No Talent Required
By Peter Barnes

"Please Mr. Barnes. Please can we have a talent show? It would be so awesome!" Looking into the pleading faces of my student council officers, I knew it would be impossible to say no to their request for a student council-sponsored talent show. I also knew my co-advisor Dave and I, both male science teachers, would be far out of our comfort zones in planning such an event. Could we pull it off? More importantly, was it worth risking possible humiliation in front of teachers and parents to satisfy our students' demands? We decided to take the plunge and find out.

Stage frights
Many problems faced us as we put the show together. Each little detail – sound equipment, decorations, advertising, auditions – became a logistical nightmare. Fortunately, our student council was a talented and motivated group who shouldered much of the workload. They spent recesses and weekends making signs, printing flyers and spreading the word.

There was also the drama created by the upcoming auditions. Each day brought news of dancing and singing groups like the Cheetah Girls and the Diamond Princesses forming and breaking up and then forming again as tensions flared over various artistic differences. I spent much of my recess time resolving these conflicts and watching the latest dance routines as students prepared for the big day.

And then there were the auditions themselves. How could we choose a reasonable number of participants without crushing young egos in the process? We soon realized no matter how hard we tried, someone's feelings were going to be hurt. We did our best to point out that everyone who tried out should be proud of themselves, but we still saw some very hurt faces before it was over.

Showtime!
The day of the show was a chaotic blur. There were parents panicked about missing costume pieces, students too nervous to eat their lunches and seemingly every eye in the school on the two male science teachers who had been dumb enough to agree to a talent show.

To everyone's amazement, especially mine, the show went flawlessly. The kids really were talented and showed it to the whole school. The decorations looked great and everyone had a great time. Dave and I breathed evenly for the first time in weeks. Going outside of our comfort zones was worth it, mainly because it gave our students an opportunity to go outside theirs.

Peter Barnes teaches fifth grade in New Albany, OH.

January, 2005, Vol.35, No.4