8th Grade Aggravation

Last week I was practicing my quelling looks. We had an assembly, and instead of getting to sit with my nice, sweet, bidable 7th graders, I got stuck with the ever-so-charming (not!) 8th graders. Granted, there were hundreds of well-behaved souls just watching the show, but those who stick out in my mind are the nasty ones. This was a talent show, so it meant lots of kids getting up in front of their peers and doing their best. To me, that seems pretty courageous, so I get VERY annoyed when the audience is less than kind. My main tactic is to stare, unblinking, down the row of kids at the offender. Usually this is all it takes. However, some kids seem to have very short memories. I am generally considered to be a hard ass, and that image is just fine with me.

The performances were a decidedly mixed bag. Lots of modern dance, some comedy, a marital arts demonstration, classical piano, and some old-school rock groups. We even had one ballerina in a full tutu costume. Two girls sang pop songs, and while the songs themselves were not to my taste, the girls had surprisingly good voices. Perhaps the cutest piece was the sound effects kid. He also performed last year, and the response from the audience was very positive. He did a squeaky door, a bunch of animals sounds, and a vacuum, and the audience went wild for him. It's nice to see a kid who is not part of the popular crowd get some good attention. On the whole it was a good show, and the audience was mostly well-behaved. Still, I will do my very best to be seated with 7th graders next time.