End of the month, and as usual, it's testing time at school, which means the kids who are waiting to be tested, or have been tested, are in the room, or watching a video with their other classmates. Initially, I had packed my copy of The Beatle's "Yellow Submarine," because it reminded me of my daughters, and because I had intended to try and teach the kids to sing "All Together Now," just for fun. Well, that idea tanked, I tried it and ended up just having to move on. Which is not to say that these kids can't be expressive when they really want to be, mmmmm, well, the tale turns ugly, so best we just leave it alone. Anyway, test days are usually the ones where, since I'm testing out in the hall, I leave a CD in the player and just let it ride. I think I've probably mentioned my unequivocated star pupil "Sharon" before; and, yes, a LOT of my students are very bright, and very capable, but Sharon is one-of-a-kind, most notably because her bold, smart, Halley's-Comet sense of herself reminds me of that of my own daughter, Shelby. To give you a Sharon moment, not long ago, she got a little nail-art set, with the stick-on gems, and had done all her nails. She came into class with the typical Sharon 90-decibel vocal projection, and said, "teacher, LOOK!" at which point she thrusts out her hands in front of her, fingers and thumbs curled up like talons, to show me her nail art. I reeled back a little, and just subtly gave the child her due. It's doesn't strike me as odd, either, I guess, to think that Sharon and Shelby's respective birthdays are three weeks apart.
Shelby, of course, still has Sharon one-upped with the all-time-classic, "when's the cannon part" moment, but that's a story for another time. Yesterday, while I was out in the hall, and "Yellow Submarine" was playing, Sharon apparently heard a track that really got her attention. I back-tracked through the selections, and thought maybe it was "Seargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," but she said that wasn't it, and then hummed a few bars of the song. As it turned out, it was "Think for Yourself," which, surprise, surprise, is one of Shelby's favorites on the same album. So there you have it, "Think for Yourself," the anthem of Comet-Girls, worldwide. I can only imagine what Sharon's response would be to Aretha's "R-E-S-P-E-C-T," but I didn't pack that one, dammit.