Junk 2 Funk!

Today was quite an interesting day! All of the classes were centered around the ‘Junk 2 Funk’ program, a percussion presentation with recycled materials. It was a later start this morning, which was a nice (if short) sleep-in. I started at 9:30 am and got to meet the instructor. Then it was one of those days where I just moved around to help out where I was needed. I felt a bit awkward at first, because I wasn’t sure what I should do and I didn’t have anything specific that needed to be worked on. It was a bit hectic because they only have two days to put on a concert. But I found my rhythm (no pun intended) and the rest of the day was a blast!
My first (self-directed) task this morning was to help out the dancers. The ‘Junk 2 Funk’ set-up is really neat. Each of the kids gets to play on a different drum- big water barrels, turned-over buckets, the ‘beast’ (a rack of pots, pans, and springs). All of them are really cool. There’s also a screen on which the dancers are silhouetted against. That also looked really cool and I helped come up with a routine. It was a way to keep the dancers interested while everyone else worked on the percussion part. (It also kept all the drummers from being distracted by the screen.) The kids were so cute! I even played a little bit of dress-up with them as they accessorized with brightly colored scarves. I was impressed with how well they remembered the routine and how they worked together to finish the ‘free style’ section. It was great to watch!
I also got to eat lunch in the faculty room today and that was a learning experience in itself! I sat with the teachers and got to hear their discussion. I heard the positives (a lot) and complaints (a few). It was a whole new perspective. I also realized though that really, a teacher never gets a true lunch break. As I walked through the halls, I saw many teachers having lunch with their class or aids supervising a directed lunch of one or two kids. I saw that the teachers all really cared about their kids and they didn’t care that they didn’t get a lunch break. The message was crystal clear- if I wanted to become a teacher, I had to love teaching kids and seeing their progression.
Although I won’t be in class tomorrow, I’ll hopefully get to see the Junk 2 Funk concert and my amazing dancers!