Quotes in Pictures that Make Sense to Me

Earlier this year, in the winter I think, I spent time feeling inspired by quotes that people had built into pictures.  I tried to stay away from the rainbows, butterflies, unicorns approach.  You sometimes get that in quotes that inspire people. 

I don't feel that way.  At all. 

If something has depth and width and something beyond in it...that's what I like.  Please read on. 

Every day at school, I put up a quote, and during 3rd quarter I wanted to see what kids would contribute.  I did not anticipate the rainbows, butterflies, and unicorns approach, but that's what I got.  In retrospect, I should have guessed that this is what 13 year old girls finding inspiring.   In the big picture, I love this about them, because it shows me their optimism about the world and that they think most things are very beautiful.  But I will admit that I still twitch a little inside when I have to rifle through this quote box we have and provide a quote for one of my students to write on the board.  This one student I teach has this job, and he loves it.  When he gave me a Christmas present this year, he included a quote on the card that he had thought up on his own.  

And....reason #1,407 why I love 7th grade. 



There's a whole slew of other reasons why I appreciate 8th grade.  They're very different worlds.  But that's a conversation I need to table for a moment. 

Back to quotes.  The quotes these cute little 7th grade girls are providing really do stem from things like, 'This is just a page in the book.  Turn it. Move on to the next chapter.'   This is what speaks to them. 

And why wouldn't it?  Don't we all remember those devastating moments in middle school when you thought everything was over and you were destined to be a certain someone for all time?  We remember those things.  These quotes lift sore spirits and remind them that things do get better.  The time they're in, which is fresh and exciting and haphazard, is also a little trenchy too.  And by that I mean that it sometimes feels like a trench.  I will tell you this because I feel it too.  It's very clear to me in a day of teaching that I am the adult in the room and I am working with students who still have developing brains.  Minds too, but that's more conceptual.  We should all have developing minds.  

I'm talking about the impulsivity and the lack of solutions to problems and the very obvious confusion I see in them when I teach them about the world.  Or when I say hi to them in the hallway.  That alone is an indication of the general sense of their world.  And the hallway they have to walk through.  

Speaking of hallways, I've vowed to be a little more careful when I'm finding my own way back to class.  A few weeks ago I walked through a very obvious 8th grade meet and greet with an 8th grade boy (his comrades, clearly there for support) and a girl at her locker.  I walked THROUGH this interaction before I could stop myself, and it was weird.  I pretended to be normal, since I'm the teacher, but it took real effort to keep myself from making a weird face.  8th grade love!  Yikes!  It is not like any other sort of love in the future, that's for sure.  I can confirm this interaction points to crush like feelings because this week I caught this girl writing a very detailed note to this same boy.  That's how you figure things out about social interaction in middle school.  Notes. 

Again, back to quotes.  This week I felt the full force of unicorns and rainbows when one student wrote about it in a continuing story we did....you know, the kind where you write something and pass it on, and soon you have everyone contributing to a story? We had a contest...which one was best?  And when I read these out loud, topics included Justin Bieber (as an angel), a character named Princess Unicorn (who eats rainbows as food???), rabid man-eating squirrels (this one won) and Niccolo Machiavelli's book The Prince. 

Why Machiavelli?   This was a story set during the Renaissance after all, and this was the one requirement since we learned about the ends justifying the means last week. 

So, the 7th grade girls have their quotes (and beautifully enough, there they are, decorated on their backpacks, binders, and planners) and I have the ones that inspire me.  Mine are more from presidents and strong women and authors of all shapes and sizes and real people who say wise things.  But I can appreciate the 7th grade style too. 

Today this is what I'm sharing from my quote box.

I don't agree with the beginning of the quote, but I do agree with the end.