Fall Dance Fest

This isn't a picture of the dance festival--this was at our field trip! Those three ladies are my support system and team at school. They are AMAZING. I am definitely very blessed to be working with them. They are always willing to share ideas, help me think through difficult concepts, give advice, help me calm down and see the bigger picture, and they even have taken care of me when I was sick with a migraine or when I almost fainted in front of my class. They are wonderful and I am so grateful for them!

Anyway...

Today was our school dance festival. For the past month or so, every grade has been practicing and perfecting a dance to perform for the school and parents.

Our fifth graders performed the Ukrainian Koza, which I learned at BYU thanks to the folk dance teachers and that red headed TA that I dated.

The kids were fabulous! I am seriously so proud of them. We worked really long and hard on the dance, and it wasn't easy! They had to switch partners five times! When we performed the dance today, our partnering got a little off but the kids smiled and pretended like nothing was wrong. What troopers!

Even the kids who were incredibly nervous about performing went out and killed the dance! One boy in particular was almost in tears he was so anxious. After talking it through with his mom, we told him he didn't have to dance if he was too scared (even though we wanted him to!) but the choice was his.

As we filed into our seats at the beginning of the festival, I asked him what he was going to do. All he could say was, "I'm thinking...I'm thinking..." and wring his hands. It was so sad! We were the second group to dance. As we got into our circle, this little boy's face was white, his eyes were wide, and I could tell he was terrified.

After the dance we chatted. I told him how proud I was that he got up there and did it, even though it was hard. He could not stop smiling! I loved it so much. He was SO proud that he did it!

I thought this photo was okay to post since it doesn't really show faces, and I'm not using names. You can see him leaning on his knees, deep in thought.

I love that my students do hard things. I love seeing how happy they get when something finally clicks, or when they accomplish something difficult. I love teaching so darn much!

Me and Stephanie at the dance festival. The weather was perfect!!