Melody in trouble clef

One month after my second farewell (!), I went back to school to sub this week. It's funny how, for months  now, people are always surprised to still see me around, since I have been supposed to leave for such a long time, and in the end it seems I'll even outlast some of them! Anyway it was really nice to see the kids. I was subbing for Band/Music (if some thought my teaching PE was the most ironic thing in the world, it's because they had overlooked Music in the list of high school subjects!) and the kids had to do an assignment where they had to replace notes with their corresponding letters in order to form words and complete stories. They had a treble clef notes chart on the first page of their packet that they could refer to in order to complete the exercise. 

The packet was composed of many pages so it became tedious to look back and forth all the time. That's when the 3-Graders revealed their true talent as strategists.

• The French strategy - not so practical, yet inherent to our culture
  Consists in turning the page over and over, looking back and forth, while mumbling about how annoying this is.
• The Corean strategy - not so smart, yet hardworking
  Consists in copying the information on every single page of the packet in order to have it at hand while completing the exercises.
• The German strategy - 100% praktisch, quadratisch, gut
  Consists in copying the information on a separate piece of paper that you can put right in front of you and easily refer to.
• The Indian strategy - sloppy, yet practical 
  Consists in ripping off the first page of the stapled packet to have it at hand while completing the rest of the pages.
• The Chinese strategy - copycat, yet proven as efficient as the aboveConsists in copying any of the above (except for the French, I mean, who would ever want to copy the least productive strategy of all?) from a classmate and then pretend it was your own idea in the first place. 

I just find it fascinating to see how young kids interact and find their way around some simple, practical problems, sometimes even much better and quicker than teenagers exposed to the same problem. 

Tomorrow is my last day as a Music teacher, after that, I promise I will respect my restraining order towards any kind of musical instrument!