Ok so I have always said I would NOT teach Middle School because that's when the attitudes and hormones are going full force. I have patience for the little kids but when it comes to hormone emotionally driven adolescents that's where I draw the line lol.
Well anyway before I got off on my tangent, I was called by the woman in charge of substitute assignments and she nearly begged me to take this assignment, knowing I have only done elementary. I agreed because she has done so much for me in helping to ensure I stay so busy with subbing. Well I took the assignment for half day in the 6th/7th grade Literature class. The day actually went really well, the teacher totally left great easy to follow plans for me and the kids were good as well. I came to realize the kids are the same little 5-9 year old's I usually sub for but are just in bigger bodies. Plus if there is a class you don't like you only have to be with that group for 50 minutes before they switch to the next group. I really liked that idea. Needless to say it ended up being a good experience and I will consider subbing in middle school again for sure :)
I had my favorite kindergarten class today and the kids were having to write a sentence in their journals on their favorite animal. One little girl came up to me asking if her sentence looked ok and I could barely contain my laughter once I saw what she had wrote. Not only do I love what kids say I also LOVE what they write lol.
PS: What she meant to write was SEE A OSTRICH.
As a child, adults always try their best to shield the "real" world from children, hoping their innocence can be preserved as long as possible. As a teacher I do that everyday as well, by watching what subjects and topics that are talked about and by what kind of information the kids learn.
I was in a 3rd grade class recently and the kids were looking at a 2002 World Facts book. Well of course the September 11th attacks were in there and the kids only knew of it as "when the towers fell." I was shocked they knew this already and quickly made a move for the kids to clean up for recess without acknowledging their conversation. Now looking back I dont know if I should have ignored it, or if I should have acknowledged the event. If I had acknowledged it what would I have said?!
Fast forward to now, I am finding it more and more difficult to avoid the topic of terrorism with todays children, just in the past couple of days there have been several instances of close calls with terror. Just a couple days ago a man tried to blow up Times Square with a car bomb but with the good Lords protection and several T shirt vendors that alerted police, a tragedy was avoided. Then today as I speak, they are trying to determine if a man has a bomb on a bus, as he claims to in New Hampshire. This world is getting crazier and crazier lately and soon it may be impossible to not have the topic of terrorism come about in the classroom, particularly the older kids. What does a teacher say and to what should they hold back? I wish their was a class for teachers on that!
On another note these terror events are getting too close to home for me. The 9-11 events happened on flights to LA from Boston, the usual track I fly with my family to see my family in Boston. The Times Square close call happened less than a block from where my best friends and I stand to watch the ball drop almost every year. And then todays bomb scare is happening on a bus I regularly take from the same station Portsmouth NH, to the same place Boston Logan. What is going on in the world?!