Saturday, March 24, 2012

I've got a feeling

This is the email I sent to our amazing PE and music teachers. Last night they put on dance night for our school, which is always my favorite night of the year.
This year, although only one of my students came to the actual dance night, the entire dance unit was utterly amazing for my kids.
Here's what I wrote to the team:

The last two weeks have been awful for me. Between the large amount of paperwork I've had, disgruntled parents, and early spring-fever behavior I've been wondering why I do this job.

Then yesterday during snack my kids starting singing "I've got a feeling".

My kids. You know- the ones who need prompts to speak in more than one-two word utterances. The ones who have assistance with accessing PE. The ones that spend PE laying on the floor. Even in their seats at snack they were independently doing the motions you've taught them for the dance, trying to teach me, and singing it loudly as they waved their hands in the air. It was such an awesome opportunity to hear their language skills.

So I borrowed someone's iphone so I could play the song during free choice. We played it on repeat- over and over again. My kids were WILD with excitement. They know the dance steps and LOVE the dance. They were singing LOUDLY, laughing, smiling, jumping and dancing. Every single one of them was into it. I took a video- I'll have to show it to you. I just keep rewatching it over and over again because it makes me remember why I love my job. Why all this paperwork is worth it.

I am willing to bet that some of these kids barely participated in actual PE/music classes while you were teaching it, but they clearly were still paying attention because they know the words and the movements.

Thank you for working so hard at dance night- it's such an amazing opportunity for all of our kids, but particularly mine. Even though most of them didn't come to the actual night they still got so much out of the unit. Your unit gave them language skills, sequencing skills, long-term memory skills, and most importantly, an opportunity to just have fun and enjoy being in school.

Thank you for reminding me why I love my job.

1 comment:

magpie said...

The Black eyed Peas have some wonderful songs. Maybe you were thinking along literal lines after the week that was:)