Our students and colleagues never knew us as children. What were you like at the grade you teach? What were your interests? Did you like school?
Middle school . . . well, really it was a Junior High. What was I like when I was in 7th or 8th grade? This is a question that we never spend enough time reflecting on. I think that if more teachers (myself included) took time to seriously reflect on what they were like many moons ago there would be much less frustration! Briefly put, middle school was one of the most challenging transitional times in my life.
In third grade my family made a temporary move to the USA, 23 years ago. Today it is not so temporary, but in middle school my family was in the middle of a a huge decision, whether to return home to England where our entire family was, or to take up an offered opportunity to permanently relocate to the states. If there is one thing that does not help a middle schooler, it is uncertainty.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of school during this time, which stemmed from everything else going on. In English class I was reprimanded for reading ahead of the class assignments, and in others I wasn’t really all that motivated. Frankly I think that I must have been one of those kids that plodded through each day without really taking notice of the world around me, I didn’t really become all that aware until later.
During this time I did find comfort in a group. Back then, but not so much any more, I was a singer. As a member of The Pittsburgh Boychoir I was part of a group with opportunities that many of my classmates never even knew about. (I didn’t exactly announce that I was in a boychoir.) We traveled around the country, went to a summer camp with the choir and even had an opportunity to travel to Russia. At that time, it was Russia and the former Soviet Union . . . but, my parents wouldn’t send me thousands of miles around the globe when, as my dad put it “[I] never looked out of the window when we drove across town.” I was pretty miffed, but we did get to travel to England to visit Family (and I’m pretty sure I didn’t look out of the window there either.) Dad was right, it would have been a stamp in my passport, but little else.
So, what was it that fired me up? What changed my mind to look at the world around me, to soak it in and make something of myself. Partly it was just maturity, partly inspiration and some great teachers leading the way. Today i find myself constantly pointing out the window saying to my kids, “Hey, look at that . . .” I wonder if one day I will complain that they don’t even pay attention at home, asking “what will they get out of it?” . . . I hope not, but I suspect that this is pretty normal.
This post is part of the Fall Blog Challenge 2010 posed by Melanie Holtsman on her Once Upon a Teacher blog. To Participate visit the challenge post and find the topics.
Two things are most important when choosing a password. The length and variety of characters used in the password. The third thing to consider is whether or not your password appears on a hacker’s dictionary list. Password-based hacking can come in a number of forms. This post is to make you re-think the security of your passwords. [click to continue…]
