One Semester Down

So, I'm sitting here, bored out of my mind.

My students are finishing up their last exam and are as antsy as I am. Yesterday and today they have dealt with two-hour-long classes, a litany of "sshh"'s from teachers, and more bubble sheets than I care to remember. But if they make it through the next hour, and through tomorrow, then they are done with their first semester as sixth graders, as middle school students. Much like I will be done with my first semester of teaching them.

I survived. Sometimes I have thrived. But most of all, I do not want to quit (overall) and I like my job (most days).

The State of Education is such a discussed topic these days that I choose to capitalize the letters. Everyone seems to have an opinion on it. It's hard to get online without seeing a headline or some piece of data about the State of Education here in the United States. I could indeed choose to use this space to write my own piece about the State of Education, but instead I think I'll describe one of my favorite moments.

1) One day, the Boy Scouts came around to all of our classes to do a little demo to interest boys into joining the Scouts. The guy who came in my classroom was pretty engaging, talking about survival skills and lighting something small on fire. I just relaxed at my desk (for once) and let him talk for about fifteen minutes. The girls in my class all were disgusted that they were not the topic of this presentation, and most of the boys were genuinely curious. All except one, and that one happened to be the student who presented the most difficulties for me. His seat was in the desk nearly touching mine, because if he was anywhere else, he did nothing. I would have guessed that the fire and talk of camping would have intrigued him. When I quietly asked if he was interested in joining, he shook his head.

"Why not," I prompted.

His reply?

"Too much nature."