Monday, October 5, 2015

Singing in Math


Middle school math. Special ed.

It was a fairly straightforward assignment. I went over the explanation and gave them time to practice. Easy enough.

"Turn around..." (sung)


Yep, this was the tune. The lyrics... Yeah, they're not really that familiar with the song.

There were a couple boys who kept twisting around in their seats. But singing "turn around" wasn't really changing their behavior. The thing that got them to stop, though, was when I informed them that they had the lyrics wrong.

Then another boy started singing something a bit more contemporary. (No, I don't remember what. I deliberately blocked it from my memory.) Now this was getting ridiculous. So, I turned on the radio.

What? If they wanted music, perhaps listening would stop the singing. Because I didn't want to hear them singing. It's not the singing that bugs me. It's that they sing one lyric over and over and over again. And then it gets stuck in my head for the rest of the day. This was pure self-preservation.

Now they wanted to choose the station. And since the song on the station I chose wasn't familiar to them, they ignored it.

Ah well. I didn't get their song stuck in my head, so I consider this a victory.
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14 comments:

  1. lyndagraceOctober 5, 2015 at 8:23 AM

    I guess I'm a little confused. Was the assignment to sing the song "Turn Around?"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alex J. CavanaughOctober 5, 2015 at 8:39 AM

    Was that all they knew of the song? That would bug me as well. Nothing a little Scandinavian metal couldn't erase though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. PaulaOctober 5, 2015 at 10:18 AM

    Your title grabbed me. Why? Because Harley just told me yesterday that she misses her "old" (meaning last year's) math teacher because he taught them cute songs to remember Algebra. I Googled songs for high school Geometry for her and found a section of songs!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liz A.October 5, 2015 at 6:09 PM

      If they were singing math songs, that would have been one thing. Totally could see that as being part of the class.

      Delete
  4. bettyOctober 5, 2015 at 1:52 PM

    Now I have that song stuck in my mind :)

    betty

    ReplyDelete
  5. J E OneilOctober 5, 2015 at 2:50 PM

    I wouldn't have recognized that song either. Of course, now I'm getting to the age where I wouldn't have recognized any of their music...

    ReplyDelete
  6. BirgitOctober 5, 2015 at 4:25 PM

    Knowing me, I would turn on Classical and really get their goat:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yvonne VentrescaOctober 6, 2015 at 4:19 AM

    They sound like a cheerful bunch. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownOctober 6, 2015 at 5:47 AM

    Entertaining, if somewhat irritating way to spend the day.

    ReplyDelete
  9. bookwormOctober 9, 2015 at 3:21 AM

    Ack, earworm, earworm. Thanks a lot! Aren't there some math songs out there? Maybe from an old cartoon series? Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liz A.October 9, 2015 at 7:46 PM

      I'm sure there are. Of course, those would have become earworms, too. (But better than mis-singing the lyrics to "Total Eclipse of the Heart".)

      Delete

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