A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Although the majority of music class is making or listening to music, we do write music as well. I have a can of random pencils available along with various kinds of paper, i.e. notebook, blank, staff.

Most of my pencils are well-used so have no erasers. They still sharpen fine so I hate to throw them away. I just keep separate erasers for students who need them.

This is very disconcerting to the students and the first thing they say when I give them a pencil is “My pencil doesn’t have an eraser.”

I tell them they don’t need an eraser until they have actually written something and when they have something to erase, I will give them an eraser. They are still not happy but they use the pencils anyway.

Last week I decided to buy new pencils. I got a box of sharpened pencils with nice erasers. As I passed them out, I explained how they were brand new pencils so every one of them had a point and an eraser.

One student told me that his pencil didn’t have a point. I confess I was frustrated as I said, “Yes it does. They are new pencils and you are the first people to use them.”

Then he brought me his pencil.

Sure enough, the lead was put in the pencil off-center so it was not sharpened. I tried several times to sharpen it to no avail.

It is the first time I have ever seen a pencil like this.

I wish I could say it was the first time I was proven wrong. Or that it would be the last.