Problem Child
As the "SPY" logo suggests, I'm not the only one making this analogy. Last night, when I learned that school--and tonight's 2nd grade concert--would be canceled due to a winter storm that has yet to arrive, my first thought was, "Whew. Those kids really aren't ready to perform. Another week or three of rehearsals, until we can reschedule, and I'll feel much better." There are a lot of reasons my second graders aren't ready, and most of them have to do with me being new to this school and, more than that, new to the whole idea of a single-grade-level concert. In the past, all my elementary school concerts have had at least three grade levels performing, which means each grade only has to provide two or three pieces. Padding out what these second graders could do was involving a great deal of padding, and it's clear to me now that I should have had this concert in the works from the first day of class. So most of the pre-concert jitters...