Diva, Divas, and the Diva!

I have been hired as a contract teacher at Dayspring School of the Arts. In the last 24 hours I was the substitute teacher for three art classes, I taught one private voice lesson and assisted teaching a musical theater class of 20 five-year-olds whose parents enrolled them in the "Diva" class because they displayed a propensity to drama! Whew!

After suffering withdrawal from my lack of interaction with children, yesterday and today were just plain fun--and exhausting! So I just had to share some stories with you!

Here's the highlights:

I had to tell the junior high art class, as they gossiped and chatted and got nothing done, that the privilege of speaking came with the responsibility of getting their work done. I told them if they wanted to be treated like the adults they were becoming , then they needed to act like adults. Hah! It was such a funny self-conscious moment as I realized I was acting like my teachers in middle school had! What was even funnier, to me, was that it worked! I guess that summs up my first foray into classroom management as a success!

Last Thursday, my Covenant Ed. class was about using the art of questioning as a teaching tool. I thought the last art class of Friday would be a good time to experiment with those concepts because the kids were starting a new design project that they needed to brainstorm about. I started asking questions, and in no time the kids were all talking and excited and throwing out ideas. It really worked! Not that I didn't think that the profs at Covenant knew what they were talking about, but what a blast to be able to apply something so soon!

And that brings me to the Diva class. They are singing a dramatic song about the Emperors New Clothes, which I coached them through. We worked on the differences between the first and second and third verse--talking along the way about "nice singing voices" and "ugly singing voices." Then, I had to coach the shy little queen to convince me she had a voice at all as she sang her part. What more can I say, except to describe the short, chubby-cheeked boy with floppy blond hair who crawled around most of the time because he thought he was a lion....or the little girl wearing high-heeled pumps who had blue eyeshadow and glitter all over her face and arms? Deee-lightful!

My conclusion, as I lie here recovering on the couch, is that I think I really like teaching...and perhaps it is also good that the Diva class only meets once a week!