Song Lyrics of the Day
The above is a drawing I received from one of my students two years ago. It depicts one of my favorite times in class during that period. She and what ended up being her friends sat in the back right high table. Each day, I would come around with my iPad to check homework while students worked on a warmup. Their table was the second to last one that would get checked so by the time I got there, they were usually done with the warmup - at least they should have been.
Those high tables were also cool because they were next to the window and had a dry erase surface on them. What’s depicted in her drawing is a bunch of lyrics written on the table - I believe this specific drawing has the lyrics to The Beatles' Yellow Submarine. Pretty much each day she would write down the lyrics to a song she memorized on the table. She would arrange her notebook and supplies around it so that the lyrics could be all written. I would pass by and shake my head in seeming disapproval some days, but most of the time, I was just impressed. Mostly because she picked really cool songs, but also because it would be something I would do.
Fast forward to the next year and she and some other people from that period would stop by at lunch and they would share their dance routines and musical theater stuff with me (I honestly can’t remember what class it was, but I just know singing and dancing was part of it). They were eager to say hello and show me some of the things they were working on. I know for a fact that one of the songs was from the SpongeBob Squarepants musical. “Hero is My Middle Name.” They really went for it and honestly it was really catchy. This student also gave me some credit for her and her boyfriend talking to each other and growing their relationship in my class. I was honestly clueless, but it’s nice that my class is a source of good memories for them.
Fast forward again to when she is a freshman in high school. I donated to a fundraiser her class was running and she said, hey you didn’t have to do that. But of course I wanted to because she’s super talented and her singing and dancing brought me a lot of joy while she was at the middle school. And she drew this for me as a thank you for my small donation. So worth it because each time I look at it, I think of that first year teaching at Dwyer and that specific class period and all the good times I had there with those awesome students. I should scan all of the drawings my students make me.