Dance Party

It was about an hour before the end of the day. Vera (instructional assistant) suggested we put on some music. I opened up the floor for requests. 

I'm not a fan of choosing music. I know what I like, but for the most part, I find no one else really enjoys my choices. And I'm generally quite content to sit in a silent room. So, when in a group, I let others pick what we're listening to. 

We started with a couple recent top 40 hits. We got Jayden up, although he was only reluctantly dancing. Vera danced with her student, and a couple students from other classes joined us. We even pulled Penelope into the fun, which is a bit different as she's wheelchair bound. (Jennifer and Jonas weren't interested, and ignored us.)

And, of course, we got Yohana in on the action.

I don't think I've mentioned Yohana before. She's pretty quiet. She follows where we lead. She goes where we tell her. And she's so quiet we sometimes forget she's there.

But, when left to her own devices, she'll dance. There doesn't have to be music. As she ambles around when we're on breaks, she'll dance to her own internal music. 

Various aides know what she likes, though, so we put on some music for her. And for the rest of them, actually. Songs that everyone seemed to like. 

New-to-me music, but old favorites for many of them.

Dance Party

Pretty much the first thing in the morning, the class exercises. One day is yoga. Another is weights. And a third day they can choose to dance. (Walking is the other option on these days.) 

So, it was dancing day, and half the class chose to go walking instead. The IAs both preferred walking, so I got to stay with the students who wanted to dance.

Oh, they were excited. They logged into YouTube and had the speakers and projector on before I had a chance to blink.

I let them each pick a song. (Well, I picked a couple, too.) I had to. Pizza was just so excited about this one song that he had to share with me and the class. 

I was dubious. Pizza has some interesting taste. It turns out I needn't have worried. Well, I didn't need to worry the song was school-appropriate. 

I did need to worry about one thing, though. I really couldn't laugh at Pizza's song. Luckily, masks hide all sorts of facial expressions at the right times.

The song: 

The other students' choices were ordinary by comparison.

Dancing Fool

Wednesday. Seventh grade English. Fourth period.

JT walked in late, but he immediately asked for a health office pass telling me he had a headache. He sounded like he was in pain, so when he returned a half hour later, I had sympathy for him.

But the minute he got back, he went for the standing desk.

Standing desk? A few classes have them now. They look like this:

The general rule is that if a student needs to, they can go back to one (there are two in each class that has them, and the teachers have them in the back of the room) and work from there.

I would think if you have a headache, the last thing you'd want to do is stand in class, but whatever.

The lesson for the day was SSR or silent sustained reading. They were reading books of their choice. The room was silent. The kiddos weren't even listening to music.

So, it was a surprise when I looked up to find JT dancing at the standing desk...

Throwing down random dance movies is a thing nowadays. Mostly in middle school, but I occasionally see it in high school too.

I blame TikTok.

(Things I never expected to have to say: "Stop dancing in class...")

Man, I wish my headaches went away that quickly. Unless he was lying about the headache. Could be either, really.