So I guess it starts with graduation, where, from what I understand, you get all dressed up in a cute outfit and do your hair all cute just so you can wear a cap and gown that covers both of them up. And then, if you're me, you go early with orchestra on (possibly) the last school bus you will ever ride on to the ASU stadium, and then sit around and do nothing for, like, 3 hours until real graduation starts, which involves lots of speakers and sitting in alphabetical order and playing Pomp and Circumstance (the boring/emotional marcato section with lots of whole notes). Then you walk the stage, get your piece of paper setting you free, shake Dr. Farnsworth's hand and smile for the camera (Hi, Mom!!!) and then celebrating, crying, and lots of pictures. And then the partying begins! Just kidding, I don't do parties.
After high school I want to go to college (probably ASU or NAU) to study music education. And then student teach and then teach orchestra at a high school where the kids will probably be annoying and I will probably be annoyed. I get tired of teenagers really quickly, and yet I don't think I'd be capable of teaching younger kids. Why? I have a problem. I go to my friend's houses, right? And they have younger siblings. So me, being the kind teenager I am, go up to the children and attempt to speak to them... and my friend typically gets offended and asks why I'm being so rude to their sibling. Uhh what?! I guess I'm condescending towards youngsters without even trying. So that is why I am not meant to be a teacher for younger kids...they would all hate me and tell their friends "Oh, yeah, Miss Haws hates us!" (and at the same time I'd be thinking "I'm the nicest teacher EVER. Nice work, self."). It just isn't meant to be.
But anyway, back to why I want to do what I want to do after high school. I've played the cello for, like a million (8) years, and most of that 8 years just sort of blends together into a vague smoothie of a memory (and if we're sticking with the smoothie metaphor, it's super yummy). But one day I do recall clearly was a fall morning during my eighth grade year when it was "fine art's day" for the high school and junior high (which are conveniently next door to each other (which means we inconveniently had to walk)). I was a quiet 8th grader, and, in all honesty, I had no idea what fine art's day was and I was too quiet to ask. I was seriously considering quitting orchestra all together because I felt I wasn't really motivated to work at it. So I just quietly followed my fellow orchestra classmates, carrying my cello, down the little sidewalk that connected the two campuses. We got to the high school where we were seated in the auditorium and greeted by the choir lining the aisles and singing what I vividly remember to be a beautiful/kind of creepy/kind of sad-sounding chorale. The way they were standing made it echo like surround sound, and it was pretty mesmerizing. Anyway, the presentation continued and the orchestra got and played the Saint Paul's Suite. This is the first memory I have of deciding that I most definitely wanted to stay in orchestra for the rest of high school, and maybe beyond that. Something about that song moved me and it's stayed in my head ever since. (If you want to listen to the song to get the whole effect of the experience, here's a link to my favorite movement: Saint Paul's Suite- Movement III. In fact, turn it on and use it as a soundtrack for the rest of this blog post. It makes it more exciting. And listen to the other movements while you're at it. See? You're more cultured already!) After the performance I got paired with a stand partner who was a high schooler (a little terrifying for an eighth grader ( If I remember right, she was a junior at the time, which made he pretty intimidating by my standards)) and the combined junior high/high school orchestra got to learn some songs together and play them. Suddenly I actually got excited about continuing orchestra and learning more music like this. I ended up participating in more competitive cello groups like the MPS Junior High Festival Orchestra, Metropolitan Youth Symphony, and East Valley Youth Symphony. All of which changed my life, but I guess you could credit it all back to fine art's day way back when. And I guess I decided I wanted to be a music teacher someday when I was a sophomore in high school and became teacher's aide for Miss Gheen, my new orchestra teacher at my new school. Typical TAs grade papers, but since there was no paper to be graded, it was up to Miss Gheen's discretion to decide what I had to do. She allowed me to get really involved with helping the class, and I started to really love it and realized that, if I became a music teacher, I could do stuff like this everyday.
So, there you have it. I think the most exciting part of all of this is thinking of all the people's lives I could effect by being a teacher. Sometimes I think about how the kids I will teach are alive, RIGHT now, and it gets me really excited! I can't wait to meet them, go to competitions with them, watch them make (and not make) auditions, and, really, to just watch them turn into amazing people and get to be a part of that. How many people can say that about their jobs (well, maybe doctors (saving lives and whatnot) and those people who play the princesses at Disneyland)? Sooo, shoutout to the future students (holla!), and see you in the not-so-distant future.
After high school I want to go to college (probably ASU or NAU) to study music education. And then student teach and then teach orchestra at a high school where the kids will probably be annoying and I will probably be annoyed. I get tired of teenagers really quickly, and yet I don't think I'd be capable of teaching younger kids. Why? I have a problem. I go to my friend's houses, right? And they have younger siblings. So me, being the kind teenager I am, go up to the children and attempt to speak to them... and my friend typically gets offended and asks why I'm being so rude to their sibling. Uhh what?! I guess I'm condescending towards youngsters without even trying. So that is why I am not meant to be a teacher for younger kids...they would all hate me and tell their friends "Oh, yeah, Miss Haws hates us!" (and at the same time I'd be thinking "I'm the nicest teacher EVER. Nice work, self."). It just isn't meant to be.
But anyway, back to why I want to do what I want to do after high school. I've played the cello for, like a million (8) years, and most of that 8 years just sort of blends together into a vague smoothie of a memory (and if we're sticking with the smoothie metaphor, it's super yummy). But one day I do recall clearly was a fall morning during my eighth grade year when it was "fine art's day" for the high school and junior high (which are conveniently next door to each other (which means we inconveniently had to walk)). I was a quiet 8th grader, and, in all honesty, I had no idea what fine art's day was and I was too quiet to ask. I was seriously considering quitting orchestra all together because I felt I wasn't really motivated to work at it. So I just quietly followed my fellow orchestra classmates, carrying my cello, down the little sidewalk that connected the two campuses. We got to the high school where we were seated in the auditorium and greeted by the choir lining the aisles and singing what I vividly remember to be a beautiful/kind of creepy/kind of sad-sounding chorale. The way they were standing made it echo like surround sound, and it was pretty mesmerizing. Anyway, the presentation continued and the orchestra got and played the Saint Paul's Suite. This is the first memory I have of deciding that I most definitely wanted to stay in orchestra for the rest of high school, and maybe beyond that. Something about that song moved me and it's stayed in my head ever since. (If you want to listen to the song to get the whole effect of the experience, here's a link to my favorite movement: Saint Paul's Suite- Movement III. In fact, turn it on and use it as a soundtrack for the rest of this blog post. It makes it more exciting. And listen to the other movements while you're at it. See? You're more cultured already!) After the performance I got paired with a stand partner who was a high schooler (a little terrifying for an eighth grader ( If I remember right, she was a junior at the time, which made he pretty intimidating by my standards)) and the combined junior high/high school orchestra got to learn some songs together and play them. Suddenly I actually got excited about continuing orchestra and learning more music like this. I ended up participating in more competitive cello groups like the MPS Junior High Festival Orchestra, Metropolitan Youth Symphony, and East Valley Youth Symphony. All of which changed my life, but I guess you could credit it all back to fine art's day way back when. And I guess I decided I wanted to be a music teacher someday when I was a sophomore in high school and became teacher's aide for Miss Gheen, my new orchestra teacher at my new school. Typical TAs grade papers, but since there was no paper to be graded, it was up to Miss Gheen's discretion to decide what I had to do. She allowed me to get really involved with helping the class, and I started to really love it and realized that, if I became a music teacher, I could do stuff like this everyday.
So, there you have it. I think the most exciting part of all of this is thinking of all the people's lives I could effect by being a teacher. Sometimes I think about how the kids I will teach are alive, RIGHT now, and it gets me really excited! I can't wait to meet them, go to competitions with them, watch them make (and not make) auditions, and, really, to just watch them turn into amazing people and get to be a part of that. How many people can say that about their jobs (well, maybe doctors (saving lives and whatnot) and those people who play the princesses at Disneyland)? Sooo, shoutout to the future students (holla!), and see you in the not-so-distant future.
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