Christmas Wishes for Middle Schoolers

All of you know this, but just in case you missed the last 19 years of my life, I am a teacher. I teach in a weird psuedo-urban but sub-urban but not... long story... middle school. I don't write about school in general on here because it might be construed as unprofessional. But, to make a blanket statement, I love working with kids despite any ridiculous drama that may ensue.

And the ridiculousness does ensue... trust me. I work with middle schoolers. And not just any middle schoolers, but the middle of the middle schoolers. I teach the infamous and at times terrifying 7th grade. Call me a martyr, call me a lunatic, call me stupid but its what I do. Anyways, in working with my little angels I have noticed something. I love them, I do, but sometimes they lack grace. Other times they might lack manners. And pretty much all of the time they lack a keen sense of what they should or should not do. "But its fun to sing Feliz Navidad in that voice." in the middle of math class etc. etc. Sometimes I wonder what could be done to stop this seemingly unstoppable train crash that is pre-adolescence. Most times I think we should all just wear helmets. Just in case.

So, that is what happens in middle school. And, not to be crude, but in the last 10 or 15 years, middle school has seen the terifying advent of the thong.

Tonight I am watching Mad Hot Ballroom, a documentary about a ballroom dancing program for 5th graders in NYC public schools, for the second time. I love to dance. Look at my other blog entries. I love to shake it when I have a chance. I even taught the kids at a conservative private school in New Jersey to shake it. But, here's the thing about learning to dance, which you can see in this coolest little film ever... It is not just fun. Its so much more than that. Dancing gives kids something that the world is trying to take away from them. I look at the kids in this film and I think about what dancing has done for me, and I realize that dancing gives kids grace. It teaches them the manners and consideration that cannot be taught in a traditional classroom. The things that are so hard to teach in a very harsh world. Dancing can give them the confidence to stand up and be young men and women in the face of a world which doesn't seem to want them to do that.

Thats what I want for my kids for Christmas. I want them to see the really beautiful and graceful things they have inside and grab hold of them. I wish I could teach them all to dance, but sadly I teach 7th grade math. So, in the meantime, I guess I will just do what I can. Love them and bake them cookies. And sometimes tell them its just time to stop. Sometimes I wish you would please just stop yourself before you get embarrassed. That is my secondary Christmas wish. Come to think of it maybe I need thatone , too.

I think the second wish may be an impossibility, but you cannot tell me not to dream.

Welcome to the Sick Fort

I am sick and I stayed home from school. But not only am I sick today, but every weekend moment was ruined by a sick too stealth and evil to hit during the school week. Instead, it snuck up on my precious weekend time of respite and smashed all hope of rest and relaxation and fun and joy and happiness to pieces.

But not only am I sick, but Carmen is sick, too. My sweet little roommate, Carmen. We have two different things and are cycling through various stages at different points. Saturday morning I was dizzy and glued (not literally) to my bed. She went to the store for me. I sat in my bed and cried because I felt so sick. Its true. I am a big wimp. I hid under the covers. But then... OH THEN... Carmen hit the wall. Literally.

I had gone to bed at 5 pm (perfectly normal, right?) and I guess she had done the same. I woke up around 9:30 and read for a while. All of a sudden I heard a crash. I decided to ignore it. I could take care of a crash in the morning. Except that that crash was none other than sweet and wonderful Carmen! I heard "Hannah..." and there was my poor little friend passed out in the hall by the kitchen clutching a roll of toilet paper (?). I was sick, so was she. I tried to hoist her up but she was all passed out and crap and I was none too good. I pretty much dragged her to her room and shoved her up onto her bed. Then, I started trying to think of nurses and doctors to call. I was a little ridiculous and I had started to cry because somehow I had convinced myself that she was dying! I kept telling her to stay wake... "don't go to sleep, Carmen" And she looked real sick. Yesterday, she said she wondered why I kept saying that like an idiot. I called Sara, but then realized it was very late there and hung up. I looked at Carmen and she did not look pretty, but she was OK. I decided to just hang out for a while so I could stop being such a wimp and make sure she was OK.

And now here we sit. Too sick girls. I have built the sick fort of days of yore. We have moved the end table so we don't have to move to reach our drinks. We went to the store and stocked up on coke and soup and juice and bagels. And I just got two new magazines. It is just like when I was little except now I have WiFi. Long ago, my mom would build me a sick fort in the basement on days home from school... I would fake sick for DAYS to stay in that fort full of teen magazines and disney movies and M & Ms. My mom was a real sucker for my sick face or she just liked having me around. Sadly, it is a lot different when you are a grown up because then you have to take care of yourself and your ROOMMATE (Carmen) won't let you eat any cheese because it is bad for colds and flu.

Oh my goodness... it totally worked.

I Live in the Dinosaur Age

I can't figure out how to do it. Sara, you and "Ben Harper" are going to have to wait. Bated breath, I'm sure. Plus, right now all I have pictures of are my house and its MESSY and gross. Plus, I think my computer is like the war games computer. All the typing looks weird and stuff and I pressed the buttons you told me to and it just freezes. We'll see. Plus, the weekend holds better pictures. This weekend I am going to some ex-Wilcoite in Tucson and do a little hiking as well. Have I mentioned lately that Arizona is the place to be?

Can I Post Pictures?