Mamacita says:  Glee makes me want to sing. Glee even has the power to make me think I CAN sing. But that’s beside the point.

When I watch Glee, I switch back and forth with my point of view.  Sometimes, I’m one of the students, and then I absorb the wonder of having a safe place in which to express my talent with other students who feel the same way.  I curl up in my chair, totally digging the dancing, the belting, the counterpoint, the Broadway songs my family listens to as a matter of course but that others don’t always know, the interaction among the students – very diverse in the midst of their shared talents.  I watch the artsy kids rally behind any of their number who have problems – pregnancy, bullying, slushies in the face, football – and I relish the proof that kids can be athletes AND musicians, and do both well.

Sometimes, in my head, I’m dancing with them.  I, so graceless that I trip over nothing, am part of this choreography of camaraderie and talent, walking and chewing gum in perfect time to the music.

But the main reason I love Glee is this, and I dare say it’s politically incorrect to the max.  Might I add that being politically correct has never been important to me?  I love Glee because it’s so refreshingly wonderfully awesome to see classes taught in school by instructors who know how to do what they’re teaching, and do it well.

My career has been lush with English teachers who didn’t know how to spell or write a complete sentence, and whose vocabulary was woefully small.  I’ve had to work with PE teachers who were flabby and overweight, and who sat on the bleachers and WATCHED their students run laps, etc.  I’ve dealt with math teachers who knew nothing beyond algebra, social studies teachers who gave out handouts and slept in class, and coaches who didn’t even know the rules of the game, let alone how to help a student learn them, and insisted the “no pass, no play” rules did not apply to their starters.   Even Sue, whose technique is blistering and hardly a good example, knows exactly what she’s doing and what her cheerleaders need to be doing out on the field.  She’s a mean one, but she absolutely would not put up with bullying in the building.  An exception might be Emma, the counselor, but even though her quirks and obsessions are many, her heart is in the right place, and I can’t imagine her ever pointing to the door and telling a student, “Sorry, I don’t deal with anything to do with sex or personal problems.”

It’s so refreshing to see teachers who are experts in what they are teaching.  I love to see Will singing and dancing; his students know for a fact that their teacher KNOWS what they want to know.  I love to see Bieste – my favorite character right now – teaching by example all kinds of things besides football, and it’s obvious that she knows her football.

By example.  That might be what I’m trying to say here.  A teacher who doesn’t know his/her subject thoroughly, and who doesn’t know how to use it in AND out of the classroom, and who expects/requires students to “do as I say, not as I do,” is not a good example, and has no business in our classrooms.

The world of GLEE is by no means a perfect world, and all the bad, negative things that exist in every school exist here, as well, but somehow, the adults in this school seem to know what to do.  At least, they try.

Their school board, however, is made up of cowardly gits who allowed a dangerous bully to return to school in spite of the fact that he gave a death threat to another student.  This is morally wrong, but sadly, quite typical.

I am also looking forward to what will happen when a teacher witnesses a slushie toss.

GLEE rocks.  I watch it online every Wednesday.

P.S.  The addition of Dot Jones, as Coach Bieste, was a masterstroke of genius.  Dot is a fantastic addition to an already fantastic cast.