outraged

As I might have mentioned at some point, we are nearing the end of school. :)

This week I have been doing a Jazz unit with all my kids. I usually read them a book about a Jazz artist, and then we listen to a couple songs, discuss the person, see if there are any life lessons we can learn from them, and then watch a short clip of them performing. I've done several, all with a different grade level: Dizzy Gillespie, Django Reinhardt, Mary Lou Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and John Coltrane. I have really enjoyed it, and I think the kids like it too, mostly because it is out of the ordinary for them.

Earlier this week, I was reading the book about Mary Lou Williams to a class. There is a section about when they move from Atlanta up to Pittsburgh. In general, it was a hard time. She had to leave her organ behind, it was a long trip, and when they got there the neighbors weren't very welcoming. In fact, at one point, someone threw a brick through their window.

Well, at that exact moment, with better timing than if I had arranged it ahead of time, one of the boys GASPED loudly, and then in a hushed whisper said "NO!". I looked at him and I quietly said, "I KNOW!"

I tried not to laugh, I really did. But his timing was impecable.

But the thing I loved most was that he was outraged. That he couldn't believe that someone could actually do something like that. I loved that his outrage overtook him and made him burst out with "NO!".

Best outburst I've ever had. In any class. Ever.
K