Back to School

I'm currently subbing for my colleague's Algebra II class. Don't laugh. I'm not actually teaching new material. Rather, I'm monitoring sophomores who are taking a diagnostic.

I began this fourth year wistfully. Change occurs rapidly in the YES environment, and when you've been here as long as I have, you feel as if you've been here a couple of lifetimes. I got a little teary-eyed when I saw some of the first sixth graders I taught wearing a marked sign of their entry into high school-- the white uniform shirt. Greeting kids as they passed me on the walkways, I could detect undertones of excitement and awkward pride in a few. In others, it surprised me to sense the slightest hint of "I'm too cool for you now, Miss." And again, it surprised me to see a few, who were so rude and out there and rambunctious in 6th grade, were politely asking me which printer they should use to print out their summer reading assignment.

These are my babies. A huge part of me wants to see them grow up into beautiful, mature (and quirky!) seniors, just like the ones I saw walk across the stage this past May. Another part of me, though, is getting just a bit anxious. I'll be thirty years old when I see those 6th graders through graduation, and I'm not sure what else God has for me-- does he want me to wait it out four more years, or does he want me to move on to something else?

I don't know. In the meantime, September is stretching out in front of me. It's time to roll...

April Fools Day

Sometimes I don't stop to think about what day it is.

Today wasn't really any different. As I was setting up for class this morning, I told the kids to come on in and to wait for the morning announcements. I had another moral dilemma on the overhead today since they enjoyed them yesterday (we got into a heated debate about lying), and I was having them journal about what they would do in this particular situation. I was walking around, watching them journal, so I knew that they had some interesting things to say.

Silence greeted me when I posed the first question to the class. I looked from face to face, searching for answers and waiting for responses. Nothing. I prodded a little bit more since I knew that some of the kids were shy, rephrased my initial question, tried to go at it from a different angle. Still, nothing.

Then I thought that maybe a blind poll would be more comfortable for them since the issue was a little touchy, so I I had them shut their eyes and do a thumbs up, thumbs down, or thumbs sideways to the question I asked. I told them the results, and asked them another question. Do you know how it feels to be greeted by silence, especially when you've been asking question upon question? My ears were ringing.

So I started calling individual kids out, across rows, up and down. My jaw was dropping in complete surprise. They all shrugged their shoulders or shook their heads. I wasn't really flustered, but I was getting really anxious about why they wouldn't answer (what was I doing wrong? how could I make this better?)

Finally, panicking on the inside, I went to my last resort-- the two most opinionated in the class-- J and M. When M shrugged his shoulders, I said to them, "Now, if M doesn't know what to do in this situation, then something's got to be wrong. This has got to be some sort of trick or something."

Then I realized it was April Fools Day, and as the last few words tumbled out of my mouth, M couldn't hold it in and started giggling, and the class burst out with him.

The class got a huge kick out of my forgetting that it was April Fools Day.