Last School Day Before Christmas Break

I got a last minute teaching job on Dec. 19, the last school day this year...Desert Oasis HS...teaching architecture/CADD (computer aided design). There was an experience!! Most schools have alternating days where different subjects are taught on alternating days. Because of the snow day Thurs., Dec. 18, they had switched the days. But apparently Mr. Lewis, the architecture teacher, didn't know it. So he left great instructions for his ART Classes, but non for architecture. I walked into each of this three 90 minute CADD classes with no instructions, no rosters and not a clue how to teach computer aided design for architecture.

Naturally I worked it out. I happened to have kept in my emergency file some geometric plot instructions from the math class I had taught recently, so I had them plot that graphic on their computers (luckily they knew how) and print out the results on paper to turn in for credit. (I hope the teacher gave them credit...I haven't heard from him.) It happened to be a design of a Santa head, so it was fun, too. The remaining time I gave them brainteasers and word puzzles and showed them pictures of my Santa stuff. Anything to fill the time, right?

More English Classes!

I forgot to tell you about the English Classes I taught two weeks ago. Dec. 9 I made my third appearance in the Foothill HS Honors English classes...one of my favorites...and they apparently feel the same. While I was at Foothill later that week in the broadcast classes, I slipped over and met Mrs. Vaughan, the teacher of the English classes. I usually don't meet the teachers I sub for because they're always gone when I'm there. What's up with that!??!! LOL

Then Wed., Dec. 10 I taught English at Cimarron Memorial.

Green Valley Orchestra

Mr. Neuman took the advanced concert orchestra to Chicago for a prestigious workshop and performance Dec. 15 - 18 and asked me to sub for his other classes. It was a blast, of course. He left two pieces for each of the two orchestras (beginning and intermediate) and three for the guitar class. We had a little fun with the Santa thing, but I told them this was not a vacation and we would be making "significant progress" on the pieces, so Mr. Neuman would be surprised. So I drilled them pretty hard. Took the bloom off the Santa rose I suppose, but they cooperated. Learning classical music with an orchestra is one of those things you should never watch, like making sausages and laws. You should just enjoy (or endure) the final product. I love directing finished products best, but even the chaotic journey to that end is fun. They didn't think so...most of them...it was hard.

The fourth day, Thursday, Dec. 18 was canceled due to snow, so I didn't get to polish the tunes, but we did make significant progress. One of the student violinists, who happens to be in our ward choir, said that Mr. Neuman was shocked Friday when they played a particularly hard piece all the way through, which they'd never done before. :):):):).

In the guitar class, they made good progress, too. I also taught them a standard blues pattern. I haven't heard if Mr. Neuman appreciated that. It was kind of a departure from his instructions, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. The kids certainly enjoyed it. I also gave them something they don't get from Mr. Neuman...piano accompaniment during their practicing. It makes it easier to learn...and fun for me.

Coming soon: Mr. Neuman wants me to sub for him during Obama's Inauguration Jan. 16, 20, and 21 while he goes with the band to Washington, D.C. to march in the Inaugural Parade. I guess they need chaperones or something. But this time he will leave the Advanced Orchestra behind for me to play with for the first time along with the others!!!! Fun times!!

Cool News for Soap Opera fans!

I went to my monthly Screen Actors Guild (the union I don't belong to, even though I'm eligible because of Rat Race...there's not enough union work) workshop. The guest was a stuntman (double for Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, Harrison Ford in Raiders, and others) and his wife, an actress on "Days of Our Lives" soap opera. On a break I told her it would be cool to have a guest appearance by Santa Claus by a professional actor who could do Santa's actor character as well. She said that was a great idea and why don't I send my headshot and resume to the casting director along with a testimonial sheet from people who like my Santa gig. But she didn't have the address, so I gave her my double head shot (me regular and as Santa), got her email addiesaid I'd follow up. She volunteered her cell number, so I was hopeful.

I emailed her the next day and attached a couple of mybest Santa pictures. and thought that would be the end of it. You know how those things go...nowhere. But two days later she returned the email:

"I have told her [casting director] about you... so send away! The pictures are great!"

Cool. So I put together the tesimonials and head shots and overnighted them to her to arrive Monday, Dec. 22. That's probably the end of it, but it's fun to get that close. Maybe next time...

Here are the testimonials, just for the record:

“John is a solid member of our resident company of actors and just happens to be the greatest Santa Claus you’ve ever seen. Our current client is totally ecstatic about having “Santa John” performing for thousands of families in a prime Las Vegas location. He’s so real he has adults believing in Santa!”
Dan Decker, Creative Director, Las Vegas Playhouse

“We hire a Santa every year for several activities and John Hanks is without a doubt the best one we’ve ever had. He not only looks the part, his Santa persona is spot on so engaging. The kids just love him!”
Christie Garness, Event Planner, City of Las Vegas

“It was a shock when John showed up at our family party as Santa. One of the older boys who had been tentative on Santa, went home and told his mother: ‘Santa really is real, I believe in Santa again!’ He sat down and quickly wrote a letter to Santa telling him what wanted for Christmas. John’s the best!”
Ashley Hall, former Las Vegas City Manager

“When we hired John Hanks to be Santa at our family Christmas party, we had no idea we had hired the real Santa. The photos we took were amazing and John had the kids spellbound as he asked them if they had been good this year and what they wanted Santa to bring them. It made a believer out of young and old alike. Our ten year old daughter said, ‘I think that was the real Santa Claus. Do you think he will come to our Christmas party next year, too?’”
Howard and Cristi Bulloch, Mother

Teaching Broadcast and Debate!

Another Dream Come True. After two days of teaching (Dec. 11 and 12), I am now the Go-To Sub for Foothill High School's Broadcast Journalism and Forensics classes for Mrs. Vaughan. She is also going to send my info to all the other Broadcast teachers in Las Vegas. The ball is rolling.

Here's the door they decorated for the Christmas Door contest. High School has changed a bit since I was there!!

The sign reads: "Teachers know the shortest distance and the lenghth of travel from their classrooms to the restroom."

John a French teacher!?

Yes, it's true. I drew the long straw Monday, Dec. 8 and taught French to Freshmen and Sophomores at Canyon Springs High School. I didn't get instructions until the first period class, so I was on my own for Early Bird at 7am. I just had them get their books out and read questions and give answers from the chapter they said they were studying. Then, when there was time left after that, I turned the page and saw a storyboard for a video and assigned parts and read through the story. It filled the time and gave them productive work. Plus, it was fun. And I had my usual brainteasers as well. Then after the teacher's instructions came, I showed a video in the other two classes...something about the deterioration of the African rain forest...and had them write and essay. It was more fun when I had no instructions. This students thought so, too.

Friday, Dec. 5 and Tues., Dec. 9 I was back in Ms. Moss's Foothill Honors English classes. They're really a dream. I had more brainteasers and they had good assignments. We even sang "Rudolph..." in one of the classes.

I put my name up as "Mr. Hanksnick." A few kids got it.

That last student in the last class, who always stays to pick things up but never talks to me, wrote this note on the board. I answered it and left it for her to see the next day.

Sweet!

The thing I like best about getting up at 5 in the morning and arriving at school at 6:30 is seeing the sunrise. When I was driving a school bus I saw it every morning and marveled at the magnificent beauty the totally fill the sky.

Looking to the east I see the the light long before the sun appears. When the sky is clear or when the clouds are just right, it can be absolutely breathtaking. I took this picture with my phone camera the morning of Dec. 2, 2008 on my way to Centennial High School to teach the orchestra. It was the day I sang with the kids (see a prior post and pic with my green shirt.)

Looking to the west, the glow of the sunrise on the mountains gives just the right punctuation to the elegant morning.

Life is grand early in the morning!

Santa's Debut!

Well, the first weekend of Santa at the Springs Preserve is history. After arriving from Utah on the airplane, I had a problem to solve. The Santa belt I had purchased from Williams costume did not hold up when I wore it for the grandkids. The holes ripped right out. So while I was waiting on the curb for my ride (from Bill) about 10am, I called around to boot and leather shops for a sturdier belt. I finally found Mike at Tandy Leather who said he would make me one that night for the next day. That was great, but it didn't help me for my 1:00 appearance at Gardineers or my four hours at the Springs Preserve that night. So I ran over to Tandy to finalized the deal. I expected him to charge me more than a hundred dollars, but he said $20! I said I should get two, then he said that'll be another 5 dollars. Oh, the Santa magic! Plus there was a little 5 year old boy in the store who truly thought he was seeing Santa. His parents asked me to talk to him so I did. What a sweet experience. They told me the next day when I picked up my belts that the kid was sky-high the rest of the day. I love this job!

Anyway, I still didn't have a belt to that day, so I ran over to Williams Costume and got another of the same kind of $20 belt that fell apart and thought I would be real careful. Besides, I needed another buckle, which Mike was attaching to the new leather belts. I went to Gardineers and made it ok, then took the belt to Barbara, our theatre group seamstress to reinforce for the show that night.

At Gardineers, I staged in the garage, but they delayed so long, several adults and teenagers came through the garage. When they saw me, they all jumped and were startled. Who expects to see the real Santa Claus hiding in their garage?! Then after I came back out of the house, George and Eula Mae, who had come from Virginia, where we had known them for years, came into the garage and we had a nice visit before I left.

The show that night at the Preserve was incredible. I mean, all I do is talk to kids, but each one is an adventure and they all have their story. I even had some adults sit and give me they list. Even one Jewish lady.

I have two elves who help direct the kids and their guardians. , the redheaded Dwarfus (Norma, l) and Elfus (Louisa, r). During the half hour break at 7:30, they go to another amphitheatre and perform in a short Scrooge play for the kids.

One little girl brought her actual list, which totally filled two pages. I made no promises, to the relief of the parents.

So much fun!

Teaching Update

Before you read this, you might want to get caught up by reading the last few posts on http://www.johnhanksblog.blogspot.com/. That's where the pics and notes are for the first two weeks of teaching, from Nov. 13 to 21.

Here's a rundown of my teaching adventures since Nov. 21.

Mon., Nov. 24: OFF

I tried and tried to get a class, but none came up. I guess that was supposed to be a prep day, which it was.

Tues., Nov. 25: FOOTHILL HIGH SCHOOL GEOMETRY. Mr. Paul Ruth.

It was two honors geometry classes and one Freshman/Sophomore geometry class. Big difference. But both quite enjoyable. Luckily they had plans made for them and I didn't actually have to teach them anything. WHEW!! Several students were in Mrs. Ross's English class from last week. They said they were glad to see me. One kid said I made his day. Another said I was the "tightest sub I've ever had." :)

Wednesday, Nov. 26: SIERRA VISTA HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH Mr. Steven Smith.

These were Freshmen and Sophomores. He had me show them three episodes of "The Twilight Zone" and write a paragraph on each. During my break and lunch I watched the other three. :) I LOVE that show! What a job!

Thur. Nov. 27 - Sunday, Nov. 30 - THANKSGIVING BREAK: We had an awesome time in Utah with all the fam. We had breakfast with JD and Stacy and fam, then went to Melanie's for the rest of the day. Linda and I overnighted with Mom and had a nice visit. Then they took me to the airport to go home to work as Santa and school teacher.

Monday, Dec. 1: ARBOR VIEW HS ORCHESTRA STRINGS. Dr. Terry Hill

Dr. Hill had to be in American Fork where he conducts the AF Community Orchestra, this time a Harry Potter concert. I took his orchestras at Arbor View and Centennial HS's. AV was quite good. They knew their stuff and when we ran out of music and had some time left, I had them to the Christmas number they were working on, Carol of the Bells. The solo first violin stood up and delivered the most amazing performance. What a thrill it was to be in the center of that incredible sound. They sure didn't sound like a high school orchestra. It gave me goosebumps.

Tuesday, Dec. 2: CENTENNIAL HS ORCHESTRA STRINGS. Dr. Terry Hill

Another fabulous day on the podium. This time we struggled through some tough pieces and I found out that high schools can be challenging. But we managed to make progress. At one point the beginning class said, "can you play the piano? If you'll just play it on the piano while we play it would be easier." So I played the first violin part from the piano score...sight read it...and they got through it. As a reward, when we did the christmas medley, I fluffed up the Santa hair and sang HO, HO, HO! Who Wouldn't Go, Oh," during Up on the Housetop...and I sang during parts of the rest of the tunes as well. I think they really enjoyed that...they said they did. After they put their music and instruments away, I went back to the piano and had a little singalong. The freshman didn't take to it much, but the older kids really liked it.

Wednesday, Dec. 3 VOTECH MATH. Mr. Mark Jimenez.

These were three sophomore classes...one geometry and two algebra. I don't ever panic, but I had a "stepping off the cliff" moment right after the first period bell rang. I had gotten the job assignment online at 5:50 and due in class at the school at 6:30 and in class at 7:00. I got to the classroom about 6:46 with just enough time to get oriented. The teacher had left no lesson plan, so I had to start the class without one. I was standing in front of the room...had called roll...and though, "oh, boy, now what?" I had picked up some work sheets that were sitting there, but they had already done those in their prior class. So just as I was going over the cliff, an administrator came through the door and handed me the teacher's note they forgot to give me when I arrived. It had instructions to read a section and do the assignment at the end. WHEW! Saved! However, non of them knew how to find the area of a triangle, trapezoid and parallelogram. I had just told them I didn't know a lot about math, but I knew more than they did about what they were studying. You never saw a quicker refresher course in your life. As I leaned over a student to answer his question, I quickly read the page that was open and saw the proper formulas. Amazingly, they looked familiar and I remembered them from my geometry class, which I quite liked and did rather well, by the way. So I went around coaching them through the assignment, the ones who did it, that is.

In the next two algebra classes I stood at the board and showed them how to plot the slope of a line, which was their assignment. I was tickled to re-learn that and put it on the board. As I drew an "x" and "y" axes and the little dotted lines, I thought of the day I watched JD do that in his calculus class. I thought, "he better not slow down, I may catch him!?" Between classes I took this picture.

There was an extra class that day call the Advocacy group. It's a group of random students assigned to specific teacher for all their high school years. They just talk about life skills and social etiquette and stuff like that. I knew they would be bored so I was ready for them. There was a suggested lesson plan involved netiquette and cyber bullying, but I put that aside and took a different tack. They indeed looked bored and with low expectations, so we had a discussion about choice, accountability and making the most of every situation, even though they might not like it. I told them it wasn't the school that "made them bored." It was their choice to react that way and they could choose another reaction if they wanted to. I told them about the prisoners of war who survived being hung from the ceiling by a rope attached to their hands tied behind their back by learning to "love the rope." And we also discussed interpersonal communications skills for life improvement, one of the topics I teach in college. I think they got something out of the discussion. They were quite attentive and participated like they were interested. I suggested to them that they bring topics to the class that they would like discussed in addition to the assigned ones. What an opportunity to change the thinking of young minds.

Overall, it was quite an enjoyable day.

Wednesday, Dec. 3: OFF

Dentist appointment. New Dentist. Gary Earl. Clean bill of health. Crowns to follow.

Another week in Paradise!