Like Wildfire

6 year olds are the funniest people in the world.

One thing that comes with teaching K-5 students is an abundance of hilarious kid stories. The weird, unexpected comments that come out of these kids mouths and imaginations is one of the best parts of this job, and it happens pretty much every day. I could ask a simple question, such as "What is your favorite ice cream flavor?" 10 hands shoot up, and at least 6 of them are stories about their cat, brother, or friend who "had ice cream once."

There's no way of knowing when one of these tangents will arise, and once it does, it's like wildfire.

"I like chocolate ice cream!"

*hand raises*

"I have a chocolate lab, his name is Gary."

*hand raises*

"I have an Uncle Gary, his name is Gary!"

*hand raises*

"I have a dog. He pooped on our floor once."

*ALL hands raise*
*Teacher face-palm*


Normally, tangents can be traced back to the original idea (i.e. dog, Gary, chocolate lab, chocolate ice cream). This implies that these kiddos think on a linear, connecting path leading to "my dog pooped on the floor," which is not always the case. Sometimes, it takes no provocation at all. I could be in the middle of my lesson, engaging the students and keeping the plates spinning, when suddenly...

"I want to go to Disneyland!"

*ALL hands raise*
*Teacher face-palm*

 _________________________

As detrimental as it is to learning, I can't help but start a soft slow clap to their ability to make it through the day with all of this going on in their heads. I can only imagine what runs through their mind, even in just a span of a half-hour class. Focusing on anything for more than a minute is a dream come true, which is why you must keep the kids moving as FAST as possible at all times. My elementary mentor teacher taught me an awesome trick, which has proven itself to be useful almost every day so far.

"Stand up! Look at the ceiling! touch your nose! touch your ear! look at the floor! close your eyes! open them! Sing this song!"

If you're one step ahead of them, they're always playing catch-up. That's how it should be, not the other way around.

Mrs. J, you're a genius.  :-)
 _________________________

When you hang around people your own age or older for so long (college), you tend to forget what goes on in the fun and imagination-driven minds of small kiddos at any given time.

As an elementary music teacher, I get to see their creativity blossom at an all time high every time they walk in. Not a lot of people get to experience this on a daily basis. For that, I hardly see it as detrimental. We may momentarily lose momentum in the lesson, but it's a small price to pay for laughter, and more importantly, a reminder to be zany, creative, and open-minded.


Amazing what the kids can teach us sometimes...

 _________________________


Fellow teachers that may be reading my blog (all 2 of you), if YOU have a favorite kid tangent story, go ahead a leave a comment telling your experience. Until next time...


♩♩for now,

Mr. E

"They Call Me Mr. Etch-a-Sketch"

"Hey everyone! I'm starting a blog to talk about my first year of teaching! I'll have plenty of time to write in between the lesson plans, and the memorizing of songs, and the choir directing, and the arranging, and the paperwork, and the emailing, and the..."

Turns out, I don't have any time on my hands.

I know, I know, I know. It's been almost a whole month since my last post. Those of you that have been waiting, I'm sorry for the lack of updating. However, considering I only know a handful of people who actually read the first post, I feel like the audience (or lack there of) has been managing just fine. Since a lot of you haven't heard from me in a while, I'll try to sum of the past few weeks in just a few short words:

I couldn't be happier.

This job is amazing. From the kids with their Avengers lunchboxes to those who need their shoes tied every 5 minutes, working with these bundles of joy (and of energy) has been more than a delight. It may sound simple: the kids walk in, I put on my show, I make sure they learned something, the kids walk out. But there is so much more to it that I didn't even know or feel until I was the man in charge. Every job has it's drawbacks of course, but the good FAR outweighs the bad.

This year has started in a dead sprint. When you have two schools worth of student names to learn, and two sets of lessons plans to write each week, it's hard to just sit down and relax, let alone share your experiences with the world. Hell, I can barely enjoy some downtime without thinking "I need to learn a new folk song," or "how do I keep the kids from throwing me out the window tomorrow?"
__________________________

To be honest, it's all going so much better than I thought it would. I'm learning, forgetting, and relearning names at a record pace. My name has changed from "Mr. Edgeton" to "Mr. Edgingtonian", to "Mr. Etch-a-sketch", to "Mrs. Edgeton", to "Mr. E" for ease and sanity's sake. After a few experiences of late night planning sessions, I'm finding a more efficient way to write lessons (turning off the TV and resisting Facebook visits). Finally, the most shocking realization...

The kids are actually learning and retaining what I'm teaching them.

It blows my mind. I've had time teaching students during my college years, but never got to see the end result. I've been in front of classes making an idiot of myself through silly dancing and speaking almost 2 octaves higher than my original voice, but never got to the real meat of the lesson in one half-hour session. Even during student teaching, I felt as if I couldn't take full credit for their accomplishments because I felt my mentor teacher played bigger roles in their success.

As the runner of the show, I feel like I'm actually doing something. I'm helping students learn about something that they've most-likely never experienced before, and maybe won't again after elementary school. I feel like I'm not just giving them another half hour of 'in one ear, out the other', but actually making a difference. Seeing these students achieve, grow, and learn right in front of me is new. It's different.

It's awesome.
__________________________

Now that I've used half my planning time as blog time, I better get back to work if I want to get any sleep tonight. Keep on keepin' on, and until next time...

♩♩for now,

Mr. E