From the South Orange Maplewood School District:
Maplewood Middle School teachers miss their students so much that they broke out their best dance moves in a video that replicates — or to paraphrase the video, attempts — the Next Move Challenge. Each teacher begins their video by copying the last move of the teacher before them.
The video was assembled by Library/Media Specialist Evyn Degnan and organized by 8th grade science teacher and team leader Christine Kleinwaks and dance teacher Caroline Ogando. The choreography was left up to the individual creative geniuses of the MMS teaching staff (and, in a few cases, their own children).
Principal Dara Gronau stated, “We just wanted to do something that would make our students, and us, smile. The common theme we hear from teachers is how much they miss the fun of being in school with our students. This was our way to reach out, let down our hair, and let them see us being a little bit goofy. We all miss the human interaction that makes MMS such a special place.”
The teachers get together weekly in Zoom meetings and discuss school business and have the opportunity to socialize with each other as well. This video arose spontaneously out of the shared sentiment expressed in a couple of those meetings to reach out to the students and the community and share some happy moments.
