Year 13: Week 4 - Having Fun

One of my goals this year is to have fun. I

n the stress of the early pandemic and, well, the later part of the pandemic, it was easy to forget to have fun. And no, fun is not the only important part of music education. However, now, in this time in the world and in my students' lives, and in my life, music class needs to be joyful and fun.

I had a choice to just mail in and not do much with a 5th-grade skit for our County Fair. Each grade for this event puts on a booth for other students. We have an assembly before County Fair in which each grade presents their booth activity. Some grades do a video or a simple announcement. I have taken pride in organizing the 5th-grade doing something funny, awesome, and a little weird.

This has taken the form of having the entire grade rap a verse from a Beastie Boys song and them singing "Rainbow Connection," except the lyrics are "what are there so many songs about rainbows" sang repeatedly throughout the song. This is an opportunity to have fun with humor and music, which is tricky.

Part of me wants to get going with my 5th-grade music curriculum, and no one would give me any grief if I didn't put together a skit, and I was really close this year to just letting it go. But then I got an idea. And I figured that it was important to have fun with this. Things have been going pretty well with my 5th grade, but it felt like we needed something like this. I wanted them to see that I was doing something for them and that the only way to get what they wanted was to really trust me and work hard.

In a short amount of time, I taught them parts of "I Love Rock and Roll,"

"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," 

And an extended version of "Baby Shark."

 

While we had fun with these songs, I also taught about some important things to think about. Joan Jett was a pioneer as a women rock musician. George Michael did an incredible amount of charity work. He inspired others as an out and proud gay man; the baby shark kids were Korean-American and Korean-Scottish.

Oh, and I made "Baby Shark" much longer than expected by introducing the extended family of sharks in extra verses. I think the other students will find this funny and slightly annoying. But, on the other hand, I think this is funny, and my 5th graders get the joke I'm going for, or they pretend they do.

Was it the most productive lesson this week as we worked on this? I mean, they learned about important artists and great songs. In moments when the pieces we know seem less fun, this memory we all share of the silliness of these lessons will carry us through.

This week, like many weeks, had a lot going on, and not all of it was fun, but I'm glad I chose to spend time with my 5th graders being silly. Genuinely enjoying the time that you share with students affirms how much you value them. In a world where so many people don't seem to prioritize children, taking the time to show students that you enjoy spending time with them helps them see that they are important, powerful, and wonderful.