On Wednesday, I sent an email out to my 20 choir students, to give them recordings I'd made of some solos many want to try out for. Yesterday, when I logged into my email upon arriving at work, one had responded--"I can't see them?"
Uh, oops. Seems I'd forgotten to actually attach the promised sound files, leading me to hit "reply all" and explain that their teacher has a head full of cotton this week and really needs this upcoming week off.
A little while later, my class arrived, and I explained to them what had happened. I was greeted with laughter and a chorus of, "I've been like that this week, too!" They just take it in stride that I'm not perfect, just a somewhat-scatterbrained, musical, creative-type who is apt to forget the most important part of an email and have to send it all over again.
Every day, my kids come to my room excited to be in choir, ready to sing and have fun. While we have days of low energy, and moments where I feel like I'm talking to a wall (it's high school, after all, they get tired), 95% of the time, they are upbeat, receptive to trying new things, and willing to go along with their somewhat-scatterbrained, musical, creative-type teacher. And for that, I adore them.
They're not perfect, they're teenagers. But I'm not perfect, either, and my biggest joy in this job is that we've been able to forge through the new-teacher-on-the-block craziness and put on one great concert, with another (oy vey!) in three weeks. No, seriously, oy vey! Time to get a bit hyperactive on them to get them ready for this one.
Today, I'm thankful for this group of kids--each and every one of them, from the ones with a boatload of confidence to the ones who shyly try their best to be part of the group. They add up to make choir a fun, welcoming group and they represent the best of our school...my hope is that as I grow this program, I continue to bring in students and awesome as this first group.
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