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.
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.
posted by Morris Mathews at 9:32 PM
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