When I saw this clip again, and maybe for the first real time, I knew that if I ever acted in a capacity wherein I could show this to a group of people I would. And in 2004, when I secured my first teaching position at Silver Creek High School, I opened the first day with this clip. I love how the kids in the room (I teach juniors by the way) were excited that we were going to watch Sesame Street. These hulking prospective linebackers, glam-experimenting divas, dark and mysterious kids with the black nail polish. . .even the quircky kid with the t-shirt that had the Windows logo on it, were all waiting to see what was about to happen in their 11th grade English classroom.
Where are the kids from this video today? Recognize any of them? The kid who lives on a Texas ranch? the kid with two daddies? the kid who likes his stories read? the one who is still able, with some prompting, to disclose his fears and what helps? the one who remembers your promise of "sweet dreams and love (you said it, remember?). I would have to guess that these kids are approaching their late 40's-early 50's. . .I hope that they are still in tune with what makes them special, unique.
But really, where are these kids today? In your classroom. They are still there. . .with blended families, cherished memories, beloved pets, loves, joys, and fears. Now before you write me off as an idealist or a romantic, this is a great clip to show at the beginning of a class where writing and sharing are going to be the focus. If you watch the video closely, you will note that each child has been singing the song and the editor has clipped the word or phrase they wanted in the song. Do you wonder, as I do, that each child had a sense that their song would be part of something bigger, something more diverse. I am sure they did as I watch the celebratory running around the park at the end of the clip. . .they were a part of something very special indeed. After showing the clip, I will rewind and go through the clip polling students to tell me what each child offered. Most are able to point to the kid with the cat or the one that "holds his Teddie tight." They are able to key-in on that collage of faces and make some sort of connection. Am I the only one in the room who has two daddies? Maybe not. . .
We can return to this at the end of the year by asking what each student offered via the Author's Chair, some read-aloud, some project that was completed in the course of the year. If we can remember that we all sing with the same voice, that we are more alike than we are different as Morrie Swartz would say, then we can really tackle the more difficult tasks like sentence fluency, development, analysis. . .why, do you wonder, are synthesis and application so high on Bloom's Taxonomy? Is is perhaps because we do not hear others songs in some harmony, and yes, sometime caphony to our own, but still the unique, individual song of another person?
Feel free to tweak this lesson as you will. .. I don't even know that I have framed the lesson that well (sorry Jim). Some lessons resist standardization and ask for something human in their delivery.
Our school year begins on Tuesday. I am cueing up the clip now. . .to close, I would like to paraphrase some of the best modern day poets, The Black Eyed Peas (who can deny that The End (the energy never dies) was not a great album title?) "I've got a feeling. . .that this [year's] gonna be a good [year]. . .that [this year's] gonna be a good, good [year]. . .
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