Thoughtful Thursday: Post-Observation, Pre-Weekend Thoughts, and Rambling Through This Cavern I Call My Brain...

It is Thursday.

I am trying really hard to be thoughtful today. I spent time yesterday involved in a very loud drumming group with a bunch of very cooperative students who responded to the iso-principle in front of the principal exactly as I hoped they would. Everyone got a drum when they entered the room. We drummed loudly and enthusiastically until we tired and then engaged in active mood vectoring until everyone was happy and content and quiet! The principal got called out of my session after 20 minutes, but that is the longest time that my recent administrators have spent in my room, observing my music therapy, in about 15 years! He was complimentary when I saw him in the hallway later.

I always approach these formal evaluations with a bit of bemusement. I have never had a supervisor who was a music therapist. I have had three out of my seven supervisors who have worked with other music therapists so had a smidgen of knowledge about what music therapy is supposed to be. For most of my supervisors, the only music therapist that they have ever encountered has been me.

That's both good and bad.

It's good because they have no other example of what a music therapist "should" be doing. I basically tell them what I do. It's bad because I basically tell them what I do. Evaluations are a waste of time when I tell them what I am supposed to be doing. I am hoping that this supervisor will have some meaningful comments for me as a professional. I would like to have some sort of professional development goal to work on. I haven't had any recommendations from supervisors since my best boss left about 16 years ago.

So, my thought is that I will probably end up doing what I always do - finish up the professional goal part on my own without input from my supervisor. It is difficult to supervise when you are not sure what else is out there in the profession itself. I want my supervisors to want to know more about music therapy, but the recent ones (not sure about this one yet) have just been interested that I am covering the planning period of teachers. They have no interest in what I actually do while I am covering that planning time. I am hoping that this new supervisor will be different. 

We will see.

I have a new hand-held saw that I am going to break out this weekend to cut pieces off the paperback shelving I made a long time ago to hold some of my books. They do not fit my current ceiling height, so I have to cut stuff off in order to make things fit. Once I cut off the 4-6 inches (I need to remeasure things BEFORE I cut stuff), I will be able to place the shelves against the wall where I have always wanted them to be. I will also be able to start putting the DVDs up in the entertainment room once that shelf has been cut to size. I think that will be my only home focus on Saturday - the library!

Now, I have a vision for what the fourth bedroom is going to look like. It has a strange vent space on the ceiling, so the shelves will not fit anywhere, but will fit in some of the places that are in the room. I have an extensive collection of books.

Well, that's an understatement.

I love books. I have WAY too many, and that's after I donated 14 large bags of paperbacks to a small town library where I have a contact. I still have many, MANY books. I am thinking that my library room will have my paperback bookshelves organized by author and by general thematic content. For example, all of the mysteries will be together. I do not feel like I have to alphabetize authors or titles or anything like that, but I do like to walk in and head to the intrigue books and find all the Tom Clancy books together. I will then extend this to the non-paperback and text books. I will have to make some more shelves - the ones that I have right now are made out of 1X4 boards. The text shelves will have to be bigger since most of my textbooks are larger and heavier than the paperbacks. I think I will be looking for 1X8 boards to cut to size.

Once I get the first part of this library transformation started, I will be able to start unpacking the textbooks to see what I have to make.

For now, though, it is time to head to work for a strange day. Enjoy your day!! 

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