I couldn’t believe what I was doing. The shy, the mean, and the funny students were all standing up dancing. The whole senior class was standing in the bleachers doing a corny dance to the song “I Gotta Feeling.” People who don’t even like the Black Eyed Peas, or Hip-Hop music in general were smiling and moving. If used effectively, music can turn the most stubborn crowd into a party.
Mr. S started off his speech by telling the saddest story of his life: how he watched his mom nearly die. Then he pulled a 180 and got us to stand up and do a ridiculous dance. He used technology to turn his quiet-faced and watery-eyed crowd back into 18-year-old kids.
Why six months later is the senior class still talking about this presentation? Because through Mr. S’s use of music and humor, he stole the hearts of Arrowhead’s 2011 senior class. He made it something to remember by connecting with the students through music everyone knows. Whether it was us dancing to it, him dancing to it, or him making a story of it, it stuck in our brain and will for a very long time.
More often, the talk in the hall in between class periods isn’t about the latest drama that’s happening, or who dumped who. It is not about a sick party people remembered from the beginning of the year, or a teacher someone hates. Most often, it’s about Mr. S’s presentation from the beginning of the year.