Yesterday, I became "that teacher". I was teaching general music, which I love to do, for grades 2-5. However for kids, this was the equation: middle of May+Friday+special class+substitute teacher=we can talk all day. It was a small, echoey room, so the noise got very bad, very fast. Every class had to be settled down more than once, and I still have a cold. By the end of the day, I was still pretty upbeat, but I wasn't ready to take any crap.
The absent teacher wanted the last class to learn the words to, and sing three songs. They sang the first one quite readily and well. They sang it in English and in Spanish. They sang it four times, twice with the words on the CD accompaniment, and twice with just the music. they were pretty enthusistic. I put on the second song, and they sang it once with the words on CD, and did pretty well. They were ready to move to the recording without the words, and they sang along with that one, too. All but four. One boy in the very front of the room was talking to one boy in the back of the room, and two girls in the very back of the room sat with their books held up as a screen, talking behind them.
When they song ended, I told the class that they had done well, but that there were four students who wanted to sing all by themselves. Instantly, volunteering hands shot up. No, no. These students decided to talk while the rest of you were singing. You and you and you and you, come up front and sing it for us. They stood in the front and croaked out a very sad rendition of a bit of the song. The two boys were irritated, but the girls were absolutely mortified. One of them looked like she was going to cry.
As the class was leaving, I thought, "Oh lord, I've become that teacher." We've all had that teacher, haven't we?
Only one week to go. Thank God.
