Wednesday, February 16, 2011

I write the songs…

Parent/Teacher conferences were this week.  That makes for longs days in a long week, but at least I have a 4 day weekend coming up after that.  Two other good things came up while I was parent-less this evening.
Mr. B was a history teacher at my school, who is taking a few years off to take care of a special-needs child of his.  He was also one of the most favoritest teachers in the school.  I kid you not when I tell you that at the end of the school year, after hearing his going away talk to his classes, the halls were filled (ok, not filled, but there were a few) with young girls crying.  And not because he was the hot young teacher on the block, ‘cause he ain’t that type.  The kids just loved him.
Well, today one of my students told me that I was his “new Mr. B".”  I don’t flatter myself enough to think that I would have been able to knock him off his pedestal had he stayed at the school, but to be put up there after he vacated it, is quite an honor.  One of those moments that make teaching worthwhile.
Earlier on in the evening, again while I was parentless, another student came over and wanted to play some songs from his Playlist.com playlist on the laptop I was using.  He even had a small set of speakers so we could actually hear it.  He’s one of my Academic Team students [ see you next Tuesday, Writer :) ], so I said ok, at least while there were no parents.  He logs on, pulls up his playlist and I glanced at it, expecting to recognize one or, if I’m lucky, two songs.  Hallelujah, I again have faith in the future of the human race.  Out of 80 songs, there were less than 10 that I did not recognize.  Bob Marley, Journey, REO Speedwagon, The Scorpions, Aretha Franklin, Quiet Riot, Billy Joel, CCR, The Beach Boys, The Who, Roy Orbison, Beethoven, Eagles, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Twisted Sister, Police, Johnny Cash (Ring of Fire), Def Leppard, Queen, Metallica, Elvis Presley (Hound Dog) and (yes, Writer) The Beatles.  Looks a lot like my iPod playlist.  Oh, and he didn’t just have them on there to look retro, we played some and he knew the words to them, at least the chorus.
Yes, it’s been a hell of a long day, but for those two things, it was worth it.

4 comments:

A Paperback Writer said...

Congrats on the compliment. :)

But I'm NEVER parentless at PT conferences. Ugh. I hate the things.
I'm a zombie by the time I'm done. I never even get to stand up.

21 Wits said...

Very cool Max, and a very smart and awesome student with great taste in tunes...and BTW from how you usually can make my day on your old blog, I say your my favoritest Mr. B teacher too...if I were going to school that is!

Alexia said...

I'm not surprised you're the new Mr B, if you teach your kids with the humour, integrity and spirit of adventure I've seen on this blog. And you have kittens!!!

Cool play list - I've got many of those people on my mp3 player too.
Enjoy your long weekend :)

Max Sartin said...

Writer - Yeah, I'm pretty much a zombie by the end of it too, today I really was all day. And that's one of the nice things about math, there's not much to argue about grade-wise, other than what they can and cannot make up. Answers on a math test are a lot less subjective.
Karen and Alexia - thanks! I try to make the class as much fun as possible, and the classes that work with me find it to be much more enjoyable than the ones that are always trying to get away with something. Fortunately, this year, most of my classes are pretty good.