Love and Hate, Sorta (It’s Only Been Two Days)

“Vilson, tu si ere malo!”

It was the most random comment. For whatever reason, middle school students crack me up. Perhaps a large part of their being necessitates testing limits within the first few days of getting to know a teacher. Perhaps they insist that the first two days don’t mean much, so giving anything more than the usual rules speech or index card distribution is doing too much. Perhaps my easier demeanor relative to prior years opened up my students up to get a different vibe from me than prior students.

But I’ve never heard more students make a love / hate determination on the first two days of school than with this year.

I have three seventh grade classes, two eighth grade classes, all with different personalities individually and collectively. The students are still adjusting to the adults, and I’m throwing them off-balance with my self-effacing comments and high expectations (“not just eighth grade, but the first year of high school”). continue reading

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