2,000 Hours Week 13

I realize after reading my remembrance of MDY that she is the person who passed the 2,000 hours blog and idea on to me. In fact, I saw that MDY is a follower on my blog, and now feel compelled to continue what I started and keep a *somewhat* frequent description of the hours that I have worked. I am now on week 13 and am still in the first month of school with the students.

If you look at my spreadsheet, you will see that as of now, I have worked 396 hours.

Beginning school is a lot about establishing routines and getting organized, assessing what students remember and what new students know, and trying to get the students to organize and fall into a routine by themselves without reminders. After reading that sentence to myself, I don't know if I'm even doing that much! Re-establishing routines with younger children is absolutely exhausting. As I write, it is 9:08pm, and I am certain that I will go to bed as soon as I have updated you all. I have to remind myself, however, that making music with the students and catching a glimpse of what they are capable of as we continue together is what will keep me going. I have so many things I want the students to accomplish, and now I'm just trying to slow down so I don't rush through things, and realize that learning needs to be experiential and as organic as possible.

This week has been an invaluable experience as I have had my colleague, a music teacher from the secondary school, observe me teach every age group and give me feedback about how I can teach better. Having someone come to observe you and give you constructive pointers about different ways to teach concepts and skills is a bit like "throwing yourself into the fire." It reminds me how much preparation, planning and thought good teaching really takes. Having a fellow music teacher is a luxury that I don't often take advantage of. So, thank you Daniel Holmstrom for being you and helping me.

In terms of life in Ukraine, which is what most of you want to know about anyway, I've gotten right back into it! As always, I'm keeping busy with a myriad of social activities. Two weeks ago, I went to Italy for my cousin's wedding, so I'm still trying to come down from the cloud of happiness that Italy and distant Italian relatives gave me. On Saturday, I went to a potato pancake festival in a town here in Ukraine 3 hours from Kiev. Pictures of that will surely follow this post.

In case you don't know what all of this "2,000 Hours" hype is about, check out Chuck's blog.