Cuttin' a Rug

A week and a half ago we had a dance at our school. It was the day right before Spring Break, so everyone was really excited. There were two different dances going on, one for the 7th graders and one for the 8th & 9th graders. Where I am teaching 7th grade, I had to go to that dance.

It was funny to watch the 7th graders at a dance. I remember when I was in 7th grade and what dances were like. I remember that we actually danced during slow songs. Now of course it was with your arms extended straight out so you wouldn't be at all close to the person you were dancing with, but still we danced. There was not a single slow song played during the dance. Kind of odd if you ask me. During fast songs, I don't know how much dancing we did. We probably talked much of the time.

One thing that killed me was to watch how self-conscious they were. You could tell they were looking around to see who was watching them and wondering if what they were doing or how they were dancing was cool or not. However, there was a group of girls that could care less who was watching. They were dancing inappropriately and I continually had to talk to them about it.

Near the end of the dance, a song came on that some of the other teachers and myself really got into. They were playing a ton of songs from the 90s and we knew all of them. So we started dancin' and before you know it, a group of kids was dancing around us. I could see some of my students watching me and pointing at me, which cracked me up. The best part was when this group of girls that had been dirty dancing much of the time, came up and started dancing with me.

We were having a great time! We kind of had a little dance-off. They were getting a kick out of watching me dance. I have to laugh because I was doing just what I would have done anywhere. I was being myself and they loved it. After the dance, students were leaving the school and a couple of boys made comments about my dancing. One boy, a huge Polynesian boy, came up to me and said, "Man, you got some moves!" Then one of my students said, "Dude, Miss Larsen, you can totally cut a rug. I learned that phrase from my mom." I loved it.

In class this week, after getting back from Spring Break, a student asked me if I was a cheerleader in high school. She said I was always happy and peppy, so she thought I had to have been. Then she asked if I had been on the dance team. When I told her no, she was shocked. She said, "I saw the way you were dancin' at the dance. How were you not on a dance team?" Good times, good times. One of the teachers that was dancing with me, she is about 26, said, "It is no wonder why we teach middle school - we never grew up." It some regards, it's true!