Growing Pains

So, here's what I've figured out about Principal Leto: Not only was he a band teacher - he was a good one. It wasn't the way he announced in front of the faculty that he once had a nationally competing band and orchestra program (not meant to intimidate me, I'm sure... he was drawing an analogy of the panic that sets in after realizing that you've succeeded in reaching a goal and becoming burdened with the task of improving on it.) It was the side conversations where we briefly got into the thick of band-speak: repertoire, instruments... all that good stuff. And let me tell you - any man who's lead a high school band through Lincolnshire Posy deserves a good deal of respect.

What does it mean for me? It means I'm going to be working my ass off. For ten years I've worked under people who didn't know my discipline - that allowed me be lazy about a lot of things. Now, with Leto at the reigns, I'm feeling pressure to clean up my act a little bit. Or a lot. Not to say that I've been completely slacking for ten years, oh no... I've done lots and lots of stuff that I'm proud of. But there are things that I've always let slide a little (or a lot) that I'm sure another music teacher would pick up on.

Now folks, here's the important thing to keep in mind - Leto hasn't even so much as step foot in my classroom yet. He hasn't asked me for a syllabus, he doesn't know a thing about my daily M.O. In fact I fully expect him to be totally hands-off. He probably wouldn't suggest changes unless something blatantly called for it - like an abundance of student/parent complaints. (Which I do not generate.) No... he hasn't even seen my program yet, but the fact that he is (or was) a music teacher worthy of respect makes me want to earn his respect through a well-run program.

That means I'm going to work harder as a teacher... way harder than anything I would have done for Palpatine. And he didn't even have to ask for it.