Sometimes you see something so cute/amazing/(insert positive adjective) that it gives you life. It’s awesome to be a teacher and experience these on the daily, and the other morning, I saw something so spectacular I couldn’t help but tell just about everyone I encountered that day. It involves some of the second graders.
I saw a group of second graders playing together out on the yard. The first thing I noticed was that they were pantomiming DJs. One hand scratching on an invisible turntable, the other hand holding an invisible headphone over their ear. There’s no mistaking that action. Then, they started hopping around with their hands up like they were at a hip hop concert, bringing their hands down on the beat. It was probably one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen.
The real magic, though, came when I took a casual little stroll past their game, and overheard this question: who’s going to carry the stereo? A young man volunteered right away and I was absolutely thrilled when I saw him hoist an invisible boombox onto his shoulder and hold it next to his ear.
Because who doesn’t miss the 80’s and 90’s?
This made my day. It made the other on-duty teacher’s day when she witnessed the same thing. Where did this come from? How do they know to carry a boombox on their shoulder like that? What are they watching? Is LL Cool J back?
And then, as if that wasn’t enough, they did their very best attempts at break dancing. They did unmistakeable, yet hopeless imitations of windmills and headspins and...and those are the only breakdance moves I know of.
I don’t think breakdancing really went away, but a boombox? Actually, I think if I asked these second graders, are you carrying a boombox? they probably wouldn’t know what I was referring to. I doubt they know what a tape deck is, let alone the smug satisfaction of having two tape decks on one piece of stereo equipment. This pantomime is most likely part of some deep, obscure corner of the zeitgeist that I had wrongly assumed to be forgotten. For these boys, who knows exactly where it came from. So long as they don’t start bringing sheets of cardboard to school with them to perform, I’ll just keep appreciating the perfect display of retro, even though they don’t know what retro means. Now, when’s the moonwalk coming back? I’m all over that one.