Extra Curricular Events

1.) Chaperoned the Halloween Dance (Oct.)

My main recollection of this experience was how uncomfortable it was seeing middle-school girls "get down," and try to be sexy by dancing provocatively in their skimpy costumes. I kept thinking, "Ack! You're little girls!" Was spared the sight of mutual pelvic gyrations however, which was a relief-- most of the kids were actually pretty good about refraining from PDH's-- "public displays of hormones." I elected to dress up because I'd been encouraged to do so by the other teachers-- I threw on a hideous neon-purple track suit that I'd found at a thrift store the year before. Unfortunately, since none of the other teachers dressed up, and since the kids hadn't gotten to know me especially well at that point, I think most of the kids just assumed that the suit was what I put on for "casual clothes." Teaching, be not proud.


2.) Attended the boys' varsity basketball game (Feb.)

This was so exciting! Our boys were on a streak this year, and ended up going all the way to state! Our school is a funky little place, and we had just received the news that the district would be closing down our school. The boys' incredible basketball success immediately after the gavel came down almost seemed to be an act of defiance against that decision. I watched them play a small private school-- watched them go up against clean-cut Caucasian boys in new uniforms, watched the opposing school's large cheer squad perform flips and lifts and throws in their immaculate uniforms, their hairsprayed pony-tails... And then cheered myself hoarse, watching our boys make basket after basket, watch two of our girls run out in front of our crowd and shake their long hippie hair, and holler out make-shift cheers. What an incredible morale booster! It made me love my odd little school so ferociously, and gave me such a sense of pride in who these kids are and in their fighting spirit.

3.) Theatre Field Trip to Bellingham

This experience was described at length in an earlier trio of blogs.

4.) Youth Speaks Poetry Slam at the Seattle Town Hall (May)

Our poetry teacher, Karen, had invited all of our students to attend the Youth Poetry Slam at the Town Hall, which she was co-hosting-- Viola and I promised to give extra credit to anyone who attended. I ended up chaperoning five of our students, and had an unbelievable time. Not only were the young performer poets outstanding, but to see my kids' reactions was indescribably moving. One boy didn't say much, but clapped adamantly after each performer, and discussed them all at length after the performance. Another boy cried during several of the poets' performances, he was so moved; he said afterwards, "I want to go home and write in my journal all weekend!" I wrote afterwards in my journal, "The kids were absolutely enthralled. What a gift to watch them watching, and to see them SEEING!" To have my students witness firsthand the power of writing through these cool young poets who looked like them-- for my students to recognize writing's ability to communicate ideas and to reconcile one to oneself-- was a priceless testimony. This was perhaps one of my favorite nights of the year.

5.) Host/Emcee for "One Last Glimpse," a performing-arts talent show/showcase for current students and alumni (May)

I co-hosted this event with another young teacher, Derek, and we had a blast. Our "shtick" of the evening was that we felt insulted to have been asked to HOST, rather than be part of the actual featured "talent"; we therefore tried to "prove" our various talents throughout the showcase during our intermittent hosting segments. It started off with a goofy folk-song from me, then Derek continued the pretense by attempting yoga-- in a tight blue tank top and women's yoga pants no less. We came on together during the second act, doing interpretative dance to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and ended with an over the top rap, performed by me (in the afore-pictured track suit, with Ray Ban sunglasses, and curly blond hair under a black cap), backed up by Derek's arrhythmic beat-boxing. The occasional was a sentimental one, as it will be our school's last performance showcase; there was a slide show commemorating many of our school's moments over the years, which was accompanied by touching quotes. Many people cried. People said afterwards that the silliness of what Derek and I did provided much needed comic-relief, and helped everyone continue on with the show. It was an honor to be asked to host such an emotionally significant occasion for my school, and I felt extremely privileged to be asked, as a student teacher, to take on the responsibility. It made me realize how invested I've become in this community, and how invested they've become in me.

6.) "Oliver!"-- our school's musical! (June)

This was a massive undertaking! I worked as the assistant director and choreographer for the musical to help fulfil my theatre endorsement, which eventually culminated in rehearsals until l0:00 pm, an entire weekend devoted to being at school for the play (during grad school finals week, OUCH), and the performance of endless random tasks, such as...
- Coming up with theatre exercises and games on the spot, to occupy kids that were unoccupied
- Choreographing at a moment's notice and with no prior warning: "Greta, you can choreograph 'Be Back Soon' today, right? Like-- now? OKAY, MIDDLE-SCHOOLERS, GO WITH GRETA!"
- Blocking/directing scenes on the spot
- Re-blocking scenes after getting onto our raked stage
- Choreographing fight scenes
- Working with kids one-on-one and in groups, on character development and their acting
- Helping the kids with stage make-up
- Helping the kids with their costumes
- Helping the kids with their hair
- Improvising new pocket handkerchiefs every night after the middle-schoolers continued to lose them-- EVERY NIGHT
- Running around during the show, resolving sound issues, prop problems, costume malfunctions-- running down to the orchestra pit, in one instance, with a sign for Fagin (the lead) to "TURN YOUR MIC ON!!" before his last big number.
- Endless clean-up after the show and wrangling of middle-schooler-cleaner-uppers

To name only a few...

For the reader's enjoyment, here are the two main numbers I choreographed, though there's plenty more where these came from!




Although being involved with the musical was at times an overwhelming undertaking, especially since it came when I was doing my full-time student teaching and trying to keep myself afloat in grad school classes as well, I hugely enjoyed it. I loved being able to incorporate my love for theatre and my dance background with my teaching, and I got know my students in a different venue and in a different light. I felt immensely proud of them for pulling off such a great show!

*We were only required to have six extra-curricular events, but chaperoning prom deserves a mention as well... Was sardonically addressed in this blog!

Observing... Myself

Observations on a self-recorded video in fulfillment of an accreditation requirement.

This observed video was recorded during a lesson on "Theme," which was introduced after it became apparent via a final test that my students, surprisingly, weren't comfortable readily identifying and recognizing themes. I gave a brief Powerpoint lecture on the different elements of how/where/when/through-whom themes can present themselves in a story. Then, to give the kids practice discussing and identifying themes, I read them a couple of children's stories:


... Which is mostly all pictures, and...


... Which was cool because it's a West-African story; since Things Fall Apart , the novel we'd been reading, takes place in Nigeria, I thought it would be fun to use stories from the same area.

The first taped portion of the video includes both the powerpoint lecture and the two children's stories that I read aloud.

After the children's stories, the kids broke up into small groups to discuss Things Fall Apart; they were asked to come up with two themes and a possible "moral of the story." The second video depicts me facilitating the kids' reported conclusions from their small group discussions; after each group supplied their ideas, we launched into an all-class discussion about the book, which was also taped.

Observations during the lecture:
- I use lots of gestures.
- Beck and Haven (who were right by the computer and therefore right by the microphone) talk more than I realized... Should perhaps address that...
- I have a nice loud "teacher voice."
- Classroom management techniques:
----> "There's some side chatter, which I'm not happy about."
----> "Okay girls, if you have something to say, please raise your hand."
----> "I'll wait."
- I'm good at affirming students' responses-- "Excellent." "I like it."
- Needed to pass out paper at one point-- perhaps should have had a student do that. Oh! I did. Never mind. "Thanks for passing out the paper, Alex..."
- I use funny voices a lot-- both when reading the stories, and just periodically throughout class... Will slip into accents. Usually makes the kids laugh!
- Another classroom management technique to get them "back together" after the kids got out paper/pen, etc. for note-taking:
----> "Alright, focus up here!"
- I use lots of pictures/images in my powerpoints
- Also give LOTS of examples for the different points... Many examples from novels, some from popular movies. I tend to paraphrase the points on the powerpoint slides while the kids are jotting down notes; rephrase it in a less formal vernacular.
- I don't say "Um" much, which I thought I did! That's good.
... Do, apparently, say "You know" a lot however. Which could be improved. (At least the overused phrase acts as a formative assessment though, yes?)
- I use TONS of gestures!
- When I'm talking, the kids are really quiet. Yay! Could possibly be because they're note-taking. But that could be considered an effective management/assessment technique, methinks.
- I ask the kids to provide examples, often.
- At one point I search for a relevant quote from the book... Should have had that quote marked already.
- Classroom management technique:
----> "Justice, I'm sorry, can you wait until everyone's ready and has stopped talking?"
- I go over the main points from the Powerpoint at the end of the lecture.

Observations during the story-time:
- I allow the kids to murmur/respond/comment during the first story, which is primarily illustrated with only a few words.
- I occasionally tell anecdotes as they're relevant
- The kids LOVE the voices!
- I touch my hair a lot, which is distracting-- at least to someone watching the video! In the next video segment, I've put it back, which is good.

Observations during the class discussion:
- I hear students' ideas, will usually verbally repeat them, then validate them for what is merit-worthy, and elaborate on their ideas.
- I have each group contribute answers.
- I provide some leading questions, and then let the kids contribute from there.
- Typically, when I see a number of different hands up, I'll say, "Okay, we'll have Brandon, then Kimmy, Lara, Max, and Rakeesh." The kids then put their hands down, because they know what order they'll be speaking in.
- Classroom management technique:
----> Sometimes I use hand signals-- like just reaching my hand in the direction of a talking student with my hand/wrist flexed, like, "Stop"-- to quiet kids down.
----> "Can we stop the side chatter please?"


Overall, I think this was a good lesson. I felt I broke it up into several different parts-- the introduction, the lecture, the stories, the small group discussion, the large group discussion, and then we capped the whole thing off with some Ethiopian food. Yum! I felt I did a good job keeping the kids engaged with my hand gestures, voices, providing of and asking for examples, and kept things interesting by throwing in an occasional anecdote. Although there are a few things I could have improved upon, like having the quote ready from the book, or perhaps having the kids present their theme/moral-of-the-story ideas from up front (would have been an excuse for them to stretch their legs!), I think the lesson and my instruction was overall, pretty solid.

The Positive Propaganda Project

Our last book of the year has been Animal Farm, which we've read aloud in class. Animal Farm is an allegorical representation of the Russian Revolution, and propaganda is a huge theme, both in the book and in what actually happened when Stalin was in charge. I did a huge lesson last Wednesday and Thursday on different techniques of propaganda, and we thought of tons of examples from the book, from our prior knowledge of history, and from contemporary culture.

Anyway: at the end of the class, I said, "This is the point. You all run into a LOT of negative messages every day-- from advertisers, from graffiti on the bathroom walls, maybe even from yourself... And so for our final project, we're going to do something to counter that. Your mission-- and you must accept it, because it's required-- is to spread a little sunshine and butterflies. You need to figure out a way to spread a POSITIVE message."

I gave them some examples-- a mural on the wall--


A flier on the street--


I told them about a bad day I'd once had and how I had been scowling on a street corner, when suddenly I heard, "Good luck!" and noticed a stranger raise his eyebrows at me and continue on his trek. It totally turned my mood around.

"This doesn't have to be big-- and it CAN'T BE ILLEGAL," I said. "NO GRAFFITI, even if you think it's positive! (Unless you get a letter from the building owner, proving that you got permission.) But figure out a way to spread a positive message. Think of someone you know that needs to hear a good message. Maybe it's your friends. Maybe it's yourself. You could write positive notes to yourself and put them all around your room. Maybe you want to go give notes to strangers. Okay?"

Some kids were resistant. "I'm not a positive person! I can't think of anything!"
"Well, think of it as propaganda then. You don't HAVE to necessarily think it's true. But this is an exercise to stretch your thinking and behavior, just like any other exercise or assignment."
"What if my message is 'Being negative is the new positive'?"
"Sorry. Look at the definition of positive. That is not it. This should be something that would be seen almost universally as positive."

Clark-- one of our school's strangest young lads-- ran in circles outside, where I had moved the class because of the heat. "I have an idea!" he said, frolicking around the pine tree.
"What?"
"My message is going to be, 'Everyone POOPS!'"
I sighed. "Clark, can't you think of something just a LITTLE more PC?"

However: most of the kids loved the idea.

Today I heard the different stories of what the kids did. And you guys? My students are so awesome.

Fernanda and Kelsey went to Greenlake, and wrote huge chalk messages on the circle loop: "Have a great day!" "Smile!" "You're beautiful!" They handed out flowers and notes to people. Fernanda told one story of spotting a harried mom, wrangling four kids. She said that she'd gone up to the mother and handed her a note that said, "You're appreciated." The mom almost started crying and said, "Wow... THANK you!"

Audrina, Shana, and Tanelle went down-town with a huge block of post-it notes and put them EVERYWHERE. At one point they sat on the top floor of the mall, and handed notes out to each new person getting off the escalator. They put the post-its on bulletin boards, they fought over interesting looking people to give them to. Audrina gave a note to a police-man who had just finished arresting a tweaked-out homeless man. The note that she gave him said, "You're needed." He apparently looked down at her and said in a deep voice, "Wooow. You know, that's pretty cool. You girls come back down here anytime you want, okay?"

Rakeesh, one of the sweetest young men I have, approached the project by infusing his daily life with these intentional moments of positivity. When he got home last Friday he noticed that his mother was in a horrible mood and didn't want to talk to anyone. He told her, "You know, you're my hero." She looked at him with an odd expression and said, "What are you doing?" Later that weekend, he tried to think of a way that he could help his dad, so he did all of his homework, and showed his pop-- who was happy. He went to the community center and saw an old lady that looked tired, and said something kind to her. My favorite story from Rakeesh though was when he was playing basketball at Greenlake. He saw another guy bullying other people on the courts-- saying rude things, and trying to run them off his court. Rakeesh-- who is an African immigrant who speaks broken English, and has a stutter on top of it-- approached this guy, completely intimidated, but intent on spreading his "Positive Propaganda" all the same. He told this guy, "Whatever you're going through, I just want to say, it's going to be okay." The guy looked at him, walked away, and didn't bother anyone else on the courts.

To hear that Rakeesh had had the courage to not only approach this guy, but then to say something that wasn't confrontational, but rather KIND, forgiving, understanding, and humble, blew me away. It just floored me-- I felt incredibly moved.

Clark ended up spreading the message, "Wash your hands!" And after several consulting sessions with the girl who had been so determined to be negative, she ended up giving notes to her friends that most needed to hear how incredible they are-- a message that this girl needs to hear herself, in my opinion. Malia wrote long poems to her friends that she knew were going through really difficult times-- several of them cried when they got them, and Malia herself almost started crying when she talked about her project. Kelly made little scrolls with positive quotes and gave them out to people-- she saw one girl on the bus who looked angry and upset, and handed her a scroll just before she got off the bus. The girl's face completely changed and she got up and hugged Kelly.

All around the school have been fliers-- "There is no smiling face that is not beautiful"-- and little notes found in the bathroom, on the desks, passed out: "You're awesome." "You're the bees knees." "Every breath you take counts, every word you say is worthy, every smile your lips give is heaven, every moment in your life is worth the watch, every single time your heart beats is a miracle.” Kids are passing out flowers and chocolate-- I've gotten several cards from kids who decided to target teachers especially.

It's everywhere!

Moments like this make me feel so inspired by my students-- in my efforts to help them be better people, I feel inspired to be a better person. What a wonderfully, infectiously HAPPY task it is to help people. It's contagious-- it makes the helper happy! It makes you want to help more.

And I think my kids are realizing the same thing. :)

Student Teaching Internship Reflection

I'll reflect on the year by examining the "epiphany" moments that helped me get to where I'm at. Many of these will have been written about in previous blogs; when appropriate, I've provided links.

First and foremost:

I LOVE THIS:
Blogs like, "Okay Phew," "Letter Writing to Ligia," "Those Days," and "Bubbling Over" are evidence of the deep joy and excitement teaching brings me. Although many Monday mornings still find me with butterflies in my stomach, they flee as soon as I turn the corner in front of the school and see my students milling around in front of the building. I love my students, and I love this job. I've also realized this year that I'm good at it; the students respond to my lessons and have told me repeatedly that I make learning fun, that I make it interesting. They know I care about them, which I deeply, truly do. I've realized-- and have been told by my mentor and other observing teachers-- that classroom management is a strong point for me. I know when to be serious and draw hard lines, I know when a joking reprimand is sufficient, I know when to call a kid out in the hallway for a serious conversation, I know how to use humor, and I know how to show my kids that I expect them to respect me because I respect them; that I expect them to be kind to others because I am kind to them. Although I know there's still room for improvement in this area-- especially as I continue to solidify the "I am the TEACHER" line, I believe that this is going to be an area that I can call a strength. I do feel meant to do this. I feel called to be a teacher, and this year has been confirmation that this will be a fulfilling, enjoyable life calling-- one that blends my passions with my capabilities. I do LOVE this.

I Need to QTIP:
An acronym for, "Quit Taking it Personally." The phrase was provided to me by another new teacher my first week of school; though I've yet to take it fully to heart, as evidenced by this post written in April, this is a principle I know I need to continue to internalize. When the 3rd period students turned into hellions this last Wednesday for example, it wasn't about me; it was more likely because our classroom was almost 90 degrees. Or because the novelty of being taught by a student intern is finally wearing off, and they're finally in the mood to test me. Or because several of the kids were just in grumpy moods. The same lesson went well for the other three language arts periods, and Viola has consistently said that my classroom management skills are one of my top strengths as a teacher. Still, when kids were saying blatantly rude things... it was hard not to take it personally. However, if I'm going to survive as a teacher and avoid burn-out, I need to make sure I'm keeping the "Q" portion of the "QTIP."

Small Victories Are Victories:
Especially when working with students who aren't on the AP track, or the Ivy League route, or who have absent parental support, the small victories with these kids are a big deal. This doesn't mean that I don't hold my kids to high standards, because they're expected to achieve big victories as well. However, for some of these kids, certain moments that may have seemed insignificant on paper have been truly momentous from a psychological or emotional stand-point, and ones that I can take great joy from.

One-on-Ones Work:
Kids don't like being "managed," i.e. disciplined in front of their peers. It's humiliating, and they'll almost always try to lash out to save face. However, get them out in the hallway, talk to them like a real person, start off on a gentle note, and they're usually completely reasonable. I've enjoyed the one-on-one chats this year because, not only have them helped me effectively manage difficult students, but they've also helped me build very real relationships with my kids. Next year, I definitely intend to continue handling the more difficult moments or issues with a hallway chat.

It Works to Be Myself:
I truly care about these kids. I think in metaphors frequently. I was a theatre major in college and have a substantial dance back-ground. I play guitar and write songs. I am genuinely interested in what my students have to say. All these very authentic aspects of myself have led to-- surprise-- some of my most effective instruction, and have been instrumental in building strong relationships with my students. Additionally, it's much less exhausting if I'm teaching as MYSELF than if I'm trying to project a different persona.

With that said however...

It Also Works to Be the Teacher:
There was a moment this year when I complimented one of my third period girls on her outfit. I remember her giving me a look that said, "Weird..." and then she shook her hair out of her face and sat down at her desk. I remember thinking in that moment, "I didn't respect teachers in high-school that tried to be like me, or that tried to be my 'friend.' I respected teachers that KNEW what they were talking about, that showed me respect, and that clearly had control as the TEACHER." That realization was what transitioned me from trying to be these students' "buddy," to being, truly, their teacher. It's also when my classroom management stepped up a serious notch; I became much more comfortable drawing hard lines when necessary. This lesson was further reinforced by a field trip to Bellingham. Although it's been a journey getting to the point of having a clearly established LINE with my students, I feel like I'm there.

Sometimes Hard Lessons are Important Lessons: I still struggle sometimes with letting kids learn the hard way. If a failing student comes to me with an extremely late essay, for example, I'll typically accept it for reduced credit, even if the kids have been told essays won't be accepted past a certain date. "But he DID the essay...!" I'll think to myself, and inevitably I'll give the student some points. Perhaps responding this way teaches its own kind of lesson; perhaps students that have felt discouraged and incompetent for always failing will get a much needed boost of encouragement that may lead them to more motivated efforts in the future. However, a big part of me feels that kids need to learn the lessons of the "real world"-- that, if they miss a dead-line, there are very real consequences. Part of establishing myself as that TEACHER is proving myself to be consistent. This is still a growing edge for me, but one I'm certainly working on.

And finally:

I've Been Blessed With a Great Mentor:
A reflection on this year wouldn't be complete without expressing just how much I have been helped, impacted, and guided by my mentor, Viola. Viola, as Matt my SPU Supervisor put it, has been like a great parent: she scolded when she needed to and provided necessary correction, but also provided consistent encouragement and affirmation when it was deserved. Viola has forced me to acknowledge difficult lessons that I needed to learn, yet has also helped me through discouraging days. I have learned to trust her judgment with these kids, and it's been so incredibly helpful to have her to confer with about students or lessons, especially as I've moved into teaching full time. She's been so FUN to work with, and even taught me the nitty-gritties of grammar. :) I'm not sure how I'll thank her sufficiently when the year ends, but she deserves every bit of what I come up with. What a blessing to have worked with such a competent teacher and advisor!

Friday Fairy Tales

Today was a bizarre day scheduling-wise. Since our school is closing, our kids are being farmed out to a bunch of different high-schools; today, many representatives from the other schools came to ours, to touch base with their respective kids. It was also "Field Day," i.e. the day where the whole school has one giant recess.

This meant that I only had five students in 5th period. And, those five kiddos were only going to be there for about 20 minutes.

"Do you guys want to blog...?" I asked. "That's what the other classes did, it's an extra credit option..."

"No, let's hang out and talk!" Andy said, plopping down on the floor in front of the fan. "Socratic Seminar!"
"Let's tell fairy tales!" said Maisie, and sat down beside him.

We've been discussing allegory this week, which ties into our unit on Animal Farm. The extra-credit blog option was to create their own allegorical story. We could work that into fairy tales...

I sat down with them and the couple remaining kids followed suit. "We could tell ALLEGORICAL fairy-tales..." I offered. "About our own lives."

Andy-- forever the catalyst-- grinned and said, "You first! Lead by example!"

I thought for a second. "Once upon a time... There was a young maiden. She LOOKED like she was fifteen, but actually she was much older..."

The kids laughed-- Maisie gives me endless grief about how young I look.

I continued: "And she was in charge of teaching all the little squirrels and birds of the forest. That's you," I clarified. The kids grinned and nodded. "And... sometimes the birds would get distracted from their lessons and fly away... and sometimes the squirrels would chatter really loud, but the maiden liked them all anyway. And she would often spend long hours going to collect water and food for the animals after they had gone to sleep. And one day, she met a fairy godmother, and got to make a wish," I said.

"Actually--" I paused. "She got two wishes. Because I want two wishes. Actually--" I paused again. "She got three wishes."

The kids laughed.

"The first wish was that the birds and the squirrels would always know how much POTENTIAL they had," I said. "The second wish was that SHE would always remember how much potential they had. The third wish was for a magic wand that would silence their voice-boxes when they chattered too much." The kids cracked up again.

Maisie's fairy tale started off like so: "Once there was a peasant girl... Who was born to two OBNOXIOUS gypsies. And one day, she started walking towards the castle, towards the kingdom... And she saw a prince who was a JERK-FACED LOSER, and she fell in love with him... And then, you know. He was awful."

"So he was an evil prince in disguise as a handsome knight?" I asked.

"Yes! That's exactly what he was," she pronounced.

Andy's story began, "So there was this CASANOVA..." which made me laugh. Then he continued to tell a story that was very much a straight-forward version of his own, albeit told in third person. "He went to get educated, but... Things kinda got hard. He wanted to go off and be this big shot business man, but, you know..." He shrugged and looked at me, his face a little crestfallen. Andy is very smart, but has failed many of his classes, including ours.

I interrupted him. "And then HE met a fairy godmother, and she told him that he was young and that it was EARLY in his life, and that he still had every chance in the world to become a hot-shot business man."

The stories ended up working with the allegorical theme-- Fiona equated her and her siblings to three different kinds of suitcases, and even though Tommy didn't quite understand how to translate his story into allegorical characters, we worked it out together.

So the Friday Fairy tales ended up being a pretty great way to wind down those 20 minutes. "And they all lived happily ever after..."

Sure hope so.

The Difference Between Prom and Weddings

Blog originally published May 25th

One friend commented on my last blog, saying that she wished we could all go to prom again as adults. I thought, "Haha! That WOULD be fun!" but then thought: "Wait... aren't going to weddings sort of the adult version of prom?" After all-- both involve boutonnieres, dancing, and dresses. But, it turns out, they are not the same.

This is why:

1.) Weddings usually involve drinking. In fact, there are featured toasts-- there is GLORIFIED drinking. Proms mean no drinking OR ELSE. If it is done, it is done covertly. And chaperones must not drink at all. If they do, they get their certification taken away. If the chaperone is a student-teaching intern, and is essentially a glorified volunteer, there would be no way to strip her of her certification, but she WOULD get a big scowl.

2.) At prom, you vote on the king and queen and it's revealed as a big surprise. At weddings, you pretty much know.

3.) At weddings, you don't have to worry so much about a 9th grader asking you to dance. And if it DID happen at a wedding, you could just laugh about it and humor the kid, rather than awkwardly avoiding the question and then going to hide behind your mentor.

4.) At weddings, there's one MAIN couple, and if they get a little dirty on the dance floor, everyone just thinks it's cute. At prom, there are lots of thrown-together couples, and they ALL get dirty on the dance floor, and it's gross.

5.) At prom, there are no humiliating bouquet tosses where the single 20-somethings out slink out and acknowledge with a wave and a grim smile, "Yep! Still coming out for these...!"

6.) At weddings, you don't have to worry so much about students needing to explain to their dates, "No, she's actually a teacher. I know, she looks YOUNG, huh??"

7.) At prom, there are treats. At weddings, there are buffets.

8.) At weddings, you can dance however you want. At prom-- if you're chaperoning, anyway-- you have to make sure you don't move your hips around too much.

9.) At weddings, you're usually not worried about acne anymore.

10.) At weddings, there is lots of crying. At prom, there is lots of grinding.

Some things really are the same though... The girls spend all day long getting ready. The guys throw on a tux, brush their hair, and call it good... The DJs are bad, no matter what... Everyone always looks great, all cleaned up... There are awkward slow dances at both, and awkward conversations and both, and let's be real, do we EVER move beyond the awkward stage?

But in any case, there is dancing. And there are friends. And there are good times. And BOTH occasions provide an excellent excuse to get a new dress...

So celebrate good times, come on.

One of the Ugly Sides of Teenagers...

Blog originally published May 22nd.

One of my freshmen students is a goofy little guy-- he looks like he's about 11, and he has extreme ADHD, so he's always squirming around in class and making noise. He's not very popular-- our kids are, by and large, an extremely accepting crew, as far as I can tell-- but I've still seen this kid get mocked on occasion.

Today he came in late to class, with red swollen eyes. Had he been crying? When we left to go to the library, he said that someone had slapped him across the eyes. He said he didn't know who, because he couldn't see them after they hit him. Right now, he's working on writing a blog, and is trying to act like everything's normal. I just told a girl to focus on her blog when I saw her on another website, and she said, "I have ADD."
"So do I!" this little guy said.
Everyone scoffed.
"Yeah, no kidding."
"No one ASKED you."
"Mind your own business, stop trying to butt into other conversations."

Why are kids so mean? Obviously this little guy can be annoying, but I wish other kids could understand that he DOESN'T pick up social cues like they do... That he CAN'T just "control" his excess energy. Why can't they show him a little grace? It's one thing to snap out in impatience, but to SLAP him?

A couple days ago, I'd called out one of the main kids who bullies this other little guy, and had said sternly-- they know to listen when I get stern like THAT-- that I would not accept bullying my classroom. I said, "Say whatever you want in the halls, but in MY classroom, it is NOT ACCEPTABLE to insult someone else. Ever. Do you understand?"

The boy had muttered some form of acknowledgment.

"Eduardo, do you understand?" I said again, louder and more forcefully.

"Yes ma'am!" he'd replied.

Yet today, my little goofy guy came in with red swollen eyes.

It puts such a frown on my face.

Anyway, I'm going to prom tonight. As a chaperone. Should be interesting...!