And, so it begins ...

Yesterday, I attended college for the first day of a new academic year 2026/27. It felt quite surreal. I work part-time at the local college so split my time between teaching and writing!

This year, I have a brand-new classroom - which always feels strange! I positioned my rescue plant, an African violet, which I'd saved from a local garden centre the day before on the windowsill. Hopefully, she will bloom in the coming months - much like many of my pupils!

I managed to complete a host of work but did take several minutes to reflect on the previous year - my first year at this college. I found myself laughing out loud at one particular memory.

On April 21st, whilst teaching, I happened to mention that Prince had died ten years ago today. That's me, that's how my brain works. My pupils stared at me. They didn't know who Prince was! I was stunned. What the hell????????? This is part of the course as a teacher - the modern generation, some know very little about what occurs in the world and even less if it happened before their birth date.

I found that a group of eight males were engaging with the conversation so I proceeded, with caution. I explained who the musician Prince was. I named several songs - all of which were unknown to my audience. I went on to explain that Prince plays every instrument on each of his songs by layering the recordings. The small group are impressed, some say that they play the guitar - which is nice to hear. They ask what else he wrote. I mentioned The Bangles' hit 'Manic Monday' - they hadn't heard of it. I'm surprised. I go on to mention Sinead O'Connor and 'Nothing compares to you' which Prince wrote and recorded before her version. My pupils have never heard of the song or her. I'm near to fainting at this point! The rest of class, who had been quietly working, have now tuned in to our music conversation - I'm happy for them to 'take a moment' away from their English work.

My group of eight are still puzzled as to who I'm talking about, when a young chap from the far side of the room asks 'What are you lot on about - repeat the conversation, Miss.' My brain took over, before realising it, I said, 'Nah, I'm not repeating a conversation about a song that no one has heard of, performed by a woman that no one knows, that was written by a genius whose name is unknown to you! Who died ten years ago today!' There was a lengthy pause before someone muttered, 'Miss, you're funny!'  After which, titters of laughter sprung up around the classroom - including me! 

Next lesson, they received the education they truly needed*. For the first time, my white board didn't contain the college rules about mobile phones and hoodies but a YouTube clip primed ready to play. On entering the classroom, their eager little hearts demanded 'what are we doing?' and 'what's going on?' before I pressed play and showed them a clip of Prince and his guitar. Prince wasn't happy with the audiences' participation at the April 2004 concert, which makes me smile. But my students avidly watched and learnt who Prince was! It's moments such as this that make my heart sing - I pray that this new academic year has many similar moments!

YouTube Link: press here 

*Note: students are 16+ so the song choice was 'OK'

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