It’s time for another Global Writing Challenge prompt. Our current membership consists of Deb’s World, Suzy Turner, Within a World of My Own, Once Upon a Time, Happily Ever After, Cat’s Wire, Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa, and me. Suzy chose this month’s theme so I’m excited to read her post! Debbie is still traveling the world with her sister, mother, and aunt so she’ll be with us in spirit only (but I can’t wait to read about her adventures once she’s back). On top of the wonderfully different opinions and thoughts, the writing itself is wonderful! I hope you’ll visit all of these blogs because you are going to be amazed at, not only the diversity of ideas, but the stories of each person. As we consider ourselves a global group, if you’d like to join us, please let one of us know. We’d love to have more people from all over the planet! There’s also a link party at the end of this post!
If you’d like to join us, here are the prompts for the coming months:
- August – A Day in the Life
- September –
- October – Birthday
- November – Superstition
A little history…
About five years into my teaching career, I started going to CLASS (Connected Learning Assures Student Success) conferences. This was Indiana’s version of HET (Highly Effective Teaching) which had been ITI (Integrated Thematic Instruction). I gave up weeks during the summer to attend them. Then, when our school was finally admitted to the CLASS program, the state pulled funding. Our corporation decided to continue with it and contracted with the originator of the whole program, Susan Kovalik. I’ve written about that before (you can find that here). While there were a lot of things I didn’t really like or even find useful, one of the things the program included was the need for movement throughout the day. Basically, they were saying, “If you sit on your butt too long, your brain quits learning.” So, we would have brain breaks. Some times, that was as easy as taking a biology break. My classroom was the last one at the end of the hallway, and the restroom was at the other end. That got the blood flowing for my students. But, a lot of the time, we would dance!
Groove bones…
I’ve mentioned this before (just recently, I think) that my students would actually beg me not to sing! I still did. The thing is I dance much worse than I sing. For some reason, though, the kids seemed to like that! I have absolutely no groove bones…not even in my little fingers! The photo above actually looks a lot like my classroom though my hair never got quite that bad. But, that was pretty much the orientation of my room…weird how AI (I know, Cat, I know) can do things like that. Anyway, the last five or so years of my career I had a SMARTboard which was an interactive white board. One of the things you could do with it was to put up videos or songs. There was one the kids loved, but search as I might, I could not find it. It had windshield wipers, lawn mowers, the Carlton dance, and so many other things. Oh, it even included part of the dance from “Saturday Night Fever.” My kids loved it, and so did I. After dancing for a bit, we’d go back to work, and, quite honestly, the kids were less antsy and paid better attention.
These days…
I look back on my teaching days with so much love and regret and hope. I absolutely loved being a teacher, and I truly believe it is the best job in the entire world. I regret, almost every day, retiring early. My hope is that each and every one of my students continues to dance. To lift up their hands in celebration, move their feet joyously, and, perhaps, remember that weird but fun and kooky fourth grade teacher they had. I hope they have so many reasons to move through this world with wonder, delight, and high expectations. I hope they are dancing with joy, with happiness, with sadness, and with anger. I hope they are dancing to the tunes only they know. I hope each and every one of them is daring to dance even when that’s the last thing they want to do. I hope each one has a special dance of gratitude and thankfulness. I just really hope they “dance like no one’s watching” because that’s the best dancing there is. I know it sounds corny, but when you do that kinda dancing, you know there’s something powerful at work.
Dancing…
One of the things I always wanted Nigel to do was to take ballroom dancing lessons because he can’t dance, either! I never pressed him on it, but I surely wish I had. Even though I don’t have any groove bones, that doesn’t stop me from dancing, especially when no one is looking! When the feeling hits, you just have to move. You may be awkward. You may be a total klutz. But, if you’re moving to the music (even if it’s in your head), you’re surely dancing because it feels right.
Wrap it up, Marsha!
I think this was all over the place, but that’s what you do when you dance, right? I see dancers of all kinds and wish I could get my body to move like that. I mean, I can’t even get my hands to bend into those graceful shapes you see ballerinas make. Does that mean I don’t dance when the feeling hits? Nope…well…it depends on where I am! I hope I made a little bit of sense here! So, can we talk? Do you have any groove bones? Where do you dance? Have you ever taken dance lessons? Please leave me a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as soon as possible.
Thank you!
I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting, subscribing or emailing! It truly means so much to me! If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you can find me here.
What others are saying…
Suzy “shares why dancing has meant so much throughout her life, and how one night on the dance floor changed everything forever.”
Cat “has ambivalent feelings about dancing.”
Sally “discusses why she can play music but she can’t dance to it.”
Amy “shares thoughts on dance through quotes and lyrics as pertaining to her life history thus far…”
Leslie writes, “this month’s prompt – dancing – brings lots of things to mind: a favorite memory, ballet, and a great Ginger Rogers quote. Which will she write about?”
And, now, it’s your turn!
If you’d like to link up your posts about sunshine, you may link up here or at any of the other blogs!
I once called myself a strict chair dancer. I move to the rhythm, but I don’t dance. Who knows, maybe it would have been different if I had been in your class. You say you can’t dance. Seeing you doing it, anyway, might have helped with ignoring the own awkwardness?
I like the idea of breaks like that in general, especially for younger students.