Emotionally, this job is taking a lot out of me... a LOT out of me. There are so many highs and lows in the emotional life of a teacher that I literally go to bed exhaused every day. You find out so much information about these kids' backgrounds and home lives that your mind bounces to every end of the spectrum possible. Every day, from the minute you enter the building, your emotions can range from extreme anger to compassionate sympathy, or confusion to utter amazement. Most of the information that you find is stuff that you did not expect to know. Maybe a student, who has been a complete angel in your class, is also a frequent visitor to the local police station. Another student may have all of the creative talents in the world, but lacks the mental ability to spell their own name. Yet someone else may give you a hard time every single day in class...only to find out that they do this because they NEED attention due to the fact that the divorce going on at home has suddenly trickled down to the kids' lives. It is the hardest and most challenging aspect of this job by far.
Yet, despite the fact that these students have so much going on with their lives, they still continue to (as they said in the '60s) keep on truckin'. And it gives me inspiration as well.
Speaking of emotions... I chaperoned the school dance on Friday! It was my duty to keep the peace and prevent any unwanted behavior from ruining the special evening.
A middle school dance can be summarized as such: an entire gym packed with teenagers (who are either wearing too much cheap purfume/cologne, or have yet to discover the wonders of deodorant) jumping up-and-down to loud and obnoxious music while drinking Mountain Dew, eating greasy pizza, and fighting tears of a ruined relationship. It was fantastic! I must say that there was never a dull moment throughout the entire night.
Finally, an event occurred today that summarizes why I love middle schoolers. Today was the beginning of WKCE testing for students at our school. I was required to proctor the test to my third hour classroom.
I was working on my gradebook at my desk during the test when I spun around in my chair to reach for a book on the bookshelf behind my desk. It appears that my chair needs some WD-40, because as I spun around, the old chair released a lound groan that sounded very similar to an individual passing gas. I looked up, and thankfully the students were unphased... except one. The quietest and most well-behaved young lady was so red from holding back her laughter that I thought she was going to explode. Finally.... she did! She burst out laughing, and (apparantly everyone had the same idea as she did) everyone else burst out laughing as well, me included.
Where else but in a middle school classroom? :)
