Caroling Visitors - Rated PG 13 (or more?)

It's interesting to be in public schools between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  There is a sort of unwritten rule that allows for the ramping up of creative use of the impending holidays as both inspiration and motivation.  The math people in the primary school work with paper chains as numberlines.  The Art Honor Society erected a "holiday" tree (because we can't be religion specific...) in the courtyard at the high school, and the entire school is invited to contribute ornaments.  Today, it was adorned with lights and garland.  Homerooms were visited to invite participation in the "Winter Wonderland Door Decoration Contest."  (Prizes?  I guess, bragging rights...).

The kids are squirrely, and the teachers are batty.  (Maybe that's the wrong holiday...)  With 7 1/2 school days between today and vacation, the engagement level is diminishing, and challenging teachers to a creative engagement level that is only rivaled by the time between Memorial Day and the last day of school.

Creative Engagement at its finest!

During first period today, a group of students entered.  Yes, a Wellness 10 class, currently studying Sexually Transmitted Diseases, came caroling, with their own original carols.  Imagine the infomercial for the CD featuring such hits as:

• Looks Like You Have Gonorrhea
• Here Comes Syphilis
• Let it Grow! 

and many more.

All to the tune of holiday classics like Jingle Bells, Let it Snow, and Frosty.

 In the old high school, this teacher used to perform the carols with her class on the stage, under the lights.  Now that we're all under one roof, and not housed in modular units in the parking lot, it's much easier to spread the holiday cheer, and share the important lessons learned during the STD unit.    The faces of the freshmen each year are priceless, as this activity ensues.  


Sure, it's unconventional.  Does it make people squirm?  You bet.  Do the kids learn something while creating their shock-value songs?  Absolutely. 

And it puts us one day closer to vacation, warming up an otherwise chilly day.