Broadway Baby

The relative anonymity of blogging makes me feel like I can share a deep, dark secret with you (the collective you who read my blog when I actually get around to updating it - which I swear I will do more frequently in the future). Here it is: I wish I was a Broadway star.

So I guess this isn't earth-shattering news. Most of my friends know my obsession with the Great White Way. I have multiple playlists on my iPod devoted to Broadway shows and I even have a YouTube playlist of my favorite moments from the Tony Awards.

If only I had been blessed with a voice! I could ditch the high school teacher act and belt out the standards on one of the many stages that lies somewhere around 42nd and 7th.

But since I was not born to attract teenage girls, gay men, and tourists with my impressive vocal range and high-kicking flair, I will just have to settle for attending every musical I can. This includes the dreaded local high school musicals.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a community with amazing talent. I have high school classmates who have found success on television and in movies, and even on Broadway. I always looked forward to the school musical because I was guaranteed a great performance. Even my Junior Spectacular act looked like something that should have played in the Rialto.

However, I have learned that my little bubble (the Far Northside) is not a realistic representation of the high school talent that exists in other parts of the country.

I have now suffered through enough high school productions to know that true musical talent is a special gift. Acting is too. And apparently, the first rule of high school musical productions is that Fiddler on the Roof must be performed at least once every four years to ensure that every student is subjected to Tevye and his chauvinistic, but endearing ways during their high school experience.

In order to recover from the traumatic experience of yet another high school production of Fiddler, I think it is about time for me to make the short bus trip up to NYC for a Broadway extravaganza. Shows on the list of must-see before they close: Spring Awakening, Spamalot, In the Heights, All My Sons (which I'm teaching next semester!), and Speed the Plow.

And just to prove how big of a musical nerd I am, here is the list of all of the shows that I have seen on Broadway (or on national tour): Ragtime, Footloose, Little Shop of Horrors, Hairspray, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, RENT, Legally Blonde, Wicked, Movin' Out, and A Chorus Line.

Flavor of the Month

Everyone knows I have major music ADHD. Therefore, my CD player/radio/iPod are constantly on shuffle and I have difficulty listening to anything all the way through.

However, I have a new addiction. I am currently digging Kings of Leon. I first saw them on SNL (another addiction of mine) with James Franco and I actually listened to them. Their song Use Somebody has started to show up everywhere and I am loving it. It was on last week's episode of Gossip Girl and Kings of Leon played at DAR Constitution Hall last night.

So in honor of my flavor of the month, here is the YouTube link to Use Somebody : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCZfJ5ai07U

Enjoy!

Meetings & Patronizing

As a teacher, meetings never end. Seriously, this year we have even had meetings to plan future meetings.  Last week we had our 1st staff meeting of the school year.  How we have made it to the last week of November without meeting, I don't know, but it happened.

At that meeting, we had the normal updates (like how the county is trying to cut approx. $220 million so class size is going to be something like 30+ next year), the normal updates on various fundraisers, and then some little pat-on-the-back activity.  One of our administrators played a little YouTube video about how PBS (Positive Behavior Something or Other) makes fpr good people.  Basically, instead of yelling at our kids when they do something dumb, we should reward them for good behavior.  And we all know there is nothing high school students love more than to be called out for being a goody-goody.

So the administrator read us the captions on this horrible video about how you should be the teacher who supports the kids when no one else does, yada, yada, yada.  And like the good teacher I am, I sat there, watched, gagged a little bit, and then became really frustrated.

When I started teaching, I was teaching middle school.  What a horrible and awkward group!  I was so angry with the situation that I was in and it was really hard to explain this, especially when every person I met either told me I was crazy or a saint for being a teacher.  

And then people would suggest that I read books about being a teacher.  This was right around the time that Ron Clark's book, The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educators Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child, (even the title sounds douchey) was being made into a TV movie starring Matthew Perry.  Someone even bought me the book as a gift.  So I decided to read it.  And it made my anger grow exponentially.  Do you know how Ron Clark made all the little disadvantaged children in rural North Carolina and in Harlem successful?  By including rules like "Flush the toilet and wash your hands after using the restroom."  And while I agree that this is a great rule to follow, as a high school English teacher who only sees my kids for one semester, this is not the kind of thing I have time to focus on.

I was so sick and tired of hearing about how some crazy teacher fixed a bunch of kids.  I finally received a book from another first year teacher.  Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year by Esme Raji Codell was exactly what I needed.  It took an honest approach to relating the experiences of a first year teacher.  I no longer felt like someone was throwing their success in the face of all of the other teachers who were struggling to find their voice.

And so back to the staff meeting.  There I was again.  Back at the place where I felt so patronized.  I know I am still no where near my peak as a teacher.  And I am lucky that I work in a department with such talented and caring teachers.  However, the last thing I need is the administrator who just suspended one of my kids (the one who is repeating 9th grade English, dealing with his brother who got shot earlier in the year, and trying to not get kicked out of his house) because she was "tired of him" telling us how we should be the one teacher who makes a difference in a child's life.  Excuse me, what the thell do you think I am doing here?

**And as a side-note as I edit my entry - I have crazy ADHD - sorry about my tangents!**

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