Voluntary Middle School Attendance

This is my third year teaching middle school. Most people cringe when I tell them this. It's an interesting reaction. Most of the time people will politely smile and nod saying something to the effect of: "Wow, that's really neat. I bet you have fun." Oh boy is that the understatement of the century. But, every now and then I'll get a truly honest person to say, "Wow, you couldn't pay me enough to go back to middle school. You must be crazy!" I appreciate their honesty.

I guess you could call me slightly crazy. I spend my days with 11-14 year olds who really have no desire to listen to what I have to give them. Sure the first few days of school everything seems nice and rosy. That's the honeymoon period. Pretty soon, I guarantee someone is going to get a cute idea to see how far they can push administration. All of a sudden that nice lovely fluffy bunny version of school has come crashing down and the brutal honest reality of teaching pre-teens sets in.

But, dispite all of the previous doom and gloom, I really do love my job. I love being able to help kiddos learn about themselves and who they want to be. I love helping my students start to see that there is more of a world outside of their close circle of friends, outside of their classroom, outside of their school, outside of their neighborhood. A world of opportunity just waiting to be discovered.

See, that's the honeymoon period talking. I'm sure that my short notes here will soon turn into that brutally honest truth. Middle schoolers have no idea who they are right now. Their hormones are raging and they don't even know it yet. They want to remain cool enough so they have a circle of friends, but not cool enough to stand out among the crowd. Sometimes their soul purpose is to annoy every human being they come into contact with, and that suits them just fine.

But for now, the honeymoon period is still on. I'll hold onto this as long as I can. Because once it's over, the reality of the situation is this: I am stuck in a windowless room, down a deserted hallway with anywhere from 20-31 sweaty(sometimes stinky) middle school students in a room with 33 computers and airconditioning that has been set to a higher indoor temperature because some pencil pusher figured out that raising the indoor temp would save some bucks. THEY have obviously never been in an enclosed space filled with old decrepit computer machines running and a room full of middle school students, some of whom have yet to discover the joys of soap. So yeah, my reality is a bit jaded.

Though, there is one part of my job that I have desperately missed. Middle school student quote of the day. This is my favorite part. Everyday I try to find/remember something that someone said or did that day to make me laugh. It happens without fail everyday, I just have to find it. I have quotes from today and yesterday. Hopefully I'll be able to continue my quotes through this year, with a running commentary of course.

Student Quote of the Day:

Day 1
Me: What might disrupt or ruin computer class?
Student: You computer catching on fire will DEFINITELY ruin this class.
Me: Yup, you're absolutely right!

Day 2:
Studnet: Spongebob Squarepants, now there's a real man!


Oooo student quotes, how I've missed them.