The sixth graders are a quality group that have continued to loosen up as the year has worn on. They are always polite, and have shown bits and pieces of personality more often:
- One girl showed up with flashy purple and orange shoes a couple weeks ago. I thought they looked really cool, so I complimented her on them after class. She thanked me, and we started talking about how much we like the color orange (it is my favorite color). Apparently her whole bedroom is orange, and she made it clear that it was a bright orange. I asked her how she sleeps at night with such a bright room, and she said she is used to it. It's kind of like a night light.
- One of the flutes showed up with shutter shades the other day. I noticed them on her music stand before class, and commented on them. She said I could try them on. So I did, and I noticed quite a few grins from the students around. One of the clarinets spoke up and said it was a good look for me.
- This week was teacher appreciation week. I was oblivious to this until Thursday, but then one of the clarinets gave the band director and me little bags with goodies. The girl has exquisite taste (Starbursts, Hershey's nuggets, and a Lindt truffle!), but her demeanor was the best part. She walked up, handed me my bag, and said it was for teacher appreciation week. I thanked her as warmly as I could, which was easy, because it was such a heartwarming surprise. Even though she had taken the time to make the bags, she wanted to get the moment over with quickly and head back to her seat. I think I can relate - I was one of those students who always felt awkward in those situations where you wanted to show some sort of appreciation, but keep that professional distance that's hard to keep when you give someone a token of appreciation.
Now, on to the endlessly colorful fifth graders:
- I usually get to fifth grade band well before class starts, to monitor the kids in the hallway. They are bused to the junior high, and have to wait for a zero period class to finish up before they can go in the room. As I entered the hallway, one of the saxes zipped by me, and when he got to his friends just ahead of me, I heard him exclaim, "I beat Mr. Chalberg!"
- I recently did sectionals with each section over the course of several band periods. The flutes ended up being the last group, and long story short, they had to wait a while due to some scheduling complications. They were quite happy when they finally got their turn. In particular, one girl (who comes up to about my waist) started bench pressing her flute as we waited for one of the flautists to grab something from the band room. Several players in the section felt the urge to flaunt their flute-lifting abilities after that. For a couple minutes, we morphed from sectional to weight training, but it was a good time for a quick break anyway :)
- One of the fifth grade french horn players told me that he picked the instrument to improve his chances at college scholarships. How's that for thinking ahead?
- One morning a week ago, it seemed like show-and-tell. One girl came up to me, and made sure I saw her super cool pair of socks. A minute later, another girl came up and showed me a couple faces she had painted on her feet. I asked if they had names (no). I noticed they were a boy and girl, so I asked if they were a couple (not yet).
- Probably the quote of the year here. The most outspoken girl in the band (without question), burst into the hallway, came up to me, and yelled, "Junior high boys should NOT wear cologne! They are stinky enough already, and all they are tying to do is pick up girls!!" I couldn't help but laugh, and I told her I agreed with her. I also told her that I wasn't wearing any cologne.
