Middle school students are a dynamic group of people who, all at once, seem to embody endless hope and paralyzing despair. \u00a0But one thing I know is that middle level students are genuinely good-natured people. \u00a0And, to me, this is one characteristic of tweens and teens that is often overlooked in the broader conversation about who middle level\u00a0students are.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know if other teachers do this, but when I was in the middle of a school year and a middle school student said or did something that seemed odd, I would often remember\u00a0that I once did something very similar. I\u2019d like to pursue this thought in later posts because I think we often have a more refined memory of who we were when we were younger. \u00a0As a middle school student I was clumsy, awkward and I often struggled in science and math classes. \u00a0But now that I am an adult I can see that Math and Science aren\u2019t so bad. \u00a0In fact, I have grown to love these disciplines and I have even participated in these fields professionally. \u00a0And I think sometimes I tried to overlook the difficulty some have with these types of things. \u00a0I overcame them and I often gloss over my memories of the truly dreadful struggles I experienced. \u00a0Surely my revised memories often affect how I talk with students about similar challenges they are having. Anyway, I think this point could be revisited in a longer post\u2013how our revised memories of our own experiences shape our expectations.<\/p>\n
From my experience, middle level students are some of the best examples of human kindness that I have ever met. They know, first-hand, what it means to struggle, to search, stretch and strain in order to find the answers to life\u2019s most challenging questions.<\/p>\n
A search for a unique identity ranks as one of the many challenges a middle level student will address at some point in their development. \u00a0I can remember watching the wild changes some of my students would make through out the year in search for their own personalities and to answer the ultimate question, \u201cWho am I?\u201d On one occasion I had a student stand confidently at my desk and say, \u201cMr. Skillen, I have decided that\u00a0I<\/em> will be the most annoying person anyone knows.\u201d<\/p>\n He was clearly looking for a more concrete position in our community. \u00a0But he never truly developed as the\u00a0most<\/strong> annoying student in the school or even in our class.<\/p>\n While we can not often think of anything redemptive\u00a0about our own time as adolescents, I tell you this group of people is redeeming.<\/p>\n Logan was a quite kid, but he became even more quiet when September turned to October his seventh grade year.<\/p>\n \u201cHow are you?\u201d I would ask.<\/p>\n \u201cFine.\u201d He would say.<\/p>\n Later that month during a passing period in between classes I got an email from my mom. \u00a0She was leaving my step-dad after 11 years of marriage. \u00a0I felt like an emotional typhoon had crashed into my classroom as the words of my mom\u2019s note unfolded on my computer. \u00a0The bell rang and I hesitated. \u00a0Searching for the starting point of the lesson I spoke in broken phrases\u00a0to get the class started. \u00a0I struggled through the lesson, but we made it through. \u00a040 minutes later when the dismissal bell rang Logan waited for everyone to leave.<\/p>\n \u201cYou OK?\u201d He asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d I said. \u00a0\u201cI just wish adults would act like adults; not like kids.\u201d<\/p>\n There was a pause\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cAre your parents getting \u00a0divorce?\u201d Logan asked.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah. \u00a0I think they are.\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cMine are too.\u201d He said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Middle school students are a dynamic group of people who, all at once, seem to embody endless hope and paralyzing despair. \u00a0But one thing I know is that middle level students are genuinely good-natured people. \u00a0And, to me, this is one characteristic of tweens and teens that is often overlooked in the broader conversation about … <\/p>\n