Mondays, my schedule typically consists of both firsts, then recreo, followed by 3rd and 6th. Since Tuesday was our big Jingle Bells day, though, I knew I would be with 5th grade most of the morning. I got to school at the strike of 8:50 (seems to be my style lately), and I saw Evely (a 5th grader) frantically running towards me. The doors have been locked. This happened last week, too. Wednesday was the English Department robbery, which led to more care being taken on-site at schools. That's great, except that it usually costs me about 10 minutes trying to find someone who will answer their phone and then find the keys.
Monday I was lucky because Evely had been standing guard. I asked her if she had the keys and she came running down the steps.
"No, Teacher, I don't have the keys, but we just practiced Jingle Bells with Teacher Arcelia and it was awful and we sounded terrible and we can't remember how to pronounce some words-the part about the song; what kind of song is it- and Teacher Arcelia couldn't help us and we need you!"
Finally she took a breath and I asked her to go get the key so practicing could become a reality.
We got that taken care of and I entered fifth grade (without even signing in) to huge applause. That's enough to make you want to come to work everyday!
We practiced pronunciation first (I made them read the song backwards and forwards without singing), then we sang it, and then we tested out my different versions of Jingle Bells. One was a kids choir and it was fast which basically just meant that the kids loved it. The important thing about that version was that it had the chorus, followed by one verse, ending with two choruses. That was basically how we'd practiced it. Another one was a jazzy version, which wouldn't do (for many reasons) mostly because it had the second verse and we did not have time for that! The third version was Kenny Chesney. It was Caribbean meets country, as one would expect. I introduced the song by telling them how famous Kenny Chesney was, and then striking a tree pose while name-dropping that I had done yoga with him. Some of my girl fans laughed and grinned; most of the boys rolled their eyes. I think it was lost on most of them.
That version had way too many verses, including at least one that Kenny made up. That one was out, too.
I knew the kids were in love with the Children's Chorus, but I was afraid it was too fast. My last hope was the karaoke. I pushed play and they all sang as they should... until it played three verses. There was no way we could do that and I was not in the mood to channel creativity or ability to splice it.
Fast version it is. The kids hooted and hollered and were ecstatic and couldn't wait to go outside to practice. The cancha (that multi-purpose area/court where PE takes place- and every other activity at school) was empty, so it was a great time to go outside. We had already practiced singing and pronunciation, and had brainstormed some dance ideas for an hour. It was 10:00 and time to see what it looked like in real life.
Out we went and I made the front row of girls spread out and the back row of boys (you'll notice later that they were less than enthusiastic). Ramón (PE) was there that day, but not teaching (because we were all practicing) and he was relatively helpful with placements and keeping the kids in line.
I turned on the music and we were lacking something. Dancing. By the end of the 30 minutes (after all, no need to miss recreo), we had some moves, but they needed quite a bit of polishing. We also had an entrance. That was key.
We all enjoyed recreo, though I think I enjoyed it most. I had gotten all hot and bothered from the running around, placing kids, starting/stopping the music, etc. The break was welcomed!
After recreo, it's like it all gelled. I was glad. Prof Roberto (principal) came up and said he thought it was great. He thought it was probably the best number. But...
Ugh. Why is there always a butt.
He thought since it was in English, and since they did such a great song, that we should do it acapella. We should showcase their ability. I agreed and had thought that to begin with, but knew the kiddos were bored and wanted to do something "fun" like the other groups (who were all only dancing). He said he wanted to hear them sing, and then we should dance, too. So, we were now doing the same song twice. I was actually ecstatic about the decision because it showcased their voices, and fun. And, the song was only a little over a minute long, so singing it twice made our production a little bit longer! Well, twice as long, actually.
By the end of the day (or with enough time left for one class), we had it down and I felt good about it. The kids seemed confident, too, though I knew Tuesday would bring unsettled nerves.
At that point, I had enough time to go see 6th grade for the only time this week. It seemed silly to work in the book, so I headed their way with nothing but my CD in hand. I entered and told them I'd been singing and dancing with 5th grade all day and didn't really feel like teaching from the book. How did they feel about a culture lesson? I told them I wanted to teach them some dances from Nashville and they got pumped!
I returned to the cancha with 6th graders this time and made two rows with them. I slowly explained the steps of the electric slide. I had had big dreams of multiple dances, but based on the learning curve and rate with the electric slide, I'll have to save the other two dances for a (non) rainy day.
Again, they were more interested in dancing to the fast song than mastering it with a slow song, but by the end, the majority of them had it. Well, I shouldn't say had it. I should say a majority of them were ready for another lesson and then would be golden.
Since this was the last class of the day, we were drawing a crowd of parents who were there to pick up their lovely niños. They greeted us with smiles of, "Aw, isn't that cute."
Needless to say, this Señorita was sweatin' it up big time!
We ended and the bell rang. As I was leaving, I saw some of the girls practicing with their backpacks as they made their way out of the school.
What a job!
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