Back in my RCAA days I did a passion project example.  My topic?  Stage Fright.  I learned a ton!  But when it came to the final product-- I failed.  Big time.  I could NOT sing in front of adults.  Just the thought of being heard by my two co-teachers made me want to cry.  I never performed the song I wrote ("A Whole New Term"), and I felt like I let down the student who accompanied me (sorry Michael). Fast forward a year, and I'm teaching 5th grade.  Guess what you absolutely CANNOT be afraid of with 10 year olds?  Making mistakes.  I made tons.  Every day.  Every hour.  Mistake after mistake.  Learning opportunity after opportunity.  In the end, I learned more in one year of 5th grade than I probably did in the previous three years put together.   So, to my 5th grade darlings (and all the darlings I was too afraid to sing in front of), here is a sneak peak of "Not a Show."  I sang this COLD.  Like-- I turned on the iPad and just went with it.  No practicing.  No previewing the lyrics.   Frankly, my voice stinks.  It cracks, I mess up on lyrics, and I think I laugh at one point.  You can hear the air conditioner on in the background.  You know what doesn't stink?  Learning.   And after practicing this the first time, I'll work on it some more (maybe get some help from the choir teacher).  Then I'll record it again.  And again.  And eventually--- BAM!  It'll be awesome.

Lyrics (draft #1- work in progress) . . .

Not a Show
The mac glows white  on the chapter tonight
Not a cliffnote, to be seen
A department of isolation
And it looks like I'm the queen
Test scores are howling ‘gainst  a swirling storm outside
Can’t care enough, heaven knows I’ve tried

Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the teacher you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know

Well, now they know
Not a show, not a show
Can't hold it back anymore
Not a show, not a show
Smile away and close my door

I don't care what they're going to say
Let the fun go on
Test scores never bothered me anyway

It’s funny how the research, makes demands seem small
and the numbers that controlled us, can’t stress us out at all 

It’s time to see what they can do
Surpass the limits, and soar through
more right, no wrong, no anxiety
We’re free

Not a show, not a show
I refuse to make kids cry
Not a show, not a show
It’s the hill on which I’ll die
Make a stand, and loud I say
Let debates rage on. . .

My lessons engage from the  bell until the bell
Our mind are grasping complex fractals all abound 
And concepts crystalize like they really last
We’re never going back, the burden’s in the past 

Not a show, not a show
We’ll learn life in the real world  
Not a show, not a show
That stressed out class is gone
Make a stand, and loud I say
let debates rage on
Test scores never bothered me anyway

All this, PLUS an amazing charter school!

Kudos to Zhoe, Michael, and Elias for exceeding their math goals last term!

It's important to be yourself in life, unless you can be a Mush.  Then always be a Mush!

A little Throwback Thursday action for you: