Great Gobs of Giggliness!

Seventh graders are weird! I'm just putting that out there. For those of you who have worked with middle schoolers, this will come as no surprise to you. They are just great big goofballs...and they know it. And, quite frankly, they enjoy it.

So did I, today.

I have a very lopsided class this year: 26 girls and 8 boys! The silliness today had nothing to do with gender...it was just all weird. I got called over to one table because Ali wanted me to hear Dylan speak in a weird voice. Another table called me over because Shelby needed to share her random fact of the day with me (apparently this is a tradition with her). Just to be clear, everyone was getting plenty of work done...we were just having plenty of fun while we worked! Nothing wrong with that, right?

At one point, I interrupted them and said something to the entire class. What it was, I can't remember. I do remember using one of my weird voices. I did not expect to be imitated by someone I had previously thought was the shy, quiet type. It got very quiet, very quickly. I looked over at this poor child who was turning bright red and said, "Kalena, did you just imitate the teacher?" And she started giggling.

Well, I lost it. I started laughing so hard while at the same time trying to maintain my control and not laugh...can I tell you how hard that is to do?!! The trying not to laugh just made my eyes start tearing up and before I knew it tears were streaming down my face.

In the front row, poor West hadn't heard what had transpired, so he kept repeating, "What happened? What'd I miss? What's so funny?" When I could breathe, I said, "West, you kinda had to be there."

West cried out, "But I WAS there!!"

I almost had to leave the room after that. Seriously...I couldn't breathe!

Not a bad way to spend a day, wouldn't you agree?

February 4th: Love Is Flying Everywhere!

A wise man (and his three wise friends) once sang, "All You Need Is Love." [I'm sure "and chocolate" was implied.] This week at school our gospel value is Love, so I've been talking to my seventh graders about how we let our friends and family know that we love them. I asked my students, "When was the last time you told your parents 'I love you'?" About 90% of my class of 36 had said those words that very morning. As it turns out, they say those three little words on a daily basis to their parents.

I find that quite remarkable.

Well, since this initial conversation, they seem to be making a point of telling each other "I love you!" loudly enough so that I can hear it. Or they just come up to ME and say, "I love you." And then they wait.

Now, to be honest, I've never been all that comfortable with that phrase. And I'm not sure if hearing it so much this week has made me more comfortable, or if I've heard it so often in the space of a few days that it has become commonplace. But if I step back for a moment and take a look (and a listen) from a detached observer's point of view, I think it's pretty cool. My students are so comfortable expressing their feelings (unlike their teacher) that it gives me hope for their future. I hope they carry this open-heartedness with them throughout their lives.

Even though I don't say it very often, my students do know I love them. They tell me that all the time, "You know you love us, Miss McMillan!"

No, I don't.

"Yes, you do!"

Don't argue with me! I'm the teacher!

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Oh, Miss McMillan, you're so funny!"

-sigh-

This afternoon a few of the girls decided to leave me a little message on my whiteboards. Normally I frown on the kids writing on my boards. I have thirty-six students; if one writes on the board, they all have to write on the board. I don't have that much board space! But I have to admit that this was pretty gosh darn cool! Although the coolest part of my day was yet to come.

One of my seventh grade girls has a younger sister in second grade, Becca. Now, apparently my loud and obnoxious self can be just a wee bit intimidating to the younger kids. I say hello to Becca whenever I see her, and she responds with eyes filled with terror. I may be projecting just a bit. After school today, Becca was in my classroom with her sister Emma and friends. The girls were being their regular goofy selves and talking eighty million miles per minute at me. I looked down at Becca and she rolled her eyes. We were united on this one: seventh grade girls are weird.

I finally managed to convince the girls that it was time for them to leave, and they started throwing the l-word at me again. "We love you McTeach!"

Yeah, ok...get out of my room!!!

"Ha! Ha! Ha! You know you love us!"

I know no such thing! Get out!!

"Oh, Miss McMillan! You're so funny!!"

-sigh-

[Stick with me, here. The best part is about to be revealed!]

As they were walking across the blacktop, Becca turned around and yelled back at me, "I love you, McTeach!!" I was so shocked! It took me a moment, but then I just started howling with laughter! I mean, doubled over, tears streaming down my face, side-splitting laughter! Just to be clear, it wasn't what she said...it was how she said it. She said it exactly like the goofy seventh grade girls I see every day.

This is how they become so goofy, you see. Their training begins early!

January 25th: That Was One Long Day!

Today was one incredibly long day. Mondays usually are, but add in the beginnings of a cold and the day seems doubly long. It's my own fault, of course. I had a massage client on Saturday and I actually said the following words out loud: "Well, I can't remember the last time I was sick!"

Brilliant.

I've been alternating between blaming my seventh graders who have been sick a lot lately, and blaming George who hogs all the heat around here:

Before I fall into my Nyquil-induced coma, let me share with you the highlight from today. After school today, one of the moms stopped me when I was walking back to my classroom. She asked me if I'd gone to church on Sunday; for a second I thought I was talking to my own mother! The reason she asked was so she could ascertain whether or not I'd heard our priest's sermon on Sunday. I hadn't, so she proceeded to summarize it for me. She said that Father was talking about the importance of having people in our lives that make us laugh, and the importance of laughter. She finished by saying, "You are that person for our children, and I just want to thank you for that."

It was really touching. It's not often that we teachers hear such positive feedback from parents or students or the powers that be. I know that this two- or three-minute conversation made a huge difference in my day. I wonder what a difference it could make in the educational realm if more teachers heard something positive each day. I wonder how we could make that happen.

I wonder a lot of things.

Like what happened to yesterday's post. That's easy. I didn't write one. I had a lot of work to get done on a Sunday: lesson plans, grading, progress reports, creating a wiki for an upcoming presentation, more grading. And I just decided that it was okay to skip one day. No guilt. No worry. It's okay!

And now...off to bed!

January 13th: Moments of Hilarity

Today provided me with several moments of laughter, and not just from my own students, either. I was in the health room during the lower grades' recess, when two second grade girls walked in. It was fairly obvious that young Nadia had hurt herself out on the playground; she came in fully-equipped with tears and everything! I, of course, had to ask, "Nadia! What'd you do???"

Nadia: "I did something on the playground, and I did something to my arm, and now something hurts."

McTeach: "Wow, that's a whole lot of something!"

Nadia: stares at McTeach. Little kids don't get me.

Walking back towards middle school I watched as a first grade girl Irish-danced her way across the schoolyard. I thought to myself, "Now, there's something you don't see every day."

And then there was the lunch-time visit from my eighth grade girls! I think I may have even gotten a few words in today! I don't think anyone heard me...but I at least put something out there!

The entire conversation began with them peppering me with questions about their high school recommendations. They knew the teachers had met this morning to talk about all of them and they were more than just a bit nervous. They have no need to be, but I wasn't divulging any information so they moved right along.

Funniest moment: Now, don't ask me how the topic got here, but Katie told us that her mom always tells her that she doesn't worry about Katie being kidnapped.

Katie: "She says I talk so much that the kidnappers would get irritated with me and bring me back!"

Megan and Makenzie: "Well, it is true."

Katie: "Oh, I know it is, but still!"

Now, that's funny!