Friday, March 1, 2013

Self-Awareness

I'm feeling a little rusty...got to get back in the writing habit.  Glad the SoL is back again this year. 

I'm home, finally, after a long week and an even longer evening.  I think I've written about chaperoning the middle school dance before, but it is always worth re-examination.  Many times I come home on a dance night with a headache and a general distaste for today's pop culture and the messages that our young people are absorbing.  Arriving home tonight, my ears still buzzing a little from the rhythmic thumping, I'm awed at the confidence and strength of adolescence.  This evening about 60 seventh and eighth graders congregated in our cafeteria and danced the night away.  While I am sure there was some drama they worked hard to keep secret from the adults, for the most part there was a load of fun and dancing - and some incredibly gifted dance-thletes!  It was entertaining to watch the sometimes awkward and ungainly, yet graceful young people interact and engage with each other.  In the safety of the dark school cafeteria they were confident, in total control of their world, and their dance moves reflected this.  Energetic pulsing, arms flailing, perhaps the rest of life disappears to become the flashing lights and the gyrating bodies grouped closely together. 

5 comments:

  1. I do miss my middle schoolers, especially when I remember the dances. There's something different about middle school dances, and you capture it perfectly! They are so confident in the strobe light, jumping and dancing (sometimes not even with the beat!)

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  2. I love the word "dance-thletes"! Perfectly captures their exuberance!

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  3. Oh Ellen, - You have captured the essence of the middle school dance -- so much we could and should be doing on a Friday night, but instead, we are with the students. From dress codes, to running around to dancing too close, to the headache the music causes - while at times it seems so foreign, the memories of our own school dances come quickly flooding in -- I'm sure that my teachers felt the same about those dances some *cough cough* years ago. Thank you for capturing the positive side of these events, as too often it is easy to see the negative aspects! I look forward to slicing with you this month!

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  4. Love the last two sentences... You must spend a little time around a middle school!

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  5. I'm an elementary teacher at a K-8 school for the first time in my career. I'm totally loving our middle school kiddos. OK, maybe not tonight when I ended up sitting in the balcony at the 95 minute school talent show. They really do have such amazing energy!

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