Last Week of Sixth Grade

This is the last week that I will be teaching sixth grade.  I have been teaching this group of students since last January.  Yes, they all did have a summer break, but then I was teaching them again every other week, four days a week, until the end of this quarter.  Perhaps you are saying, is that such a big change?  Well, it turns out, it may actually be.  Think about this.  For the past year, I have had these students not just for music, but also many of them I have had every day also for targeted learning time, and also some of them I have had three days a week for Enrichment period.  Some of them are also in my advisory.  I have also been doing recess and lunch duty twice a week.  Basically, for many of them, I have spent half the day with them, which is more than their core teachers do.  Hmm.  I want it known that I will miss them when I don't see them anymore for three periods a day.  I will miss their wonderful senses of humor, their delightful joyful personalities, and their focus on meeting all the standards.

 I will say, I shall miss, more than anything else, the connection I have made with them over the last year.  We have experienced a great deal together.  Last year I was fortunate enough to go to the roller skating rink with the whole grade as their DARE graduation celebration.  I laughed and skated all day, and enjoyed singing along with the songs they played and the kids sang too.  I also fell and hurt my wrist very badly and wore an ace bandage for several weeks after that experience.  The children were very kind to me, because several of them also hurt themselves very badly and either broke bones, or walked around on crutches for much of the spring.  It was a wonderful way to get to know the class in a less formal, not so high pressure context.  I watched them interact with each other, and many of them skated with me and talked to me while they were skating around.

This fall we had the overnight experience at the Boston Science Museum.  This was also a great experience and I will always remember having supper with the kids that night and breakfast the next morning, and our walk back to the train at North Station.  I learned science concepts right along with them, and we talked a lot about the presentations and the cool exhibits there.

 It is a rare thing to know a group of children this well, and I will take with me many of the amazing things they shared with me over the past year.  Some of them I will continue to see in the play, Annie, and I will see my advisory students every morning for the rest of the year, and a few I might see coming and going during the student council meetings.  However, the rest of the students I will no longer see on a regular basis at all.

I want to say how important this time has been with these children.  I have learned so much, and I hope they have as well.  I asked my class how the arts have affected your life, and I got many interesting responses:

 "Without music life would not be exciting it would be lonely and sad life would have a lead foot. Or a dog with no bark. It would be a empty bond. like a sentence with no meaning. I would be the only shark in a sea of fish the lonely one no one wants to me. The oceans would be mean and never wave.

  Or worst of all a music class without a great teacher. Luckily that's a world I don't know.

Another thought was this one:

The arts (specifically drama) have affected my life more than almost anything. My goal in life is to be an actress, and sometimes if I get a Progressing on an assignment, or I have to stay after for a few minutes because I was goofing off, sometimes I can't wait to just go to Drama Club, and get some blocking done really helps me think because I can see my friends and do what I love. Choreography is dancing, and dancing helps release endorphins. Whenever I'm mad sometimes I just dance it out in my room and I feel so much better. It's very helpful when you're getting an apple for a snack and you stub your toe, instead of screaming, sing about how angry you are. The arts have affected my life because they help me deal with stress and keeping myself from boredom.

And I really liked this one too:

       1. Music has affected me greatly. I used to not care about music until 5th grade. When the piano lab opened, I thought the piano lab was going from simply singing, which was hard enough for me, to mission impossible. I didn't think I would learn how to play the piano. I ended up learning how to play C position that day. Music has changed my life ever since. I used to play video games right after I got home every day, (still do) but now I also use sites like newgrounds to listen to music, and get inspired. Every time I visit the site, I find amazing composers, and think that I could never be as good as them, but I keep trying.
           2. I would have never thought about a musician as a career choice for me, I had always wanted to be a veterinarian. However, when I was introduced to the piano, it had popped up into my mind. I used to want to be a veterinarian because I had a love for animals, and the ambition to save the innocent animals who had been hurt. When I was introduced to piano, I suddenly knew it was my destiny. I know that I am going to be the best musician I can be when I grow up.

These ideas really show me the development of some of these students, and how they have changed over the last year. They have matured, most of them are taller than I am now, their looks have changed, their language development has grown immensely, they have been able to focus longer and on more complex ideas. I have enjoyed this process more than anything, other than just getting to know their personalities so well. I hope they come to visit me in the second half of the year, and I want to thank the parents for the opportunity to work with their wonderful children.

I leave you with this quotation from E. M. Forester, the great novelist: "ONLY CONNECT." To me, that is the most important part of any experience.

"Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water, I will ease your mind" Paul Simon