Thank You

At this time of year teachers can be showered with gifts.  As a music teacher I only get given gifts by the children who really value what I've done with them over the year.  I don't get the box of chocolates or pot plant that I used to buy for my children's class teachers just because I thought it was the done thing.  My favourites are the ones that have been hand made by the child or where the sentiment in the card says just the right thing.

One year, a child made me a paper chain and wrote, "I love music," on each strip.  Another child bought be a flute study book they had found for 50p in a boot sale.  Last year a child wrote, "to the second best music teacher in the world."  Almost every child writes that you are the best music teacher in the world or the best music teacher ever.  Most have only ever known one music teacher, so there's really not much competition. Being the second best really made me smile. My daughter had a hand-made card, where the child had drawn their instrument and copied out a few bars of their favourite piece of music.

The best part about any child made gift or card is the accidental spelling funnies.  Quite often children write that they really enjoy sinning, which I think is more information than a music teacher needs.  Today I was given a card by a pupil and her little sister had also written in it.

I'm hoping that she just can't spell thank because the alternative is just too awful to comprehend.

It really made my evening though.  Every time I asked a child to play an F major scale, just saying the "F" sent me into the kind of giggles that make your eyes water.  It really was so unprofessional, every child thought they were playing so badly it was making me laugh and cry at the same time.