The Dormouse's school year is winding down. In fact, I'm pretty sure they stopped doing any work about two weeks ago. Today, they had a class talent show. All thirty kids in the class were all asked to show off a talent or special skill and the parents were invited to come watch.
Six jumped rope and nine hula hoop-ed. Apparently, there's a bit of a bias in the talent department for this class.
One kid showed off his talent for conning his parents into buying him over three hundred Pokemon cards.
One displayed a giant lego pirate ship he built, which was quite impressive indeed. It even had a galley and a furnished captain's cabin.
A few kids read poems and stories; a few showed off artwork of various kinds.
One kid put her hand against the wall and wiggled her elbow back and forth. I'm still not sure what that was all about, but then again, neither is her mother.
My favorite was the kid who did a five-minute set of stand-up comedy:
"Hey, did you ever wonder why they call it the Grand Canyon?"
Audience: "..."
"Because, Gustavo Canyon just sounds silly."
(I'm reasonably certain he wrote his own jokes.)
Originally, The Dormouse wanted to be one of the jump-ropers. I suggested that she not do something a third of the other kids in the class were doing. Piano playing wasn't an option because the classroom wasn't equipped with a piano. So instead she decided to perform one of her favorite songs:
The best part of this whole performance is, sadly, not on camera. It was when she handed the microphone back to her teacher, took a bow, returned to her seat and announced loudly, "Well, THAT was HUMILIATING!"
I think maybe she should have instead showed off her talent for drama.
But then I guess she did that anyway.
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June 14, 2011 at 10:12 AM
Our school does something like that, but for the entire grade. Kids have to try out, mostly so they don't volunteer without anything in mind and then freeze up on stage.
In the past anyone who tried out got to perform, but this year the music teacher decided to pick her favorites (which did NOT include two of my three kids at that school). When the principal found out about the change in format, she had the music teacher hold a second day of talent shows to include all those who had been rejected.
On the first day, every kid who was chosen was given as much time as he/she needed, yet every grade ended early, so she could have easily fit in more kids. On the second day, she hurried the kids along, and abruptly ended their performance when time was up (which got shorter and shorter as the performances went on.)
When it came time for day two for the Kindergarteners, there were three on the program (Maya and two others). One never showed up, the second got stage fright and wouldn't perform. Maya wound up being a one-kid show, and she did great! Afterwards the music teacher came up to us going on and on about how great Maya was, obviously embarrassed that Maya hadn't "made the cut".
While I'm not entirely one of those who thinks every kid should earn an award and we should never keep score, I do think that teachers need to be encouraging the kids' to develop their talents, and not single out the few "talented" ones.
(Sorry, that went on a bit long, but you hit a button with your post, plus I just taught an EQ lesson on developing your talents.)
June 14, 2011 at 7:20 PM
I'm just sad you didn't end the post as expected, with a photo of me showing off my "talents" in your living room. How dare a blog about your family be about your family.