First Post

I started this blog as the result of several interesting circumstances that have occurred over the past several months. I should start with a bit of background:

I love teaching. I've been teaching in the public schools of Colorado and Minnesota for the past 14 years. During that time I've held jobs that range from kindergarten to college and adult choirs. My most recent position has been Concert Choir Director at Winona Senior High School. It is this position that has encouraged me to create this blog.

I've never worked in a place where the students were so engaged, where the teachers were so committed, and the community was so odd. In some ways, it's the old small town, "stay out of my business" kind of place, but at the same time, the locals like to dabble in other peoples' business (more on that later). What's unique about this place is that there is a twice-weekly free newspaper, the Shopper, that tends to be rather anti-teacher. They also tend to know a lot about what is going on in the public schools (from one perspective). I'm not sure about this, but I guess the owner/editor has a bit of baggage with the local schools. Anyhoo, they tend to write things that really make the teachers look pretty bad, and since it's free, and ends up on everyone's stoop every Wednesday and Sunday, people read it.

I'm going to try to post at least every week, as I find this rather cathartic. Much more to come.