There is no GPS in Middle School

Day 1:

Whenever someone I’m meeting for the first time learns that I teach 7th grade, I always seem to get the same look. It’s a facial expression that seems to scream, “Ooh, really?!”

It’s as if the ‘ooh’ carries a note of sympathy for the pain I must certainly be bearing while the ‘really?!’ portion of the grimace wants to vocally utter “And this is an actual choice YOU made?”

I get the same look every time.

I think this face stems from a place that the person I’m meeting has tried for some time to block from his or her memory. Looking back at my own experience of junior high I suppose I can see where they are coming from. But believe me when I say that it’s not so bad. In fact, 7th graders can be some pretty cool people.

I teach 7th grade World History at a 6, 7, 8 middle school. This means that my students are the most middle of all middle schoolers.

On our campus one can easily identify a 7th grader from one who’s in 6th or 8th. A 7th grade student carries him or herself with a little more confidence than a 6th grader, but not so much so that it would challenge the ‘established understanding’ that an 8th grader is top rung.

At our school students do not know their new schedule until they get it in Homeroom. And even though most of the 7th graders are familiar with the campus, campus maps are available for them. But to prove that they are no longer 6th graders, many of them pass up the chance to equip themselves the extra tool that could help make their first day, the first day of what will likely be the most awkward school year of their childhood, a smooth one. But who needs a map when you’ve got new clothes, a bag packed with pristine pens and paper, and a fresh smile for ‘just in case’?

Heck, if I were in their shoes I’d probably pass up the map too.

And then comes the 1st period of the day.

3 kids that should show up in my room after Nutrition somehow find themselves in there during the wrong period. Two periods later, the same thing happens to another pair of boys. At the end of the day I end up seeing a student enter my classroom for a second time sporting the look of “This feels too familiar to be right…am I in the right class? Wait, what period is it?” In their defense, our school has a schedule that takes some getting use to. It’s one of those where on Monday Period 1 follows Homeroom, but on Wednesday it’s Period 3.

But these are 7th graders.
They’ve been here before.
They know how this works.
Why are they lost?

Today I learned that it doesn’t matter how prepared we think we are, there’s always the chance we’ll get disoriented. This means that as we head out on our journeys, regardless of whether we’re wearing the right shoes, toting the right bag, or even carrying the right attitude, we should never under estimate our need upon others to help us find our way if ever we get off track.

Each one of those lost students today had a brief moment of quiet panic as they realized they were in the wrong place. It was clear that they wanted nothing more than to discreetly correct their error without having to undergo any amount of humiliation, at least any amount beyond the self-inflicted kind.

Each time I was amazed with how the anxiety appeared to melt away as a soft voice and smile helped to show the way, helped to right the wrong.

Even more, I was amazed at how their accidental classmates were more often than not the ones that offered the help – and how they did so with such kindness.

Today I also learned that as people, we don’t just need people – we need kind, compassionate people.

Today I learned that in that sense, I need to be more like my 7th graders.

I’m looking forward to getting lost in my future and to relying on cool people like you to help me find my way…