Music Teacher.
These two words entitle the fun, new experience I have had in the past two weeks! And what a joy it has been. The kiddos I worked with, the introduction song I made up, the material I taught, the games we played, the “homework” we looked at, the understanding that was built, the wrong answers fixed and made right, the feedback received from the parents/guardians who brought their kiddos to class, the points each kiddo earned for learning well, the helpful kiddos erasing the whiteboard for me at the end of class, the giggles and silliness of kiddos having fun learning… I loved it all! I thoroughly enjoyed seeing lightbulbs of understanding, joy, and learning happen over the 4 class sessions I spent with those 3 amazing kiddos. K, D, and C were a blast to teach; I am so thankful for such a positive first “classroom” teaching experience. Yes, it was not as big or quite the same format as a school teacher, but it was a lot of the same kinds of things as what I will be soon diving into learning about! And for that I am very excited. What a blessing it was to receive such positive feedback from the parents. Their support of how this Music Enrichment/Music Theory class idea went this first time around gives me great hope and excitement (and more ideas!) for expanding it next summer. What a thought!!

Now I’ll tell you a little bit about my kiddos. 🙂 They will have a special place in my memory as they were part of a milestone in my own education journey.
K — What a tall, sporty girl she is! She is smiley, cheery, and always ready and eager with the right answer. I am pretty sure she had some knowledge of a little of the material we covered, so she was able to pick up speed and familiarity as we worked through the material I taught. She always brought back worksheets well-completed. Her questions were thoughtful and usually ahead of where I was teaching. This girly reminded me a lot of myself at that age. That’s kind of a fun thought.
D — This sweetheart was a little difficult for me to relate to at first mostly because she was a little shy, but by the second week her spunk was starting to come bursting forth! She loves to laugh and make funny faces. Her “thinking” face always made me wonder if she thought I was being too hard, but the right answers she often gave me proved that theory wrong! When I asked them their favorite games, she could not pick one! I found that kind of crazy, considering kids love games, right? Well, maybe she just has too many to choose from. I was very encouraged to see this initially-quiet girl gain confidence and have fun with the music material we learned.
C — This is one spunky and sweet little mister! He was the most talkative one of our group, always ready to fill the extra space with a comment, question, or silly antic. I have some adorable quotes from this guy over the course of the week. On day one, C walks in, sits down next to D and says, “I’m a little nervous for this.” I reassured him that it would be fun, and he looked back at me with the biggest eyes and a slightly concerned look on his face, almost as if he didn’t believe me. Boy, was I right though! On day three when K was up at the whiteboard answering a question for me, I could hear C singing quietly to himself, “I like music, I like music…” and proceed to hum a little spontaneous tune to finish it off before it was his turn to answer a question for me at the board! Sounds like a happy musician to me! 🙂 On the final day of class while he, D, and K were all working together at the board, C says, “I like this class a lot.” and then a minute later “I’m going to miss you!” Oh goodness… what music to my ears. I had been praying for these kiddos before meeting them, that they would enjoy the class, learn about music, and grow a passionate love for learning… that they would not only learn to love music, but also come to know and love the Giver and Creator of Music, too. According to C’s comments, that prayer was just maybe answered!!
What a joyous beginning to what might just be an excitingly long journey of learning, discovery, music, and kiddos!