Music Soothes the Beasts? Not Today... (Plus Trouble's Introduction)

Well, after the wonderful, joyful, perfect lesson using music, I was thrilled to go into work today, ready to introduce my kind of music to my students, and see if they enjoyed Josh Groban as much as I do.

But then, as it always does, reality crashed in.

After the perfection of the previous day, I should have known that it wouldn't work. My first class of the day, which is an advanced class, were wound up as they came in, and they didn't ever really settle. They listened to the music, made their comments, and gave the song a title, but they mostly were silly. (When asked to describe the pictures that formed in their minds, they mostly said things like, "A man eating a taco," "a woman walking down the road in Mexico, with tacos," and "a man dumping his girlfriend after she shot him." They all did enjoy the music, though, so that was a good thing. The only one who had anything negative to say was one boy who told me he didn't like it because it sounded so sad it made him feel depressed.

Then, during the next block, to add insult to injury since I was already feeling a little down about how I didn't really get the responses I wanted, the Internet, computer network, and phone system went down. No Internet (which is how I was playing "The Nutcracker" for my example), no projector to show them the journal prompt, nothing. So I couldn't even do it with them, so my remaining lesson was short, which is always frustrating.

Then the air conditioner broke, which just had the effect of making me really grouchy, since it was hot, I wasn't able to do what I wanted, and the kids were still wound up for whatever reason.

Suffice to say, it wasn't the joy-filled day I had anticipated.

I will try again Monday, though.

In response to the person who commented and wanted to know what the kids had thought and said about the song:

-A girl said: I really like this song because it's so peaceful and calm, and it sounds like the man singing is really passionate about something or someone (this is exactly what she said, because when she said passionate, it made me want to laugh at her. I didn't, though, I was good).

-One of my boys created this whole story to go along with the song. It was hilarious! The other kids wanted to hear the song again while they thought of his story, to see if it fit. His story was about a man strumming a guitar while singing in a boat going down a river, then the same man is singing to a woman in a house with a candlelight dinner nearby, while the woman looks on "lovingly" and smiles, because she has forgiven him for "forgetting her birthday."

-I don't like this song, because I think the man has just lost his girlfriend, who he loved very much, and he's so sad and lonely sounded, it makes me sad.

-I love this song! Who is the singer?

-I know who sings this! It's that guy... you know, the one named Santana. (Nope, I said, sadly. Not quite.)

-One of my students (one of my favorites, just because she's such a sweetheart) and I had a little giggle-fest about him, because she did know who he was, and she wanted to know if I thought Josh was cute. I said, oh, yes, I do. And he's the perfect age for me (because for some reason, my kids really want me to marry one of the twins from the Harry Potter movies. More than a few students have told me that. I keep telling them I'll get arrested because they're so young...) My co-teacher (a male) told both of us that if he didn't have such a gorgeous voice, neither one of us would give him the time of day. We both looked at each other and shook our heads sadly at his ignorance. I said, "Um, he's hot, regardless of that voice. Add in his voice, and Josh Groban is perfection." He just shook his head sadly in return.

-It's a song full of hope, and this one man is hopeful his girl will come back to him.

The titles they gave the song were almost all silly, stuff like:

• Mi Amor (is this spelled correctly??)
• The River (the boy who had the man boating)
• Hopeful Days
• Love Stinks
• Please Forgive Me
• The Taco Man

And many more.

As I mentioned yesterday, I have a student that is just pure trouble. He actually might be almost redeemable, because he still can get excited and participate in the classroom assignments. For example, we were illustrating our portfolio covers, and he drew a car, and had to show me all the details as he added them, telling me how much each one would cost. I would say things like "Wow! People are crazy to pay that!" and "Looking good, Trouble!" But this is involvement on his part is rather rare, and mostly he's just a pain in the rear.

The first day of school, I had to get on him for tripping another student, a teeny-tiny one. He likes to make sound effects constantly. I don't think I have made it through one lesson without calling his name. Not a single one.

Plus, he's Mr. Sound Effects. He must constantly whistle, sing, make cat noises, and bird noises. He's enough to drive anyone insane.

If you ask him a question, he will just sit there and stare at you defiantly, and refuse to answer.

Trouble has already had to meet with my entire team of teachers to discuss how he needs to change, but it hasn't really made a difference. Next step will be a parent conference, then I know there'll be trouble for Trouble. When mom's are called to the school, it rarely goes well for anyone.

Oh, joy.