Spirit Week: Grapes and Flash Mobs

This past week was Spirit Week.  When I was in high school, Spirit Week was huge.  The students, teachers, and administrators all got super into it.  Almost everyone dressed up, and we always had great themes.    However, I discovered that Spirit Week at LCN is not such a big deal...at all.  On most of the days, I saw maybe ten students all day who were participating, and most of the staff didn't participate either.  The first day was Orange & Purple day, which was easy enough to do.  I just wore a purple shirt and normal, nice teacher clothes - but I saw few other people wearing orange or purple.  I decided not to participate in the next day - Zombie day - because I happen to not like zombies...at all.  I think they're scary.  That was probably a good decision, because it looked as though most of the school also decided to skip that one.  I did, however, see a few students and a couple teachers in zombie getup, including one of my good teacher friends, Danielle, who went to high school with me.  She encouraged me to participate in the next Spirit Week day, Costume Day.

Now, I'm not shy, but I'd definitely say I tend to be a little quieter around people I don't know that well...including an entire school of people I've only known for about 3 weeks.  I'm definitely not the type of person to dress up in a ridiculous costume when almost everyone else is dressed normally.  However, I did love Spirit Week in high school, and I wanted to push myself to get into Spirit Week at LCN.  Maybe if more teachers participate, more students will participate.  So with Danielle's encouragement, I dressed up...as grapes.  This is probably the most ridiculous costume I've ever had in my life, but it turned out to be a blast.  I pinned a bunch of purple balloons to a zip-up hoodie and stapled a bunch of fake leaves to a headband.  Here's a pic from the night I made the costume:

Wearing it to school was fun, but a little awkward.  I had to walk sideways to fit through doors.  Some students came up and tried to pop me (none were successful, but I had brought backup balloons, just in case).  It was really fun to see the students' reactions to my costume.  Some burst out laughing as soon as they saw me.  Others acted as if it was completely normal.  I said hi to some students as I walked through the hallway, and they turned away, blushing and embarrassed.  I got a lot of hellos and "I love your costume!" from students I'd never met before.  My principal stopped in my classroom (for the first time ever) and saw my costume.  Overall, it turned out to be a lot of fun for me, and for my students, I think.  My mentor said it was a bold move for a new teacher, and now a lot of kids know me as "Frau Nagle - the new teacher who was grapes that one day".  It was also a great opportunity to teach all my German students how to say "grapes" auf Deutsch!

Friday was Black & Gold day (LCN's colors).  There was a pep assembly at the end of the day.  For the assembly, I participated in my first flash mob!  Several of the younger teachers, a few of the older teachers, and some student council kids put together a flash mob to Gangnam Style by Psy.  If you don't know what that is, it's the latest viral video, and most of the students know and love it.  Here's the original video:



And here's the video of the staff flash mob at LCN (you can't really see me, but I'm in the back left of the group):



It was so fun!  I hope that next year's Spirit Week is a little more spirited...I'll definitely be participating again!