If you have ever watched an Apple or Microsoft launch event, you’ll know what I’m talking about. As the keynote speaker is announced, a song is played that is meant to set the tone for the speech.  It provides an energy and sends a message all on its own but is a hint at what is coming in the address.

There are songs that have been adopted by us culturally, that no matter where you are or who you are with, when the song comes on, everyone knows the words (or thinks they do) and sings along at the top of their lungs. This happens because the song hits the core of our culural identity, like this one.  Americans have a seemingly innate belief in possibilty, set somewhere in our DNA from the brave people who crossed oceans both by choice and by force and somehow made a life in this country.  It was never easy, and it made us believers in our abilty to dream and achieve beyond the ordinary or logical. I think teachers have this deeply encoded.

Over the years, certain songs have come across my path that really spoke to me and how I perceived my personal identity.  I think of those as “walk-on songs”, songs that would let people know who was coming – perhaps as a warning.  As a little girl of the 70’s, I owned “I am Woman” by Helen Reddy and wondered if “At 17” by Janis Ian would be the defining song of my teen years. My actual teen years in the totally awesome 80’s were definitely as angsty as one would expect with grooves being worn into Depeche Mode, The Cure and U2 albums. My friends and I were sending our spare change to Amnesty International and watching Apartheid and The Cold War breathe their last breaths.

The irony is though, that despite tones of rebellion that played inside my spirit, I was still a pleaser and rule-follower. I didn’t break curfew or cause parental angst. But then something about my 40’s started to bring my rebellious nature up the surface.  I started being more assertive, asking questions and refusing “because we’ve always done it this way” as an answer.  This has had implications personally and professionally.  That angsty teen who thought the world could and should be better had reared her head.

In my classroom that means that I am on the search for which tools and strategies are going to support and empower my students the most even if that means that I have to start over.  I want to be the innovative educator who is seeking, implementing, reflecting, iterating and around again.  My problem is that this feeling inside me doesn’t stay inside very well. I am not quiet about it. I am driven and passionate – and to some, a bit much. Over-the-Top. Extra.  My walk-on song for the past several years has been “Renegades” by X Ambassadors.  As I enter my 50’s in the next week, I am going to work on balancing my rebellion and passion with some gentleness and patient grace for those who chose to lurk before they leap.  I wonder what my new walk-on song will be.

Do you know yours?