Year 2: Week 11 - Recognition

What motivates you at your job?  Money?  Climbing the ladder?  Prestige? 

I once told my wife that I didn’t become a teacher to become famous or be in the newspaper.  Then she pointed out the hundreds of students I taught who know me and my feature in the Chicago Tribune. 

Maybe it's about recognition.  There's three levels of recognition I remember learning about in high school:

Level 1:  When you do something for someone you need them to acknoledge you for what you did directly and give you credit in order for you to feel satisfied.

Level 2:  When you do something for someone you don't need them to acknowledge your gesture, you simply want to see their happiness due to your actions.  

Level 3:  When you do something you are satisfied with you actions without them knowing it came from you.  Also you don't need to witness the joy your actions engendered.

I would say that most of the time I'm in level 2, sometimes I lean into level 1 and every so often I feel level 3. 

I'm not going to claim that I don't do things in my job to get recognition.  This is only my second year here and I feel it's important for me to let people know what I do.  At the same time I do consider myself a humble person.

My job is one of service.  I do what I can for my students so that they can be successful.  My greatest joys in teaching come not from me leading a group of students in performing a song but being able to sit back and watch a group work independently.  While I care about what people think, what outweighs that more often than not is the experiences my students have.

My motivation to do things around the school is about wanting a challenge, having pride in what I do and knowing at the end of the day I'm a good teacher.  I'm not in the business of "Kingsley Tang," which I guess is an ironic statement as I'm writing this on my blog. 

I think anyone who says they don't care about what people think is lying.  I care, but I guess, I don't care enough to let it rule my decisions on a daily basis.  I never think, "wow, I if I do this, people will think I'm awesome."  I think "wow, this would be a lot of fun for my students," and I guess that's really where it's all at: service.

I have not found a greater joy in life then in serving and taking care of others and while I like recognition, but I don't need.  I feel squarely in level 2 the more I think about it.  I just want to see others enjoy life on a deeper level and if I can help them get there, just a little bit, that makes all of the hard work worth it.

One of my co-worked told me that I need to think less about "me" and the more I think about it, the more I disagree.  So much of what I do, most of what I do does not bring me recognition.  No one is going to give me a medal for correcting homework or cleaning up the band room.  No one is going to throw me a parade for me for answering my e-mails every morning.  But I do these things every day, because I care about my students.  I love it when they thank me, but I don't need that to get through my day, I know I'm making a difference.

If you don't believe me and you think I'm full of it, that's ok, because your thinking that isn't going to change a thing that I do.

I'm Kingsley Tang.  I'm a teacher.  As a teacher I'm proud to serve my students every day.  My job is not take the spotlight, but to help my students shine.  All I need to keep going every day is to feel a little bit of the light that comes from my students through my service.

Things I Learned At School Today

1.  54 fifth graders crammed in a classroom are in fact capable of having a constructive discussion.

2.  3rd graders find making "sound effects" far more exciting then playing songs.

3.  Apparently I'm an "agressive teacher" because I would like my 8th grade band to play an arrangement of "Also Sprach Zarathustra."



4. Making a label that says "poo" and encouraging a 6th grade girl to put it on a classmates back will come back to you.

5.  Just because you put a lot of work into planning a lessons doesn't mean the lesson will go well.  However sometimes kid sense how hard you are trying and give you a break.

Someone Like You by Adele

This is how a lot of us feel about this song (including Coldplay). The weird thing is that my fifth graders on the bus ride back from a retreat sang this song as if it was a happy sing along song. At first I thought they were completely off base, but right now I’m not so sure.  Is this song as song as it seems?

Adele’s performance of “Someone Like You” at the this years MTV VMAs this questions in a way that the studio recording doesn't.

2011 VMA - Music - Adele

As the first chorus comes to a close you see a tear start welling up in the corner of Adele's eye. There’s a deep sadness that is expressed.  When she sings the second verse it’s like the words are spontaneously coming out of her soul, not a rehearsed performance. Instead of ending this verse with sadness there’s a little sense of bitterness as she sores into the second chorus.

There is a sense of anger in the second chorus as we begin to understand that this song is more then an expression of a moment but a journey of emotions as this woman works through the feelings of heartache and regret.

After Adele sings “ . . . bittersweet, this would taste,” she pauses for moment and you aren’t sure what’s going to happen next. How is she going to come out of this? Will it be through the sadness of the beginning of the song or the anger of the second chorus?

What emerges is something completely different: strength, resilience and determination. When she sings “never mind, I’ll find someone like you,” it’s not a word of self-comfort as it is in previous verses, it’s a statement of belief. While she wishes again that this other person finds love, what she emphasizes is how “she begged” stating it not out of desperation but a promise to herself that she will never beg again.

Yes, sometimes love lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead.  What Adele teaches us is that sometimes the times it hurts leads to strength.

Year 2: Week 10 - The Edge Of Glory

This week I spent at a four-day, three-night outdoor education retreat with my fifth graders, all 54 of them. This trip is an extension of the fifth grade curriculum and focuses on perspective and reflection. I went on this trip last year for the first time and wrote about in it this previous post discussing my first experience leading a campfire sing along.

There was a lot of things different about this year’s retreat but the one that comes most directly to mind was the weather. Last year we were blessed with clear sunny weather that hovered in the high forties to the high fifties. Only late at night was there ever a hint of being cold.

Well, this year, we had rain and not just the light mist stuff, we’re talking side-ways rain. Then there was the sleet, which turned into snow, and then there was more rain. Even though we moved a lot of activities inside we still spent a lot of time outside. In the same way that the warmth of the sun reenergizes your body, the cold and wetness of rain and snow drains away not only your energy but also your spirit.

On the second day of the trip after being outside in the freezing rain we collected all of the students inside one the cabins before transitioning to dinner. One of the other teachers looked over at me and made a guitar motion, I nodded and got out my guitar.

Everyone in the room was cold, wet and tired. As formed I my hands around the neck of my guitar I realized how cold my fingers tips were as I felt the pain of the strings on my fingers. I also found it difficult to hold my guitar pick in my other hand feeling it slip around in my wet fingers.

Looking out of my students I saw their tired faced and I felt immediately the right song of the situation. I said: "We had snow today! The reason this is exciting is because we have people we care about to share this with. Having people around makes things like the cold, rain and snow glorious."

I then I told them repeat the phrase “tonight, yeah baby,” after me. Though there was some confusion on what I was doing, I eventually got all 54 of the kids to sing this back to me and then I stared playing Lady Gaga’s “Edge Of Glory" (which I wrote about in this earlier post).



As I sang the first line, it just made sense, “There ain’t no reason you and me should be alone.”

Singing through the verses I heard a couple kids sing along and everybody scream back “tonight, yeah baby.” But when chorus hit, the room erupted and I looked up to see all of the kids in the rooming singing along and smiling. You would have never known how tired, wet and miserable these kids were only 10 minutes earlier watching them sing together.

Yes, “Edge Of Glory” is not about feeling great on a rainy day but the spirit of the song and that moment made it about just that.  Music education is about the soul and spirit as much as it is about the mind.  It's powerful and it's magical.

By the time the song was over, it was like the whole room was a different color.  There was energy and life where there was once none.  In that moment I really understood what it meant to be at the edge of glory.

Green Grass Grows All Around

This post is coming up as I'm spending time at a four day retreat with 54 fifth graders our "soft" camping in the woods.  One of my jobs is to lead this songs so I spent WAY too long last weekend learning this particular one.



Ok let's see if I got this . . .

hole --> tree --> limb --> nest --> egg --> bird --> feather --> bug

I can find something better then that:



hole --> tree --> limb --> nest --> egg -->bird --> heart --> blood --> T-Cels?!?

Ok, maybe not.



Ok, well, clearly this is a song that lends itself to many different interpretations.  I decided I need to makes this as long as possible so here's my path . .

hole --> tree --> limb --> branch --> nest --> egg --> bird --> feather --> bug --> PARAMECIUM!!!

good times.

Just A Friend by Biz Markie

“Just A Friend” is one of most memorable raps songs of all time. It was one of those songs that you felt like you knew even if you only listened to part of it. I don’t remember the first time I heard this song and I can’t remember a time that I didn’t know this song.

One of the things people credit country music with is its ability to tell stories. Well, rap music does a pretty good job of this as well and “Just A Friend” is prime example.


Biz Markie - Just A Friend by rikma

This song is a cautionary tale, warning that if a girl tells you that another man in her life is “just a friend,” don’t trust her. Chances are, she’s just leading you on and probably cheating on this other guy with you.

In-between the verses which tells this tragic love story Biz Markie “sings” the chorus. Yes, the word sings is in quotes because like someone posted on youtube about Biz Markie, he is a cross between “Biggie and Tracy Morgan.” The singing part is definitely Tracy Morgan.  After hearing him get through the verses of the song, well, he . . . um. . . . yeah, it’s one of the most hilariously awful vocal performances in pop music. The things is, that I wouldn’t have it any other way.

His delivery perfectly matches the tone of this song. Yes, this story is something that could make some sad and upset, but Biz’s reactions like the chorus is one of humor. He’s looking at this frustration circumstance and you can just imagine him in his retelling of this story laughing about it.

“Just A Friend” is a beautiful example of an artists abilities matching up with a type of song that creates something amazing. Biz Markie would not be as successful doing a more serious song and a different rapper like Eminem couldn’t really pull of this song without Biz’s unique charm.

While Biz’s song can definitely from an objective point of view be of a low quality, his rapping is different story. No, he doesn’t have the spit-fire delivery of 2pac or the lyric fluidity of Jay-Z. However Biz Markie, is able to rap around the beats is a casual and unpretentious way. If you rap along with him you definitely notice moments when things don’t initially seem feel right but fall into place moment slater. While his skills are subtle, they are definitely there.

1989 was a very different time for rap music. It hadn’t gotten deep into Gangsta Rap and while there was a lot of socially conscious Rap music that was serious, some of it was light-hearted. Biz Markie looked at his life with humor and his ability through this song to remind us to not take ourselves too seriously has created a place for this song in the canon of popular music.

Year 2: Week 9 - The Other Kind of Bullying

There’s a lot of different kinds of bullying in schools. Most think of overt peer bullying, like when a group of people make fun of another student for being overweight. There’s also the behind the back kind of bullying like when a group makes disparaging remarks about a person through facebook.

Unfortunately there’s also teacher bullying. Sometimes adults in the position of power make fun of kids or pick on students in an inappropriate way, which can have a devastating effect on students.

A third kind of bullying I’ve dealt with this week is self-bullying. This is when self-talk reaches a level of negativity and meanness that we would find unacceptable if it was peer to peer. For example, earlier this week I had a student come into class and talk about how much he “sucked” at playing his instrument. I would never let someone else tell him that he was a bad musician so I didn’t let this students say these things about himself.

You may be thinking that they might be simply be trying to get attention like a person walking into a room complaining about how they feel overweight. While this can be annoying in both cases these people are looking for positive reinforcement and for others to help them feel better about themselves. With students, making them feel good about themselves is part of my job.

Self-talk can be one of the most positive and motivating factors in a person’s life. Hearing a voice in your head that tells you that you can do things, that you are loved and strong can help people withstand anything that life throws at them. However when self-talk gets negative it can destroy lives. Yes, hearing other people telling you that you are stupid is hard, but imagine if hearing that from yourself all the time, every day. This kind of negativity can lead people into unhappiness, depression and the unimaginable.

So how do we address this?

Well, my general strategy is to tell them why they are wrong about the things they are saying using very specific examples. I told that student I mentioned earlier that I had started over fifty students on his instrument and that he was improving at a great pace. I also told him that as the teacher I have an awareness of how he has been improving that he doesn’t and that he needed to trust me. Also, I told him that if he was in fact doing badly, I would tell him explicitly (and that is not a lie).

Now I’m not a child psychologist but I believe that self-talk develops from what people hear. If you are told you are strong enough times you start believing that and telling yourself that you are strong. If we want to build students up to their full potential, they really need to believe in themselves.  The only way for this to develop in people is for them to be told that someone else believes in them in a genuine and honest way.

We are all very conscious of peer bullying, but we need to raise our awareness of self-bullying through negative self-talk.  If someone constantly putting themselves down there’s no limit to how far down that person can sink, however if that same voice is positive and strong, no amount of peer bullying can take them down.