Today was the first day of school.
No one I know, students and teachers alike, slept very well. Even though I wasn't nervous for the day, it still felt like I just dozed. It just comes with the beginning of September, I think. I spent the day living out a new schedule with new students and wondering the whole time why it felt like I blinked and we were back again. My students felt it too. How do I know? They told me.
I just finished reading a whole pile of papers that start out with 'Dear Miss Christians...' I made my 8th graders write me a letter. And I am struck by how honest my students are and how well written these letters were. I think because we know each other we could interact like we did today. I asked them to tell me anything about themselves. I told them I look at them differently than I did last year. They are more poised and pulled together, and I am going to hold them to higher standards. And then I gave them time to write.
I told them I wouldn't share their letters with people, so instead I'm just going to emphasize themes. Because there were themes. So many students were relieved to be known. They told me about their hopes for 8th grade, and how they were thinking about the life they really wanted to have. They wrote about their summer adventures, and why they were so over (or so not over) Justin Bieber. They told me that they had thought about the friends they really wanted to have and who was really good for them and didn't pull them down. They told me they were going to be themselves, and they wanted me to be proud of them.
Many students also told me that they really missed the teachers who had gone away. And in the same breath they offered some really mature thoughts about the new teachers who took their place. I was very impressed by their collective maturity. It's hard to see good teachers go and they had a lot of good moments with them last year. It made me miss these colleagues and friends a lot too. I have the word 'gullible' on the ceiling because of a prank that Mr. Carrier played on me last year, and I kept it up this year just for the memories. The current 7th grade class wasn't in on these pranks, but they still liked to hear the stories. It's the same with the figurative language example from a bulletin board that Ms. Baird put up last year. I kept one that described the St. Croix River and taped it to a drawer on my desk just to remind me of her.
After reading all of these letters, I have to say that I am very encouraged by these people. I loved their boldness and honesty in the year. I think I am dealing with some people in 8th grade who are willing to investigate themselves and see what they uncover. They're ready for some structure and substance after a year of little personal organization (and subsequently lots of weekends being grounded), potential drama at lockers, and feeling off kilter. They want to make sense of more, and this year I will witness it.
This 'knowing the tricks of the trade with the class of 2016' was a really nice balance to the other part of the day, which was meeting new 7th graders. I really like meeting new students too. The emphasis in 7th grade is just to get them to TALK a little, because really a lot of them are very shy. Not all. Just some. It's an entirely different world. Timing they need, how to joke around with them, when to be a battle axe, when to act like a mother...the list goes on. Again, night and day difference, at least to me.
Earlier in the month of August I asked myself what I really really do. And two terms came to mind. Stabilize and spur on. That's what middle school does. I think it really makes sense to me to look into a crowd and see such a diverse mix of growth and hone in on the individual while still being excited about the whole of it. Short, tall, braces, no more braces, organizationally challenged, type A to the nth degree, trying to be a show off, trying to hide...it's all there.
I think my job really is to stabilize what needs to be put back on its track (it's been going somewhere for a while now in the trajectory of learning) and then to spur on what is good and slowly growing.
How to navigate choosing a college minor, learning how to do what adults do OR stand in front of the room and speak without caving in on yourself. All of these were concerns today from numerous people.
This is the smallest and tiniest expression of why my job this year is going to be awesome.
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