Moving from sixth grade to eighth grade this year was a leap, not just in curricular expectations or unit topics, but also in dealing with personalities. Three students in particular challenged me and made me continuously question how and why I was teaching the way I was. Because of their challenges, I grew as a teacher. This is the second student:
R- was a tough girl. She wore the same grey hooded sweatshirt to class every day with her jeans and sneakers. She was a soccer star and reveled in being a tomboy. Her longtime best friend liked soccer too, but she also became someone’s girlfriend in August. R- felt hurt and jealous and lonely, which made her enter the room sulky and unfocused. She wrote long letters to her friend in her writer’s notebook-- forbidden for me to read-- about how she missed her. She doodled her name on her papers. She was angry at me for asking her to do something other than moon over her lost friend. On our November teacher feedback survey she wrote, “I just don’t like the way the teacher teaches. I’m not learning anything in her class.” I kept expecting the work to get done, though, and made sure I was holding her accountable during conferences. I also made sure I made positive comments whenever I could, trying to get her to buy into the class. I really don’t know what happened, but she suddenly shifted to my camp in February (did her friend and the boy break up?). Suddenly, I was her “bestie”. She would write me little notes on exit tickets, “Hi bestie :-)”. We fist bumped at every opportunity. She frequently asked me if she was my favorite student. R- taught me that I need to hang in there with the ups and downs of eighth grade girls. They are hormonal. They are moody. They can’t control it and don’t like it either. They are looking for structure, consistency, and safety when everything else feels loose and uncertain.
No comments:
Post a Comment