That's Entertainment

Any student-run production is high on my must-see list, and although it got off to a rocky start, the annual student talent show this afternoon did not disappoint. I actually missed the first performance due to an impromptu staff meeting, walking in as the emcee proclaimed it "Amaaaaazing!"

After that there were several karaoke-esque vocal performances hampered by technical difficulties and somewhat marred by being much too long. "I want a comedy routine," I whispered to my friend Mary, and shortly after we were rewarded with knock knock jokes to fill the lag time between acts.

Then there was a wacky rendition of Cake by the Ocean with awkward hand gestures a-plenty; a number which remained our top performance until a seventh grader belted the heck out of the theme song for Captain Underpants which brought down the house.

Way to go kids!

They've Got Talent

Today was our annual school talent show. Organized in an Everyone's Got Talent model, this is one of my favorite events of the year. Because it is entirely student produced, the performances range wildly from stunning to awful. Personally, I have nothing but admiration for any kid who has the guts to get up on stage, and there is always someone who chokes under the pressure and runs off stage weeping and into the arms of their supportive, if drama-loving, friends. There is also no shortage of kooky and novel acts, and today was no exception. One of the best performances of the show was a girl with a jump rope routine. She skipped and leapt and jumped gymnastically across the stage to music, and it was amazing! Then there was the duet of singing sixth graders, accompanied on the piano by one classmate while another did a bit of an interpretive dance across the stage. It was sublimely, endearingly wacky in a way that was so sincere and soooo absolutely middle school that I was reminded once again of why I love teaching this age.