teaching.  This was key in bringing myself into balance.  There are many reasons why I did this, but the biggest and most important was that I need to be doing something that I find fulfilling.

My best days as a site administrator were the days I worked with kids.  Whatever the reasons, they were the best moments of my days, weeks, and months.  Even working with kids who had broken a rule (i.e., discipline) and helping them to improve was fulfilling.  I had posted that I was going to provide time to teachers by taking their class and teach music to the students.  The first time I did this, I was awful.  It had been 12 years since I taught a music lesson and it showed.  The next time was significantly better and by the third time I was on a roll.  I also scared myself.  For the first time in quite a long time, I felt fulfilled by what I was doing.  This had a great influence in my decision to go back to teaching music.

As I shared my decision to go back to teaching, I received a tremendous outpouring of support and words of encouragement.  I joked with some friends and coworkers about how I wondered if I had been a teacher of a different subject (other than music), would the reaction be the same.  "Hey everyone, I am going back to teaching grammar," doesn't quite have the same heartfelt warmth to it as "Hey everyone, I am going back to teaching music!" (No offense to grammar teachers, I had to pick something.)

I am excited for the new year and for the first time in a long time I feel balanced.  You can expect to see some regular posts starting again.  I know I will be looking forward to posting on how I use  technology in music and the classroom. (wow has technology changed for the classroom and music in 12 years, so many cool things!).