Today was my first day back teaching this year.  I had been dreading it because I really like my vacations.

Well, it wasn’t so bad after all.

I managed to impart a little bit of wisdom, a little bit of guidance, and had a lot of patience.  Of those three, patience is the most important for teaching children to play the violin.  In fact, patience is the most important for teaching anybody anything!

My students were generally in good spirits and happy to be back to school and violin.  Most hadn’t practiced, but that’s okay.  I even had a few Christmas presents waiting for me, since the last couple teaching days at school had been canceled due to ice, so it made the day seem a bit more festive.  All in all, a great start to the “working week.”

I was also able to spend about 30 minutes planning for the semester of orchestra.  I think I’ve selected a few pieces that will be fun but challenging.  A couple I know will be very challenging, but the fall pieces weren’t challenging enough for a couple of students, so I want to push them.  We’ve got a variety of levels (and work ethics) in the group, as would be expected, so it’s a constant challenge on my part to keep everybody engaged and involved without boring half the group while the other half has no idea what’s going on.  Typical classroom teaching, I imagine?  Honestly I would need magic to actually accomplish this but I keep trying.

Okay, time for a bit of randomness.

#1. New blog/writing project:  The Daily Post at WordPress.com.  I’m not going to promise to post everyday, but I plan to use this to give me inspiration when I need or want it.  I enjoyed the challenge of reverb10 and this looks similar.

#2.  I wore my new purple shoes working out tonight!  I’ve been shy about wearing them to the gym so far…(tomorrow I think) but I wore them doing Jillian’s 30 Day Shred tonight and loved them.

#3.  New Year’s Eve Pictures:

1.  My interpretation of “blue steel” from “Zoolander”, 2.  with my friend Jennedy, 3.  with Chris and my friend Dave

That’s it for now!  I might be back later tonight or tomorrow am to share “what makes me smile.”  Though, you can see in these pictures—my friends, a shiny dress, and having my picture taken!

HBBC (last week!): January 1: 10 mile run: 10 points, 7 f/v: 1 point, total: 11 points, January 2: 20 minutes stretch/20 minutes weights: 2 points, January 3:  30 minute workout video: 2 points, 7 f/v: 1 point, total: 3 points.  January 4: 4 mile run: 4 points, workout with Mike: 4 points, 7 f/v: 1 point, total: 8 points.