Gray skies smiling at me

Today was my first day of WW classes for the session. They went well, some packed full and some with barely enough students to run, but I felt good about them and had a fun morning singing with the baybays again after a few weeks off. Last night I worked hard crafting a letter to pass out today. There already exists a little brochure called "Guidelines for WW" but you open it up and it's just a list of 10 or so rules and a couple of phone numbers. I wanted to give the parents something more welcoming and make sure they understood the reasons for the rules, because otherwise, what's the point? It's simple stuff: participate in class, no food, turn off your cell phone. Still, some people have never thought about the fact that their baby needs to be shown how to sing along or follow a fingerplay or be a member of a group class. Or the fact that introducing a handful of cheerios to an otherwise engaged toddler takes him out of the group dynamic, away from the song or activity, distracts the other kids, and leaves the carpet full of ground-in crumbs for the next class. I talk a little bit about this stuff on the first day, but everyone is eager to begin class and anyone who comes late or joins later in the session misses the infomation. I've never had any serious problems in my classes but I do feel strongly about how I want my classes to run and I'd like the other grownups in the room to understand and help maximize the fun and learning.

Ben helped me fine-tune my flyer and I am very proud of it. It is very me; friendly, eager, wanting everyone to be on the same page. I think it was well-worded and I hope it set a good tone for the session. I felt like a good, prepared, professional teacher. My goal this session is to use one new song each week. It's hard to find the balance between enough repetition for the kids and enough new stuff to keep the mood fresh and the adults engaged. Today's new song was John the Rabbit. (Yes ma'am!)

Yesterday I taught a bilingual children's choir. It's a class for 5-7 year olds that sings songs in English and in Spanish. The choir hasn't had a lot of kids for the past few sessions, but suddenly this session there are 15 new kids. Because of some miscommunications, the class was without a teacher on the very first day, a fact that was discovered just a few hours before the class was to begin. My front desk boss recommended me, and so I stepped in at the last minute. It went as well as can be expected for a hastily prepared lesson and a group of kids antsy from first week of school. We sang "Cantad Con Tu Voz," "El Cocodrilo," and "The Lady and the Crocodile." Mostly it was great to be asked, and I spoke a little with the director about working with other children's choral classes.

It was challenging yesterday, and I was nervous, but it made me so happy to teach my Worms today. I feel very at home in those classes. I love those kiddies!