go white girl! it's your birthday!

Last night I chaperoned the 8th grade graduation dance at our school. It was amusing, to say the least. Very different from my own 8th grade dance. The boys were all dressed in very long denim shorts with either a baggy polo shirt or a baggy button down shirt. A few were even in baseball caps. About three or four of the girls had a dress on, but the rest were in capris or jeans. They spent the first hour of the dance running around taking pictures of each other... and then the dancing started. I consider myself to be a very hip and with-it teacher, but I knew very few of the songs that the DJ played. To be fair, half of them were in Spanish... and I did know two of those (one by Marc Anthony, and "Lo Que Paso Paso," by Daddy Yankee).

Anyway... these kids can DANCE. My body was not made to move like that. These girls aren't built like any 8th graders I went to school with. They're all booty and boobs, lol. And most of the dancing they did required them to shake both. After socializing with the other teacher chaperones, I headed to the dance floor, along with three other teachers (2nd grade, pre-k and 8th grade) to bust a move, white-girl stlye. I learned how to dance to "Pop Lock and Drop It" and practiced my salsa and merengue (both of which leave much to be desired). Good times, good times. But Lord, I felt old.

Funny story from the beginning of the dance: I was hanging with the other teachers and the DJ played Ciara's song, "Like a Boy." I started singing along, and one of the 8th grade girls saw me. She whispered to another girl and they both looked at me and smiled. I went over and asked what was going on. One girl said, "I just told her, 'Look at Miss M, she knows the song!'" I laughed and told them it's on my myspace profile. The looks on their faces were priceless... teachers with myspace?! Preposterous!

Anyway, last night's dance got me to thinking about good party songs. Last time I asked for top ten desert island CDs, but it was pointed out that some people don't listen to whole CDs anymore. I know I don't. So this time, I'm going to ask for songs... top five party songs. Songs that get you in the mood to party, songs that make you get up at dance at a party... whatever gets your groove on. Do share.