"Go shake your ears!"

From the first, I was apprehensive about having an insult contest with the kids. Though it was my idea, sometimes my ideas need to be filtered, with many of them discarded along the way. This one, though, had so much potential that I went with it.

It was a hit three years ago, when we first held it, but this year... oh, my... this year it rocked the house. I warned the sixth graders that the seventh grade was good. I was concerned that the seventh grade, with their experience, added to their talent along with their numbers, would be a insurmountable problem for the sixth graders.

Heh. Little did I know.

With an insult that seemed to go on forever, each line funnier than the last, delivered with sheer conviction by one of the nicest people I know, Rebecca insulted her way into the Shakespearean Insult Hall of Fame. (Well, her name is on my board in wet erase ink, and we call that the Insult Hall of Fame.) She took my suggestion to use a longer insult and she acted it out with verve and enthusiasm, perhaps letting just a bit of steam out from all those long days of homework.

Rebecca wasn't the only one, though. Each year, this thing gets more difficult to judge. Many of the students showed their acting ability and took turns insulting each other. Calvin, last year's winner, upped the ante, dropping the popular style of insulting for a quieter, far more sarcastic, style. Calvin, you were very hard to beat!

What really delights me about the insult contest is that we can do it. Where else can you get a group of middle school students to memorize Shakespeare and then pretend they are insulting each other-- and not have it burst out into something that is unkind? This is a special group of students who seem to like each other well enough to engage in something that can't be done with most groups their age.

It always is the best part of the party, but there were many great pieces to the event. Doris Williams, a trained teacher and a classical and Celtic musical scholar, accompanied by Sue Casey, taught the students a bit about music of the times. Ria was there to spin for us again, students shared their projects, and Ms. McGillivray talked of some of her knowledge of the costumes of the times. And we can't forget the food! A loaded table filled with Elizabethan delights filled our bellies.

In the end, though, it was the students that made the day, and the highlight is always the insult contest. Thank you, all who insulted and were insulted. Remember, one always sounds much more intelligent when it is said in "Shakespearean."