When I grow up...

For the most part, I really love my new job of teaching music to the K-5 elementary students. Some days I absolutely love it, and at the end of the day, I'm floating on air. Some days are super challenging, especially in the spring, and at the end of the day I feel completely deflated and I don't ever want to return. The past month or so, the kids have been all wound up, and the behavioral problems seem greater. I feel like my job is actually more about classroom management than it is about teaching musical skills. But...I love sharing my love of music with the students, and I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to do just that.  I teach 300 students, and I tell them all that I love them. The truth is, I love to see some of them come, and I love to see some of them leave...but regardless of which category they're in, they're still all technically loved!

Yesterday, one of my kindergarten classes made an impact on me, and I'm writing it down because I want to remember the experience. The kindergarteners have been preparing for 2 months now for their upcoming kindergarten graduation next week, and we've been singing the same songs over and over to make sure that they're learning them. In that particular class, there is one star singer who's musically gifted and can pick up on the words of a song very quickly, and she's always on pitch. She has been essentially carrying the weight of the whole class during singing time. When I tell the kids I can't hear them, she sings louder to make up for the kids who don't sing. There is another girl in that class who doesn't sing at all. She has ADHD, and can't focus long enough to sit still for five seconds, let alone learn the words to the songs. Well yesterday, the star singer of the class was absent, and for the first time in 3 months, I heard the restless girl sing. She sang super loud, and she belted out the words to half the songs. I was so impressed, and I kept vocally praising her, and she smiled and smiled and sang and sang. It made my heart happy! In that same class, there's a boy who always gives me a hard time....he's the naughty boy in the class. He never wants to do what I ask the students to do, he acts like the tough guy that can never be hurt, and he always answers questions with sarcastically smart remarks. Yesterday, at the end of class, we were playing a game, and he loudly proclaimed "When I grow up, I want to be a fire fighter AND a music teacher!". I thought it was hysterical because he hates singing, but I felt like perhaps I was finally making a difference in someone's life if they want to have my job when they grow up!!!

Yesterday was one of those days when I absolutely loved my job!!!