Since Monday and Friday were holidays (Friday was the autumnal equinox), this was a wonderfully short week. I love my job. I find it fulfilling and I am useful, but still, I think 40 hours a week is too much. Rather, I think 40 hours of my required presence whether or not the work has to be done at school is too much. But that’s for another time. Now I must write about this week since it is now last week and this weekend is proving to be as busy as last weekend, which of course I haven’t written about yet. So, even though it’s an hour past my bedtime I’m writing about this short week. Hm, maybe you can tell by the writing that it’s an hour past my bedtime. I think Andy B. will have plenty to poke fun at this time . . .

So, on Tuesday I was very, very tired in the morning due to the day of activity on Monday. I wish I could have switched my exciting Monday with my refreshing Sunday so I would have felt good going into the week. My classes did not go so well because I wasn’t as prepared and I was tired and out of it. I was also stressing about having to get the tests ready for press before next week’s exams. I found it very hard to write a test that was long enough, challenging enough, but covered useful material and tested what I’d prepared them for. I hate tests so it wasn’t much fun to make one. I was all too happy to get home and I consoled myself with some shopping, fixing dinner, studying Japanese, then made myself work on cleaning out my UR email account which will soon turn into a pumpkin and I have a lot of emails still in it . . .

Wednesday classes went better, but that’s partly because I was resigned to the fact that it wasn’t the greatest lesson ever. I wish I were a better teacher! I finished writing the exams and again at night I made dinner, studied Japanese and worked on UR emails.

Thursday certainly felt like Friday (it’s all in the head anyway, right?) and I was quite happy to accept the invitation to go out that evening with Sasaki and Naito sensei. We went to a nice izekaiya on the top floor of a Kofu hotel. Before meeting them I took the train in an hour early and took a look around one of the main shopping plazas (Okagima). It was very intimidating because the stuff was expensive, expansive (I’ve never seen so many boots in my life), and well attended. It was also empty so I got much more attention than I would have liked. As much as I don’t like Wal-Mart, I’d like to be able to go to a regular cheap place like it and just get some practical clothes. But anyway, the izekiah was wonderful. We tried many different dishes (they are smaller and everyone shares) and I discovered I like two more things that I thought I’d dislike. The first was seaweed and vinegar. Rather, it was more like vinegar and seaweed. In any case, it was very good. I was happy to learn that you can get it in the grocery store for quite cheap . . .

The second dish was tofu steak. It was just a big slab of tofu with fish skin and sauce on top, but boy was it tasty. There was a time when I wouldn’t look at tofu. At home I didn’t mind it if it was small, firm, and mixed in with lots of other stuff, and now here I am, eating it straight up!

>True to Japanese custom, we went to another place after dinner. It was an intimate karaoke bar, except that night it was full of elementary school teachers. Needless to say it was quite noisy . . .

The name of the place is Sharp and Flat, which I found interesting for a karaoke bar. Anyway, we chatted with the bartenders (older man and wife) and I still had to have translation most of the time. They wanted me to sing songs in English, and I managed to find a few that I knew. I should do my homework and learn a few pop songs so I can be more comfortable next time I go to karaoke. It really is a bit of fun. I always thought it was such a strange thing that weird people did, but in Japan, everyone does it and they have no fear.

>Naito sensei’s husband took me home and I think this was the night I had a few phone conversations, but somehow I always forget to write them down. I probably should have gone right to bed, which is probably what I should be doing right now. Next up I get to tell you about my exciting weekend in Tokyo. Hint: Sumo rocks! I should be careful or some of you might start to wonder if this is the right Janet . . .

Posted by harp on Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 9:57 am | Edit
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I can sympathize with you about writing a good test (is there such a thing? That's another discussion, I suppose). I think Andy B. is also in the teaching world, so he probably has a good perspective on this too. Anyway, I've found it amazing how clear you think your instructions are and then you find out that half of the class does something completely different. I like your attitude though--just shake off a bad class. I'm getting better at that, myself, but it's been a long process thus far. Keep up the good work!

Posted by Andy F. on Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 3:54 pm
Yeah, I'm not nuts about the whole concept of testing in general, at least if it means sitting down in front of a piece of paper and holding a pencil. I have issues with its assumptions about what "learning" is and how one does it. I lean more toward a "learning by doing" mindset than anything else (besides, in music it becomes even more ridiculous). I'd much rather have the big portion of the grade be some kind of project--something that involves active effort, research, and serious thought, and can't be wriggled out of. If you can think up such a thing, you don't have to worry about whether they "know" the "content"; there'd be no way to do the project without learning it whether one wanted to or not. I'm trying to find stuff to make fun of, really I am, but I'm grabbin' at straws. I laughed at the bit about your account "turning into a pumpkin." Incidentally, mine is still unpumpkinized; from time to time I get whatever virus is going the rounds of the UR system (not that it ever presents a serious risk, it's always removed from the email itself before I even get it either by Gmail or by my email client).

Posted by Andy Bonner on Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 10:53 pm
Ah, the life of a teacher! I'm so glad to know that you find your job fulfilling! Yea, Janet - good for you. From the ear training courses that I'm teaching at FLCC, I find that it is hard to stay with the coursework and the textbooks. The kids seem to enjoy learning much more when I am spontaneous - making up my own ways to teach them musical concepts - even inventing games, and ways for many of them to come up to the board and demonstrate what they know.However, then I realized that I was in trouble when they had to take an actual test - they hadn't been drilled by me on what I wanted for THAT- ACK, not to mention that I have a HUGE range of musical intelligence in my classes that I have to compensate for - I'm guessing that the kids in your classes are about on the same intellectual level across the board... anyway, glad to know you're doing well! :)

Posted by Danielle M. on Sunday, October 02, 2005 at 7:40 pm
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