Saturday, June 28, 2014

The Songs We Sing

Alright. I was just driving home. I think I found my song for next year.

I doubt I will have parents who do something this awesome, but what's life without surprises? 

It makes me a little sad, thinking about starting all over. But if it wasn't for starting all over, I never would have had the chance to have you guys (my previous class/classes...).

Every year, I try to choose one of my favorite songs of all time. It's hard to find ones where there are no lyrics that can be considered offensive. Most of them are the kind where you never realized had anything bad in them, but listening to them from a fifth grader's point of view, yeah, they're pretty wrong. Or at least one line is.

Here's my list of songs so far (since the tradition of the song began):
  • 2009/2010: Don't Stop Believin' by Journey.*
  • 2010/2011: Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations.
  • 2011/2012: Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday by The Rolling Stones.
  • 2012/2013: Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis.
  • 2013/2014: Here I Go Again On My Own by Whitesnake. 
It's strange to me that my list thus far does not include any Guns 'n' Roses, Beatles, Pearl Jam, Def Leppard, Eagles, U2, or Led Zeppelin in it. The one I have in mind for next year will cross at least one of these bands off of my list.

My goal is to have a song where, when a former student hears it randomly on the radio, they will think immediately back to their year in 5-1 and hopefully smile. The people around them will have no idea what they're grinning about. But I would at least hope that they will think of dorky in-jokes that we had in the class. Dorky in-jokes are what make an experience to me. The kind that make you smile, but that can't be explained to anyone else around.

Like stories from your family or summer camp or your fifth grade class.

Okay, with my class, it's at least the first and third in that list.



*This one only happened because my class spontaneously broke out into song one day during work time. It was one of those glorious experiences that any great teacher (plus a dork like me) dreams of. The synergy in your classroom has reached this point. This class wanted to perform it at the talent show, but they were nixed because of the line that says, "Smell of wine and sweet perfume." That's when I said this needed to be a tradition, and that I needed to be pretty selective with what I chose as that year's song.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr Carter - as long as you commit to keep doing such cool things like the song with your class, Reed and I commit to come back and make a video for you!

Craig and Reed Anderson

Jeff said...

Thanks so much, guys! Above and beyond. I'm really grateful for you both.