Okay so I'm home on Easter break... I finally have time to update my blog about what's happened since two Mondays ago... Get ready for the longest post in my blogging history...
Tuesday the 11th was the housing sign up for next year's seniors who want to live in Knights Village. What a mess.... I wasn't there, because I had to work, but I heard that is was a pain. Very cutthroat. I'm not going to go into much detail, but Rachel V., Me, Emily D., Jill W., Kristine S., and Elsa, C. got the LAST 6 person single apartment. And we even kicked people out of it... They had skipped ahead of us in the sign-up line as our group figured out the hellish housing situation... We got the room because we had a lower lottery average. Emily D. was on fire that night, since the housing people were being ridiculous. This summer I'm going to call ResLife and tell them that I want to fill my room "over capacity" and Rachel D. and I will be roommates. :-) Elsa C. is going to do the same thing with this girl named
Wednesday the 12th I met with my Ed Psych teacher about my grade. That did not go well. Really. At all. I was already nervous about meeting with her. I went in and sat down and asked her what I can do to improve my grade and she basically told me that there were about 181 points left in the semester for me to earn to bring my grade to at LEAST a C-. I asked the professor if I could redo the two papers that I failed and she said no. I tried to explain some of the issues I had with field experience which carried over into my papers and she told me that everything that had happened that week before break were all "things that I had control over." (Like my roommate's car breaking down... Which is total BS.) I asked her if I could turn in a draft of my next paper on Friday so she could go over it and tell me what I need to do to improve and change and she looked at me and said that that's not her job and that I need to take the paper to Pathways. (The reading-writing-speaking-language lab on campus. They have practice tests for various graduate school requirements, information about resumes and they help with paper writing.) So that was the end of our meeting. It was utterly useless. I really felt like the professor was telling me "fend for yourself, 1-2-3 go."
Before I got the papers back I had achieved a solid C in the class and was improving. These papers pushed me back to a D, and I have to have at least a C- to pass the class. If I don't pass this class, I can't student teach next fall, and if I can't student teach, I'd have to go for an additional semester. My scholarships run out at the end of 4 years. So, if I don't pass Ed Psych, I can't go to Wartburg. Getting those papers back felt like 2 steps forward and 5 steps back. Now I have to work five-times as hard to get my grade up to at least a C-.
By the time I had finished the meeting with the professor I was completely in tears and I was late for my flute lesson. In the FAC lobby Rachel D. gave me a hug as I quickly explained what went on in the meeting and I grabbed my stuff for my lesson. I walked into my flute teacher's office and she took one look at my face and asked me what was wrong. I explained to her what had happened and she canceled my lesson, so I could talk to my adviser. She also gave me two hugs... Which was very unexpected, in a "it must be the end of the world" kind of way. Shortly after, Doc saw me crying in the lobby and came over and talked to me. He did a good job of putting my focus back into perspective, because right then I was so exhausted and so upset that I couldn't grasp the idea that a C- is still obtainable and that the world was not going to end. He told me that he knew I was a good student and that just because I was working to earn a C- instead of an A, no one was going to think any less of me. This class is just something I need to get through.
I spent the rest of the week working on my next paper for Ed Psych and studying for the next test. I finished the paper Sunday around 8 pm and spent an hour and a half at Pathways revising it, and another half hour going over it on the phone with a classmate. I turned it in on Monday but I haven't gotten it back yet. I'm really crossing my fingers that I do better on this paper than the ones before. My next test was Wednesday and I got a B- on it, which pushes my overall grade up to a 70%. Which is a very very very low C. It's really scary to be so close to not passing at all. It's the idea that I can't afford to mess up anymore that's the worst. I really just want to be done with this class.
Friday, late afternoon my dad stopped by campus on his way to a Boy Scout thing in Janesville and dropped off my prescription for Tamiflu... (A medication that helps prevent the flu. It also stops the virus from spreading if taken within 48 hours after the first symptoms occur.) My whole family came down with it after I went back to school... I was really scared that I was going to come down with it as well, and then be bedridden for a week. Which I do NOT have time for! but I've taken the last of it, and I haven't had any symptoms!
Saturday afternoon, I took a break from my paper writing and went to a very awesome, very dorky meeting. A meeting about starting a Quidditch team at
Next Thursday our composition project is due for my 20th Century music class. The requirements were that we compose at least 10 measures based on Schoenberg's Twelve Tone Technique (where all the pitches of the chromatic scale are used in any order so as to not indicate a tonal center) with both melody and harmony. We were allowed to collaborate with other people if we wished. This assignment has so much freedom with it... We can compose for any instrument (as long as we can perform on it) and things like performance area can even be used to create different effects. Since our professor didn't give us a limit on how many people were allowed to collaborate, our WHOLE class, (about 30 people) got together and decided to write a multi-movement work, for 2 organs, 2 pianos, saxophone, flute, bass guitar, voice, percussion, basketball, and tap shoes. We divided our class up into 3 groups and each worked on a specific movement. I was in the group working on the first movement. Our class practiced for a while the other night. It's going to be spectacular! It sounds so weird and crazy and if you get lost while performing your part, it's practically impossible to find where you are, but it's going to be so cool! If you're wondering how we're going to get 2 organs, and 2 pianos, we are performing this on the second floor of the FAC, using the 2 organ practice rooms and the piano practice rooms across from that, with the percussion in the hall and the vocalists all around.
Our professor is not going to expect anything like this... We're thinking of turning in the score with a giant bow on it... :-)
Last Wednesday, the 19th, I got to conduct a junior high band for my conducting class. It was only for 12 minutes, but still it was a good experience. I learned afterwards that they were sight-reading the music I was conducting... (This explained why they weren’t getting any of the dynamics I was trying to show... They were still learning the notes.) Overall, it went pretty well. In my head I planned and imagined myself being more friendly and personable towards the band, but I ended up being very down to business. I got up on the podium, introduced myself, stated where we were going to begin and gave the downbeat. Doc videotaped the whole session, so I assume we are going to talk about it on Wednesday when we have class again. I know I need to work on getting my head out of the score and looking up, and I need to stop saying "alright" after every time I stop conducting to talk to the band.
Also! Some happy news! I got my student teaching placement for next year! :-D The town where my school is located is a suburb of
This afternoon I went shopping with my Dad. Back in August I had given him a gift certificate so he could get some new dress clothes. So we went to Kohl's and he got two new ties, a new dress shirt and I bought myself new shoes. It was a good trip, and now my dad is set for dress clothes for the next 20 years. ;-)
So now I'm home for Easter. Tomorrow I'm going to spend all day working on my music history stuff... I have 6 one page papers to write and some listening journals to do. It's supposed to snow tonight, which is just crazy.... It's finally spring! The snow is actually starting to melt! I can see grass and now it's supposed to get covered up again? No! No more snow!
One last thing... The soundtrack to Disney's Broadway production of The Little Mermaid is absolutely breathtaking... Even though Alan Menken once again stole from himself... You can definitely hear stuff that was used in Beauty and the Beast and A Christmas Carol. Oh, well... He wrote, like 12 new songs for the show so I guess he is forgiven... Prince Eric is one of my favorite Disney princes... And he has a couple songs.... :-) (Speaking of The Little Mermaid, has anyone else seen this? Oh, Disney... Just stop with the prequels/sequels. Please?)
Okay… That’s the update on my life for now… I’m going to bed!
1 comment:
HUGE boo to Disney. Ariel's beginning. Seriously now...
But huzzah future roomies! =D
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