My Best Day In Education

 

 My favorite day in education happened this past school year in May of 2022. I was one of the three teachers that organized our student's first annual "Dragon's Got Talent" show. For context, our Elementary school mascot is the "Dragons." The talent show was more of a variety show, or the student's demonstrating their talents to their peers and teachers. There was not a winner or any judges. The show was the last Friday in May, state testing was complete, the following week was our last week of school, and all the teachers and students were feeling relaxed and ready for summer. We had two shows that day, the first was the Kindergarten, first, and second grade Talent Show and the second of the day was the third, fourth, and fifth-grade talent show. Each show contained the audience of their grade-level peers and parents. Other classes had the opportunity to watch the shows on YouTube live. 

    The day was a success! The students who were performing were very nervous, and once they finished performing, they had the biggest smiles on their faces. They were so proud of themselves and made multiple comments about how much they had enjoyed performing their act. The students in the audience loved watching their peers perform. We had students perform dance and singing acts solo or in a group. We had one student play the piano and one student perform a ventriloquist act they created. We had a group of student's perform a magic show act. It was a lot of fun! 

    After the shows concluded, from lunch until the end of the day, the feeling throughout the school was very special. The teachers commented on how much they enjoyed the show and recognized the students' hard work and effort towards making their act memorable and entertaining. In addition, the students who were not in the talent show let me know how much they enjoyed it and how they can't wait to sign up the following year. 

    This day was extra special to me because I felt a little hopeless a few months before the show because students were getting into trouble after school due to unsafe and inappropriate after-school activities. Since I work at a title one school, it is uncommon for students to have after-school activities or to have parents home waiting for them. Or, if parents are home, they are not in the headspace to motor their student's activities. We had practice once a week, and sometimes students would come into my room at recess and lunch to practice. Students would also practice after school. I came up with the talent show idea to give students something to do with their time once a week after school. It also gave students an activity to look forward to on Thursday's when we held practice.

    This had to be my most special day in education. You can still watch the YouTube live shows! Links below. 

K-2 Talent Show, start at 22:37

3-5 Talent Show, start at 27:54