Reach Before Teach (Middle School)

  April 11, 2021 What do you call your students?  I teach 8th grade. Developmentally, these students are trying to find themselves. They don't have a good idea of who they are (I know, even at my age, I'm still searching some of the time). They are getting (in my state) some responsibilities that go along with adulthood (they can drive at age 14); some are taking on babysitting jobs, lawn care, and other tasks that even a couple of years ago they wouldn't have been able to do without adult supervision.  As my students look ahead to high school, this conversation has happened frequently in my room. They are being told to "act their age" while at the same time being told "you're a kid - what would you know?". They are being expected to have control over emotions and reactions, but if that slips they are told they are "childish." They want to have conversations where they are taken seriously, but they are told they don't know enough about ...

 April 5, 2021 I just read my last blog post. From June. Reading it brought back all the feels. The anxiety of what we'd been through; the anxiety of not knowing what was coming up.  Things I didn't know: in less than six weeks, my dad would enter Hospice. I'd spend multiple days a week with my parents (a privilege and honor, but still time consuming). He'd pass in September. Our school would go back two weeks later than originally planned, but we'd be face-to-face, masked and socially distanced. Animosity would brew because of individual's stances on masks and other precautions.  I didn't know how the isolation would impact my mental health.  I didn't know how everything would feel like an uphill battle. Everything. Keeping track of who was quarantined and supposed to be in my synch class. Who was from my class and who was from the other eighth grade teacher's class. Trying to keep myself healthy while worrying about my husband, my own kids, my pare...