123 – Rock and Cole -- Thursday, November 29, 2012 -- Frost Middle School -- Fairfax, VA

Note: In a few weeks, my students will read this entry as part of a music analysis lesson. That is why some of their achievements appear in it. ;)

There are many perks to being a teacher: working with hilarious students/colleagues, creating meaningful lessons, seeing students improve, etc.

One specific perk I get every November is participating in Rock and Cole. In the Rock and Cole project, students create their own mixed CD, matching five characters from the novel Touching Spirit Bear to five songs. (The project gets its name from Spirit Bear’s central character, Cole Matthews.) In the days leading up to the in-class concert, students scour book passages and song lyrics to find things that connect. On concert day, each student analyzes another student’s CD, trying to match the characters, songs, traits, and quotes. It’s also a pretty entertaining day, considering the desks are filled with 30-plus CD players, boom boxes, and headphones, and several students rock out as they work.

The best part for me is that I get to listen to all the CDs. New discoveries this year were Macklemore’s “Wings,” Imagine Dragons’ “It’s Time,” Owl City’s “When Will I See You Again,” Mumford and Sons’ “I Will Wait,” Psy’s “Gangham Style,” Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby,” and Disney’s “Colors of the Wind.” (Ok, so the last three weren’t ‘new discoveries.’ I had, sadly, heard those three 300 times before.)

 
Student award winners for this year included:
 
-- Star Performers LH, ZC, JP, JN, AA, AB, TD, NF, PL, NC, JN, TC, JO, PL, ML, AZ, JD, ZB, EL, CK, GR, and CMCMCM.   These students proved they did not need a band or stage to perform. They could rock out in a DESK!
-- Star Vocalists AW, NF, BB, HB, SM, CS, JL, JA, JC, CK, AR, and EL.  These students totally understood how to speak with headphones on.  They always spoke AT AN APPROPRIATE VOLUME…

-- Star Reviewers GP, EM, AW, SN, AB, PA, TD, CH, CL, CM, JN, AS, BT, TC, CL, DN, JN, JP, BS, NT, CZ, ML, ES, AR, MW, MR, and ZB. These students reviewed their CDs with the precision of professional rock critics. Wonder if Rolling Stone magazine is in any of their futures…

-- Rock Survivors JT, SA, KS, HB, AK, TC, YK, RH, AC, NA, AR, and CK, making it all the way through their CDs, despite multiple CD / headphone debacles.
-- Rock Comics CJ, CK, and ML. These students should be recognized for filling the concert with funny moments. CJ got amusingly angry at how many songs matched Spirit Bear’s main character. All of them asked the same basic question, “I get that Cole is a round, dynamic, three-dimensional character, but does EVERY song have to fit him?”  Speaking of Cole, a student named Cole [CK] provided much amusement when he FLIPPED OUT as he listened to the song ML included, Tiny Tim’s “Living in the Sunlight, Loving in the Moonlight.”  Cole’s pain was 6^th period’s gain, as they watched him twist in his chair, pound on his desk, and shriek “make it stop” in almost as high a pitch as Tiny Tim himself.  All periods got to share in the amusing misery a day or so later, as they heard parts of that song and other ridiculous songs: Spongebob’s “F.U.N. Song,” “I’m a Little Teapot,” Frank Sinatra’s “Happy Birthday,” and “I’m a Gummy Bear.”

-- All students, for making this Rock and Cole one of the best in six years.   Admittedly, the 4^th period power outage was infuriating: there had not been a power outage since I arrived at Frost, and this is the time it decided to happen?!  4^th dealt with it admirably, though, seeing the gallows humor in it, making the best of a bad situation.   More students also submitted full folders than ever before, and all students were able to find classmates’ Favorite Word on their folders, which has not been true in previous years. In the end, SS and RT still said it best: “Couldn’t we listen and learn from music every day?”  If only…

Grade: A-