The last twenty-five minutes of school every day is an Enrichment period. If my students have completed all their work for the week, we do some sort of activity on Fridays. This past Friday we played Duck, Duck, Goose...and yes, 7th graders LOVE this game. A boy was "goosed" and promptly stood up and with a puzzled look on his face, said "what do I do now??" Unbelieveable...
So because of this recent experience, I took a bit more time than usual explaining how to play rock, paper, scissors. I asked the students to show me what "paper" looks like with their hands, what the "scissors" look like with their hands, and finally what the "rock" looks like. When I said, "Show me what the rock looks like," a boy stood up in the back of the room, and said, "I'll show you what rock looks like...ROCK HARD ABS!!!" I said no thank you. I stopped breathing for the first phrase of his comment, so I'm glad he didn't linger on it and moved right on to the end. Be careful what and how you say things...
Monday, December 7, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
It Only Takes One
A funny then a serious one...
Trying to get one of my students to divide 150 by 75 in her head, I asked how many quarters are in 75 cents? She correctly said 3. I then asked how much money there would be if her friend also had 3 quarters. She said "A dollar and some change." :) I love teaching math.
Now on to serious...
I have formed a very special bond with one of my students. He doesn't have a mom at home and has a very rough home life. He is a fantastic athlete and has all the potential in the world. The Lord has put him in my life, some days to try me, some days to bless me. Today was a trying day for both of us. We have had a great week, and today I found him storming down the hall muttering something about wanting to hurt somebody. I slowed him down and tears brimming in his eyes, he told me of an earlier conversation with a substitute teacher. I know that some of what he replayed to me was skewed i his favor, but I also know from my "many" years of experience that middle school students are usually honest to a fault. Apparently his class was discussing their dreams, which their bellwork was on, and he had said something about wanting to play for the NBA someday. The substitute responded to him that that dream could never happen. She told him that in order to get that far, he would have to first pass middle school. He responded, probably disrespectfully, that he was passing all his classes and was working hard. She told him that his teachers were probably just giving him good marks so he could play and that there was no way he could earn passing grades on his own. According to her, he just needed to give up now.
With tears in my eyes, I did my best to console him and remind him of all the work he had done this semester. What makes me so angry when it comes to my students is that it takes ONE bad experience with a teacher to undo months of positive growth. I'm learning that many things in this life need to be taken day by day and this is certainly one of them. Pray that this young man will be surrounded by Christian men and women who show him how much he is worth and how much he is loved.
Trying to get one of my students to divide 150 by 75 in her head, I asked how many quarters are in 75 cents? She correctly said 3. I then asked how much money there would be if her friend also had 3 quarters. She said "A dollar and some change." :) I love teaching math.
Now on to serious...
I have formed a very special bond with one of my students. He doesn't have a mom at home and has a very rough home life. He is a fantastic athlete and has all the potential in the world. The Lord has put him in my life, some days to try me, some days to bless me. Today was a trying day for both of us. We have had a great week, and today I found him storming down the hall muttering something about wanting to hurt somebody. I slowed him down and tears brimming in his eyes, he told me of an earlier conversation with a substitute teacher. I know that some of what he replayed to me was skewed i his favor, but I also know from my "many" years of experience that middle school students are usually honest to a fault. Apparently his class was discussing their dreams, which their bellwork was on, and he had said something about wanting to play for the NBA someday. The substitute responded to him that that dream could never happen. She told him that in order to get that far, he would have to first pass middle school. He responded, probably disrespectfully, that he was passing all his classes and was working hard. She told him that his teachers were probably just giving him good marks so he could play and that there was no way he could earn passing grades on his own. According to her, he just needed to give up now.
With tears in my eyes, I did my best to console him and remind him of all the work he had done this semester. What makes me so angry when it comes to my students is that it takes ONE bad experience with a teacher to undo months of positive growth. I'm learning that many things in this life need to be taken day by day and this is certainly one of them. Pray that this young man will be surrounded by Christian men and women who show him how much he is worth and how much he is loved.
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