Every kid remembers that old teacher, you know ... the one that you'd expect to have retired like 20 years ago. Well, I always thought that one of the benefits of being only 24 when I started teaching high school would be that I wasn't going to be completely disconnected from the kids' interests and the pop scene of the day. I even managed to wow a few kids my first year with my knowledge of terms like "scene kid" and "lolz". I thought I was set. More than once I've been told, "You're the coolest teacher - when you're not mean," or "you're crazy, but in a good way..." It all ended today. I suddenly feel the need to talk about my plethora of pet cats and start sentences with "back in my day, we ..."
Thinking that I was going to treat my kids so some not-so-crappy music (as opposed to the classical stress-relief CD I listen to I suppose) I'd play some good stuff. I turned on some Christmas music that I had purchased about a year ago - a Frank Sinatra and Bing Cosby Christmas CD. I was enjoying myself and my students were suspiciously quiet when one of my girls lets out a dramatic sigh followed by the exasperated statement, "Mrs. G, I swear you're turning into my grandma!" "Quoi?" I asked in a genuinely confused tone. "Yeah, she listens to this old stuff too." No. This isn't happening, "I know it's kinda old-school, but it's Sinatra - he's timeless!" Another girl pipes in, "Who?" She's as genuine and innocent as can be - I kinda wanna drop-kick her at the moment. Despite my instincts, I keep my cool and respond, "You know - Sinatra ... Rat Pack ... Ol' Blue Eyes?" "I think I've heard of him [oh thank God] ... isn't he kinda like Michael Buble?" That's it, we're listening to Mozart again ... at least he's old to everyone. "That's Life ..." (click it!)
