Line Up, Please!

The first week of school was great! I had a ton of fun with every class. I teach Jr Kinder, Kinder, grades 1-5 and JH choir. That's about 500 students in 19 classes. Since I teach at a private school, my class sizes average at about 17!! Piece of cake! It's funny to hear the veteran teachers who have never taught in public schools complain about a class with 24 kids. They have no idea.

The most worthy thing to note about the week is that I have forgotten what Kindergartners are like at the beginning of the year. How do I say this politely? They are completely delinquent in absolutely everything you would think is easy to do! I mean, really! They can't sit still to save their lives, they can't wait for you to finish even one sentence (or an 8 measure song), and they have no concept of walking in a line.

What happens is the teacher asks for the kids to line up. This results in a swarm of children around their hive...er... teacher. So then the teacher tries to choose one person to be the start of the line and show the kids which direction the line will end up. Now we have three lines in 4 different directions.

When the teacher finally gets all of the kids in a somewhat unified conglomeration, the next challenge is to get all the children to face the same direction. You can try singing, saying "1,2,3, eyes on me," and jumping up & down like a clown, but you will still have 4 kids who have no idea that you are even at the head of the room trying to get their attention. So the teacher must physically move their bodies to face the front.

The next challenge is to start moving the line in a forward direction. The teacher walks backwards, beckoning the first child in the line to follow her. The kid only gazes into space, transfixed on the beaded necklace around the teacher's neck. "Follow the person in front of you!" "Keep facing the front!" But to no avail. If she is lucky, the teacher will get the first child to walk forward, leaving everyone else behind. Finally, one child notices that the teacher is moving forward and starts to walk. But that kid was fifth in line and doesn't wait for the others to go. Once again, there is a human blob in the doorway of the classroom, spilling into the hallway, resulting in virtually no progress from what began 7 minutes earlier.

Expect about a month to master exiting the room. Then another 3 or 4 for the children to test every law of physics by sauntering through the halls in zigzag motions, walking backwards, tracing their fingers on and bumping into every wall, finding microscopic pieces of trash on the ground, starting at the end of the line at point A and ending up three people from the front at point B, tripping over their own feet, kicking, poking, teasing, arguing and falling over each other. Seriously, no exaggeration. I am a witness to these true events of the past week!

How we underestimate the patience required to teach our little ones! Even though they struggle to focus on my instructions, the moment that I sing and move, the children are all fixed on what I am doing. Reaching these little people through the power of music and movement is exactly why I chose this career. I love it! And I love them.