Day 2

Day 2

It's day 2 of the buckle up song and I can barely stand it.

Not all of my students have working headphones. Normally this isn't a problem, but starting Monday they've been singing the Prevention Dimensions song "Buckle Up". Most listen to it on their laptops with headphones. Those that don't have headphones, however, just play the song from the computer speakers and man it is annoying.

KV won't stop singing it.

Okay, he will stop singing it, but starts up again as soon as he's doing individual work.

"Buckle up. Buckle up. When I'm in the car I buckle up."

It's not loud enough to be disruptive. Just singing quietly to himself.

"Buckle up. Buckle up. When I'm in the car I buckle up."

This from the boy who would willingly talk for hours about World War I and World War 2. Who creates tanks from my math blocks that I let them play with during indoor recess. Who wrote an opinion essay on why Fallout 4 is the best. Who can only sit still for one thing: the arts.

What?

"Buckle up. Buckle up. When I'm in the car I buckle up."

He actually has a good voice and I don't want to discourage the message of the song by telling him not to sing it. Besides, he loves the music. Should I discourage that passion?

"Buckle up. Buckle up."

I didn't realize at the beginning of the year that he likes the arts. In fact, I only found out by accident. I was meeting with my intern coach and noticed a beautiful drawing of an apple on her desk. It had my name on it: Miss Maddox, 4th grade. It had KV's name next to it. I stared at it in confusion. Had KV done that? It turns out, he had. The art teacher handed out the best apples to the administration so they could display them in their offices.

I expressed interest in the picture and my intern coach gave it to me. "I can get another from the art teacher," she told me. "You should have this one."

Then I began to watch him when anything happened to do with the arts.

Before Christmas some of the fifth and sixth graders put on a concert. Band, orchestra, and choir. From the moment the first song began, he was riveted. It was the longest I'd ever seen him sit still. Once or twice, in between musical numbers, he glanced over at me to see if I was getting after him for being disruptive.

I wasn't. I smiled, gave him a thumbs up, and pointed up to the stage.

"When I get in the car when I go somewhere," something buckle something, something buckle up.

After Christmas other fifth and sixth graders put on "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Again, he watched with rapture, hanging onto every word, shushing those around him.

Today we had a field trip to watch the Repertory Dance Company. The dances were amazing. I could barely tear my eyes from the stage to look at KV to confirm, or perhaps just to see how much he liked it. He studied the dances, inhaling the performance, and not moving a muscle when his neighbor, Blobfish Lover, began laughing and copying something happening on stage.

Tomorrow morning we'll sing the song again. He'll love it. He'll sing it periodically through the day. One day we won't be singing "Buckle up". We'll have moved on to another song.

Until then, I'll just have to suffer through a few more days of "Buckle up."