When Water Spills

One of the biggest challenges of teaching on a cart is setting a positive, musical atmosphere for the class. When students enter a space you have decorated and set up and there are instruments everywhere, the room sets the tone for itself. You just have to smile, sing, and go for it.

Going into rooms is a different ball game. You go into their space. Yes, you work with the students to create a music space and have music playing while you roll right into the room, but their room still has a number of logistical procedures you're working out while trying to get music started.

It's a lot of moving pieces, and little things derail the process pretty quickly. Today, a little thing messed me up.

I walked into a favorite 3rd grade class with a brand new lesson I had just developed and a somewhat new first movement activity for my kids. I come in, hit play, get them started on the game, and reach for my first manipulative on the top of my cart. My fingers hit liquid. My water bottle had fallen over and spilled all over the bottom of the shelf.

Some of my kids saw what had happened and ran to grab tissues and paper towels. I start taking stuff off the cart and dumping it on the floor. The kids start to mimic me. (Insert irritated Stephanie voice here.) Thanks but stop. Not everything can be kerplunked like I just modeled for you.

All in all, it took 5 minutes to get cleaned up and on track again. My kids were great. I pulled an old hand clapping game out of my brain and took 30 seconds to get the class started while I kept wiping water off of my plans, books, papers, etc. (I was lucky to be with a group of students who I could trust to keep going. Also, thank God I have a husband who convinced me to purchase a waterproof speaker for instances just like this one. Of course, when we were looking as speakers, the spills hypothetically were caused by children, not me.)

I was pretty irritated the rest of class... a little thing just got to me. I'm pretty human like that. But you know what? I finished my lesson. My kids learned what the plan said they would learn. None of my stuff was permanently damaged.

I'm finding when water spills, or the Smart Board isn't working, or when I forget the VGA chord to hookup my I-Pad to the board (yes, today), music is still made. My students come out singing and dancing just fine. A little bit of a cliché perhaps, but when water spills, it's not the end of the world or the end of your lesson.