When you become a teacher, one of the last thoughts that crosses your mind is that at some point, you will start teaching your second generation. So far I have had some of those heart stopping, freaky moments. For instance, when a former student married a woman with children and he showed up at 5th grade band night with them. He literally had to pick me up off of the floor from shock. Then I taught with a former student but I only had them in high school so that didn't seem quite as bad. The year when I graduated my first class of 5th graders was kind of bittersweet. This year I am having my first experience with teaching a student of a student. Again, I taught them when they were in high school so I am kind of okay with it.
Last Saturday was an elementary honor choir event. I took seven very talented fifth graders. One of my girls kept telling me that her relative had been helping her with her music and that she was taking kids from the school she taught at as well. I didn't really think anything of it until we arrived Saturday and she ran over and hugged her relative, it was a young lady that I taught in middle school. I kind of lost track of her after high school and had no idea that she had majored in music education. Once the kids started rehearsing we talked for a while, mostly about our jobs and her surprise at me teaching elementary music. At one point she asked if I was a little freaked out that one of my students was out there teaching. Honestly, yeah I guess I am. I mean, I do have another student out there in the trenches teaching and we run into each other once a year at KMEA, but that seems different since we don't really bring students with us.
Now, I'm not going to gush the way that my old Band Guy does when we hang out at KMEA or KBA. It is pretty cool though that there are kids out there that I have taught that have been so moved by music that they have chosen it as a profession, even though it kind of makes me feel old.
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