Oddly enough (to some people anyway) one of my favorite parts of the day in my work world is lunchtime. No, not MY lunchtime but the student lunchtime at the CA middle school where I am a guidance counselor. I am one of several adults who provide supervision on campus at that free time yet I do a great deal more than supervise. Allow me to illustrate what lunchtime supervision involves.
The lunch bell rings at 12:35 and I head out from the office to see what's up out there today. Generally I first tour over to where many of our 8th graders eat. These guys always intrigue me. What are they wearing today? Who is visiting with whom? Who seems isolated or upset today? How is the kid whose grandmother is in the hospital? Did that girl pass her science test? Lots of greetings and brief check ins happen in that walk through their chosen lunch spot. Next I walk on to where my 6th and 7th graders eat lunch. Typically I find lots of goofiness there and plenty of silly questions (Can we get hair straighteners in the bathroom, JT?) and I notice the same things that caught my eye with the eighth graders. The rest of lunch I continue to move, greeting every child by name (how better to demonstrate that I care about who they are?), poking my head into the girls' bathroom (everything okay in here?) and generally assuring myself that all kids on campus are safe. Sometimes a student will confide in me about a problem they are having or a friend about whom they are worried. They know I will follow up. They know I care about their world. They know they can trust me with their secrets. They trust me to help them navigate middle school and I take their trust seriously. I believe I almost always deliver.
Middle school can be a tough time for kids and for parents. Everything is changing for everyone and it’s tough to make friends with all those changes. Middle school students sometimes seem as open, joyful, and young as little kid 3rd graders. At other times, their fresh perspective and relatively new eyes reveal wisdom that jaded adults have long left behind. Just as in the adult world, you will find an occasional bully but steps are taken to both prevent or stop such behaviors when they are reported. Middle schoolers need community as much as they did as kindergartners. They need friends to talk to, peers to reflect back their world to them, a culture to call their own, and trusted adults to watch out for them. That sounds a whole lot like what all people need, regardless of their age. 
On behalf of middle schoolers everywhere - thank you. I was so lost in 7th and 8th grade and could have benefited by someone taking a minute to ask me why I was sitting alone at lunch or camped out alone in the library every day.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome. 7th and 8th graders are often lost and often they don't even know it. Their parents are lost -- or at least flummoxed as well. I can't say I have all the answers - No way, no how - but I can be mindful and present to the kids and their parents while they get found.
DeleteI did not leave teaching because of the kids; I left because the emphasis on STAR testing required that I vary from a team-taught, multi graded, hands-on, project-based, literature-based, thematic classroom. Plus I had to attend staff meeting that taught teachers how to teach to the test. Adios.
ReplyDeleteLoved you post, Jeanie.
I hear you. It's that part of the job that will drive me out - not , for me the teaching to the test, but the emphasis on academics to the exclusion of other things that are important for children (little things like art, libraries, pe, counseling, decent facilites -- and so much more)
DeleteNice job, sebtown. I'm so glad you're doing what you do. You make a difference, and I hope you're proud of your self. Thanks, so much!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome! For now, I am doing what I do and sometimes I feel like , in that day, I did make a difference to a kid or a parent -- sweet payment for hard work.
DeleteThose years are the pits. Anything that makes them better is good. I'm trying to visit all the A-Z Challenge Blogs this month. You can see mine at myqualityday.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by! Teen years ARE tough on everyone. Our society needs to allocate more time and resources for kids but that is my soapbox!
DeleteGreat points! New follower here. I’m enjoying reading my fellow “A to Z”ers. I look forward to visiting again.
ReplyDeleteSylvia
http://www.writinginwonderland.blogspot.com/
Thanks for visiting, Sylvia. I do love my work and somehow feel connected to middle school kids. Maybe b/c that was such a tough time for me?
DeleteYou are doing good work. I also have (mostly)great love for my students and feel lucky to know them. It's the administration that makes me want to commit heinous crimes.
ReplyDelete