It's that crazy time of year again - Spring Performances with my music kids, Recital with my dance kids, End of Grade testing and general end of the school year craziness. Over the past few weeks I have had so many moments where I felt that my brain was going to explode if I put one more piece of information in it. Trying to keep five dances straight with transitions, groups, counts, and who was saying what line and singing what solo in four different performances of our Jungle Jam Kindergarten Program was making me feel insane. I had notebooks with notes, clipboards with notes, papers with notes stuck in between the pages of a book, post-it notes with notes, and receipts with notes written on the back.
I was so overwhelmed, so naturally I decided to add one more thing to the mix - let's get my over-worked, under-appreciated, extremely tired and stressed staff together to Flash Mob our students and get them pumped for our big end of grade tests. I was so surprised by the response from our school - nearly every single teacher, assistant, and staff member came out to learn the dance and support our kids. We had so much fun laughing at ourselves trying to do the Running Man, Thriller, and Hamster Dance from the Kia Commercials (just to name a few). Some teachers got together over the lunch the next day to practice and rehearse just to make sure they had all the moves down. I even had staff members breaking out the moves in the hallway... for three glorious days the whole mood of our school shifted. It felt like the first day of spring after a long, hard, horrible winter. Who knew that trying to help out our students would be so beneficial to our own moral, mood, and energy, too?
And when the big moment came - hearing our students scream for us, watching them laugh until they started to cry, and seeing them explode into excitement and applause when we struck our final pose made it all worth it. And not just the time it took to mix the music, plan the dance, rehearse, and teach it - but EVERYTHING was worth it for ALL of us.
Teachers work so hard. And recently the amount of work that is required of them has tripled and our salary has remained the same for five years now... not even an increase to help offset the rise in cost of living over these past five years. The teachers at our school work so hard, they love so hard, and they give so much of themselves each and every day for one reason - they care about these kids. If it were about money or benefits or the calendar, trust me, we would find something else to do because NONE of that means anything when you see our paychecks at the end of each month. Teachers stay because they believe in the beauty and possibility of each and every one of their students. They stay because they care. And the crazy thing is - it's often in the tiniest and silliest of things (like a Flash Mob) that we get our justification and gratification for what we do - for our year of love and hard work and dedication.
I can't speak for everyone, but I know that when the Flash Mob was finished - that feeling, that excitement, that love I felt between the staff and our students - that is the reason why I teach. Our kids will remember how silly we all looked for years to come... and while that memory may not get them a passing grade or the resume to find a dream job, it does show them what's truly important in life. Working hard, working together, and working with love. And of all the lessons we teach, I think this one is the most valuable. (P.S. I am trying to get my hands on the recording of the FlashMob so you all can enjoy it!)
