Monday, November 15, 2021

That One Day I Was Young and Cool

One day, a couple of weeks ago, I received a few ego boosts. This school year, I go home most days wondering if I even remember how to manage a classroom. But this particular day, I finished my day feeling pretty good about myself. 
 
My day started with my students asking, "How do you sing that so fast?!" 
 
We had just sung an opening song, the tongue twister "Hagdalena Magdalena."
 
"I’ve been practicing it for over twenty years," I answered.

"You’re older than twenty?" one of the fifth graders asked.

"I've been teaching twenty years, so yes."

"You look twenty-five," another kid said.

"You’re my favorite class," I told them.

I tell every class they are my favorite if they say I look young. So classes do comment on my youthfulness from time to time.
 
Teaching Year #21
 
That same morning, after playing my guitar and singing for a third grade class, one of the girls said, "You should be a YouTube singer."
 
"I'm too old for that."
 
"You could be the oldest one," another little boy said.

My third graders thought I was cool enough to be on YouTube. Winning.
 
 
That afternoon, a group of older students saw me as I was loading up my car to leave for the day. 
 
"Whoa, Mrs. Duggan, is that your car?!" one of the sixth girls exclaimed. "I thought music teachers only drove vans!"
 
"Not this music teacher!" I told her.

 
I was also wearing a black turtleneck that day, and one of my students said I looked like Steve Jobs. 

"Do you know who Steve Jobs was?" I asked him. I mean, the kid was eight.

"One of the founders of Apple," he replied
 
"Okay. Nice."
 
Really, I was going for more of a Beatnik vibe.
 
 
"You should probably write that one down," one of the other students said.
 
They must have figured out my blog post material secret . . .
 
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