Thursday 1/31: The End of the Beginning

It seems odd to title the first post the "End of the Beginning", but the reason I did that was today was the end of the semester for my local school district. This week has been rather difficult for many of them.  You could quite honestly see the worried and stressed expressions on their faces this week. I find this different because when I was in school, ages ago, we didn't have finals like this (certainly not at the middle school). Or maybe we did and I didn't remember them or I didn't care. With everything moving towards standardized testing, these test scores are a big deal. Anyway, no more did I notice this in my fourth period science class, my sixth graders.


Fourth Period:

Class started as usual, nothing too exciting. I have the privilege to work with a really amazing teacher. I wish I would have had someone as amazing as him when I was taking science. The way he can command a classroom, yet make things fun and engaging is really great to watch. He recently received a student teacher from Willamette. She is very nice, but quite the contradiction from his style. She made the comment today, when she officially takes over his classes next week, she won't be any ones friend. I suppose if you are a student teacher you need to command this type authority. If you don't the chances are the students won't respect you and then you've lost the class. Two things that are almost impossible to get back after you've lost them to a band of roving hormones, that is middle school. Anyway, I'm sure she will be fine, it will just be interesting to watch the dichotomy between the two.

So within this class, I have a little girl that is quite fond of me. She constantly wants to touch me and hug me. The other day I was walking down the hall with my hands in my pockets, she proceeded to run up behind me and put her arm in between my arm and my body. Its hard to describe, but essentially where it could have been construed that we were walking arm-in-arm.  I quickly removed my hand from my pocket and proceeded on my way. Today in class she wanted to give me a hug. I told her no, I'm not really the hugging type. She asked why don't I like hugs. I told her because of the legality of it all. While, I'm fine with high fives or a pat on the back, hugs are a whole other mess of red tape mumbo jumbo. She seemed confused by this statement, but took it as it was.

She is a sweet girl. Really smart for a sixth grader. She was telling me about her home situation, which doesn't sound great. Something about how she has switched rooms like four times, evidently one time she was living in a garage. I don't know her whole story, I may have to ask my teacher about it so I can get a better picture. Regardless, Mr. Brandon is a no touching zone.

Sixth and Seventh Period:

Different school then my morning shift. Yay for being moved around like some kind of educational gypsy. Anyway, these periods where not very exciting. It was mainly baby sitting as I like to put it. But hey when you're getting paid to watch kids watch themselves, I suppose I can't complain too much. These are my seventh and eighth grade students. They seemed less worried them other students. I don't know why, maybe, because it was the end of the day and they had gotten over all the nonsense of the tests. There is one kid in my eighth grade class who is brilliant. I don't know if he is just a super hard worker or what, but he is going to do something big one day. He is very concerned about his grades (all straight A's), I almost wish I could tell him not to worry so much. I mean grades aren't everything. This coming from a person who if he received anything less than an A in a college course would take it over again. Anyway, he says he wants to be a lawyer. I wish I could steer him down a different path, but hey, maybe we need better trial attorneys.

So, today was pretty uneventful. I hate to see my middle schoolers so occupied and worried about tests. Its sad that we base everything on "quantifiable" data to see if our kids are learning and succeeding. But every school is becoming like this. I guess our role as educators is try to prepare them as well as we can and to help them bare the burden that has been laid upon them.


Personal Note:

I don't want to give the names of the schools, teachers, or students I work with. I feel like this is a privacy issue and I can try my best to protect the innocent (or the guilty).


Side Notes:

One of my sixth graders today asked me what would it take to be a professional soccer player (as Tim would say "Football"). I told him I have no idea. I told him probably practicing a lot, eating right, and maybe college. I have to confess I know nothing about soccer and I really don't have any interest in it. I know we have the Timbers in Portland, but other than that...no idea. Evidently there are tons of different positions and plays switch all the time. I told him, I'm not really a sports guy, but I do enjoy the occasional hockey game. He told me "Mexican's can't skate so we don't play hockey." I felt terrible that he said this and wish I could come up with some Hispanic Hockey players. Thanks to Wikipedia now I know.

Scott Gomez (Montreal Canadians)
Al Montoya (New York Islanders)
Raffi Torres (Phoenix Coyotes)