I Like Your Bell Bottoms

Yesterday during choir, some of the girls started laughing hysterically.
MissD: What's so funny?
Gina: It's just that...it's just that...hahahaha
Izzy: It's that your bell bottoms are so big that they cover your whole foot! haha
Gina: Are you gonna go disco? haha
MissD: What? I wore these jeans for your guys! You always tell me that I should wear jeans.
Izzy: Yeah, but not BELL BOTTOMS, Miss D!
MissD: I'm not gonna wear no skinny jeans.
Gina: You don't have to wear skinny jeans but at LEAST straight leg, not BELL BOTTOMS. I mean ding dong, time for church! hahaha
MissD: I like them. I don't care. Do you think I'm going to be really upset?
Mary: Wow, MissD, you're alot stronger than I am. I would be crying by now.
MissD: I guess I'll be crying in my bell bottoms--not! I like them. Now lets get over it and sing.

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The next morning as I went about my business preparing for my day, one of my piano students came up to me and said something.
Lissa: Miss D, I like your bell bottoms.
MissD: Oh you heard about that? I started laughing. I'm surprised they even talked about it, but I do have her sister in my class.
Lissa: Yes. I like them. I thought the were cute on you.
MissD: Well, thanks, you awfully sweet. I didn't really care what they thought. I like my flares. Skinny jeans look really bad--even if you're really skinny. They did even way back when they were in when I was a kid. Makes your thighs look huuuge. But thanks, you were sweet to say something.

Even though I didn't care on most levels, it was still sweet that a kid cared enough to come up to me and show that she cared about my feelings. I mean, after all, anything goes with jeans these days. If you can buy it, it must be in. Besides I kind of got those flares to go over the boot I've been wearing for my sprained ankle.

The Smell of the Whiteboard

I wonder if someday schools will be sued over whiteboard use? It's not so much the whiteboards, but the Dry Erase pens. The latest thing in education is directed instruction. All that means is that you have to make sure that the kids are actively engaged at all times and you are constantly checking their work through each of them having a small whiteboard and using it to show you answers. There is just one flaw in the system.

My first day using whiteboards for the students I had a room full of kids with dry erase pens. They really smell. But not only do they smell, after an hour, I honestly couldn't hardly breath. I had two students with asthma who asked to wait outside, meaning that they couldn't participate in the lesson. I was suffering with them, but felt I had to continue the lesson I had planned. It would have been one thing if students wrote their answers and closed the pens. But everyone started drawing, swapping colors, writing cute messages to me and their friends, all the while with the pens open, infesting the air with chemicals.

I can see the future lawsuits from children who swear they got lung cancer as a child--not from smoking cigarettes, weed, second hand smoke or breathing smog--but from hours of breathing the chemicals from dry erase pens for the sake of direct instruction.

We could go back to small chalkboards or slates as they were using in the pioneer days before mass produced paper. There's just one problem. I'm allergic to chalk.

Being Quiet

It's hard not to talk when you are in junior high and your best friend is sitting next to you in class. I have two girls in my piano/choir class that just loooove to talk to each other. I really ought to move them, but I honestly hate doing seating charts, too. I want them by kids they like for peer tutoring on the piano. Plus, I just hate being strict. It's boring. Plus, if you reallllly like to talk, you'll talk across the room. They have done that plenty of times.

I've had to find other ways to get them to be quiet like thanking them for not talking. Then I might say, Headphones on, fingers on the keys, mouths closed. This works for about 10 minutes. I also ferret out who has been practicing by how well they play the keyboard for their tests. It's not really about talent at this point. It's about practice and focusing on the skills that you need to focus on.

MissD: What you REALLY need is to practice more and talk less.
Kid: I doo practice.
MissD: Practice more. Talk less.
Kid: OH, Miss D, how do you KNOW?
MissD: I just know.
Kid: Alright. I admit it. I could practice more.
MissD: Thank you. I know.

I was fixing another student's book with clear duct tape when I noticed two girls chatting away quietly, not practicing.

OK, girls, that's enough. Headphones on, fingers on the keys, mouths closed. They honestly tried. I'm sure of it, but soon they were back at their merry chat.

Alright, that's it. I had a small piece of extra tape left over and started walking toward one of the girls as if I were going to put it on her mouth.
Miss D, you can't do that! called one of the kids.
She took the piece of tape and put it over her own mouth.
She did it herself, it wasn't me!
Everyone laughed. Every time I turned around, something new would happen. The other girl made a piece and put it over her mouth. They weren't talking anymore, they were practicing. Then the pieces of tape kept getting bigger. Finally, I put a piece of tape over my own mouth and wore it as I went around to help the kids with their keyboard skills. We were all smiling while we practiced.