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Let me preface this by asking for all good juju and knocking on all wood so as not to jinx anything.
It’s a new school year. My third at the new school, my 8th in the district. There have been and still are lots of challenges, but most of those remain outside of the classroom.
Inside the classroom?
Well.
There’s a reason I’m asking for knocking on all wood. It’s only three weeks into the new school year, and I am STOKED. Why? Because my co choir director and I FINALLY have classes of kids that WANT to be there. So often the choir class has been a “dumping ground” for all the kids who the counselors can’t place in any electives. This year it feels different. How? I've seen my four beginner boys in one of my first year choirs giving themselves fist bumps when they hit their part like athletes congratulating each other after a good play. I've seen the "tough" kids and the "weird" kids and the "good" kids laughing together at the same jokes. I've seen them break out of their personal isolation to call out mistakes and behavior. I've seen their eyes light up in amazement at what they can do. I've seen kids whine about "I didn't want to be in choir" at the beginning of the year eagerly sign up for the next year. I’ve seen my second year choir members being brothers and sisters with all the juniors and seniors, and the second years in the other choir teacher’s second and above class. These are kids that have already worked, laughed, and sung together. As for our first year beginners? They haven’t met yet, but are starting to. The saying is that it takes five years to establish a program. In our third year, we are starting to see that. I can gush about my choir kids for hours, but I also teach first year piano classes too.
And those kids? Even the ones who stretch the rules and don’t always use our iMac desktops properly are picking up the material super easily. I’m being pushed myself to challenge them and help them more. Some of these kids are there because they need a fine arts credit, some chose piano because they want to move on to rock band, and knowing keyboards is very useful, and some are going to go into electronic music.
I’m having a great time so far. Now it’s incumbent on ME to push MYSELF to make every class fulfilling, and to motivate them to improve every day. And that’s the best challenge a teacher can have.
And finally, my co director and I have chosen a “tradition” song which all students will learn and sing. I just had a great idea how to use it. Here it is:
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