In my most recent year of teaching, I took on additional duties for our lunch functions. The top reason, in fact, that ‘every kid in America wants to be me:’ I introduced my students to the practical side of front-of-house service.

In other words, I began the glamorous life of getting them to wear Chef’s coats and hats, setting up our (small) banquet room, conducting buffet-line service –WITHOUT spending any time on their phones– and, most popular of all, table bussing.

After trying many (many) ways to motivate them, I read a great piece in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teacher Tales,”* in which Alex ‘The Rappin Mathematician’ Kajitani explained how he inspired his students by delivering a lesson in rap form, using music from songs the students like. It seemed like the perfect way to get my students rallied together around otherwise less-than-exciting tasks.

There’s just one problem here (sure, one). Anyone who knows me also winces at the thought of my being involved with singing; I can’t carry a tune if it’s tied to my arm. However, they also know that I am more than willing to make myself look silly by *trying* to sing, especially if there’s a chance to connect with my students.

So, then began a few hours of fun, coming up with lyrics to a song that always motivates me: Queen’s timeless ‘We Will Rock You’ by Dr. Brian May*, turning it into ‘We Will Feed You.’

I am happy to say that this song worked on two occasions, with two separate sets of students. In the first instance, I suspect the shock at seeing me start pounding the table in that trademark rhythm and hearing me recite the lyrics was the motivating factor, but in the second case they actually got into the song, at least for the minute or two it took to sing. And in both cases, a few moments of shared fun and laughs were worth it.

I hope this gives you a good chuckle for the day 😊

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We Will Feed You
Lyrics by Lauren Bradford, The Food Puzzler
Sung to the timeless tune ‘We Will Rock You’ written by Brian May*

Whatever you want
There’s breakfast lunches snacks and even dinner too
We’ve got soup and stocks
Chocolate sauce
Taking chickens apart to fry up lots

We will we will feed you!
EVERYBODY we will we will feed you!

Chicken cooks up high
Always 165
Beef and fish only need 145
But grind them up, temp goes up
Hamburger and fish patties 155

We will we will feed you!
SING IT we will we will feed you!

Wearing the gloves shows sanitation love
for salads sandwiches serving too!
But we always wash
cleaning first
Using paper towels and give them a toss!

We will we will feed you!
EVERYBODY we will we will feed you!
We will we will feed you!
SING IT we will we will feed you!
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* NOTES:

~ http://alexkajitani.com

~ This edition can be found online many places, including here, if you’re curious:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1935096478/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687522&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1558749799&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0B2BRSGWNKQZWKBH5XSV

~ http://brianmay.com/brian/biog.html (yes, he’s not only a rock legend, he’s a scientist with a PhD in Astrophysics!)

~ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Will_Rock_You