New year, new president...

Unlike the neighboring school districts, my students and I had a regular school day last Tuesday, January 20. Although I've been falling behind with what I'm trying to accomplish with my classes as the end of the semester approaches, I recognized that having my students watch the Inauguration swearing-in ceremony and President Obama's speech would be a much more important lesson than whatever I could teach.

~*~*~
Last Fall, my junior high students constantly challenged the music I programmed for their concert. My oldest group performed a Spanish carol- in Spanish- and my youngest group sang a piece which had Latin and English text.

"Why aren't we singing 'Jingle Bells' or other Christmas songs?" Many kids asked as we prepared for our winter concert.

"Not everyone celebrates Christmas," I answered, "and besides, it's a Winter concert, not a Christmas concert."

"But we're singing a Jewish piece for Chanukah!" One child exclaimed.

"Actually, it's not a Chanukah piece. The text IS Hebrew, but the song is about a bird."

"Why do we have to sing songs in different languages? Why can't we just sing everything in English?"

"It's important to learn about other cultures, about other languages, and about the music of these peoples. There's so much more of the world beyond the tiny little bubble that is your life here at this school in [city, state]! We sing in the piece in its original language because it makes your experience of that culture's music more authentic." Then we had a long discussion about why it's important to honor/celebrate other cultures.
~*~*~

My motivation for watching the Inauguration with my class was to give them the opportunity to see history unfold as it was actually happening, and I'm hoping that watching our nation's first biracial President being sworn in expanded their personal bubbles so that they had some understanding of the significance of the event.

Later on that day and that week, I heard from some of my friends who live abroad- former exchange students who stayed with my family as my siblings and I were growing up, friends I met while backpacking through Europe and studying in Eastern Europe, and friends from abroad who had studied here. They are THRILLED that Obama is now our President. Foreign relations are already improving as our world continues to shrink. What a blessing. :)