That's my student there in the jazz band playing sax second to us in the front row. She's a senior now, but I had her as a freshmen. She sat in the second row in class and was normally a quiet one. Her favorite movie at the time was Juno. We talked about scenes of the movie. Triangle congruency was tough for her, but w/ work and extra one-on-one help, she got it. Her bestie was in my 5th period. I saw her once at Jack London theatre after a Harry Potter viewing. "Hey Mr. G!" she yelled after making eye contact. Oh yeah, she also just finished her 4th year in varsity volleyball. Captain. MVP. Beast-mode.
The one up there with the crown is one of my current freshmen. He told me in his "Letter to Mr. G" that if he ever acted on Broadway, it'd be like he died and went to heaven. He's softspoken, sits in the front, and usually learns things pretty quickly. Half white, half black, and has a fraternal twin in my 3rd period named Olivia. Homeboy went all out during spirit week. I won't forget catching my first glimpse of his nerd day outfit when he turned the corner towards my classroom. I catch him and the door. We catch up.
Working at a high school will never cease to inspire me. It's easy to get caught up in the day to day lesson plans, breaking up what we've got to learn piece by piece so that I could feed it to 'em in easy doses. But these pre-college, pre-real world young adults are so damn talented and have such unique personalities. I can't help but be inspired. I remember reasons why I do what I do. Every year, there are worlds within worlds within each student to learn about. Yesterday, my partner-in-crime of the past two years Ms. J mentioned how she loved the personalities of last years' kids (maybe better than this years') but I had to remind her... ey, it's only week 14, there's still 22 weeks left of getting to know you's. Much left to be revealed.
Sometimes, while on my way to the parking lot or the copy room, I catch a glimpse of the track team sprinting laps around campus. I catch one of mine. She flashes smile. I hear the marching band and my mind is teleported back to the movie drumline and I think to myself "the beat they play and the talent here is no different." I drive past the front as basketball players run up the hill bouncing tennis balls to refine dribbling. I commit to catching a football game and wonder who's unstoppable at running back w/ #10 on and find out it's T-Dawg who I had as a sophomore (who was the first to dub me G-Dawg, btw). Hoops is no different when I see a quiet Junior on the break and throw it down. I've got students who doodle cartoon characters out of boredom; quality of art that's nothing I could ever do, etc, etc....
Or I catch a play and witness acting, singing, dancing, and music the caliber of professionals (in my opinion) and am downright impressed. Tomorrow, these same kinda students will be in my classroom w/ their hoods and headphones on, but within - a world of talent.
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