Saturday, November 22, 2008

WE NEED RAIN!

I say this for many reasons. Yes, I am very concerned about going back into a drought. I grew up during a drought and it was no fun.

But this is not an environmental blog I'm posting.

No, this desire comes from purely selfish motivations. I am a bad, bad person for the following reason: all this warm, nice weather is MURDER for high school teachers. The kids are losing it, and I am not far behind. I cannot even imagine how unpleasant it is for high school administrators right now.

Allow me to explain.

Unlike for elementary and middle school students, rain has a very calming effect on high schoolers. They are sleepy. They are compliant. They are quiet. It is wonderful.

Don't get me wrong. I love to hear kids talk. I'm all about engaging them, having a student-centered classroom, and hearing their colorful perspectives on things.

The key term is classroom.

Outside of the four walls of my safe, warm, inclusive classroom lies a very different environment. 1,500 hormonally charged bodies roam our campus everyday, carrying with them agendas, alliances, and bad-a**-ness to prove.

It takes about a month and a half for kids to start to lose their start-of-school good behavior; then, grades come out, tests are administered, conflicts happen, and true colors begin to show. Typically, the weather also becomes cool, so kids are so worried about rushing to class so they don't freeze their pa-tooties off that they don't care to engage.

Not so this year. There has been plenty of engagement on my campus this week. I myself stepped into the middle of a couple (fun), and a student of mine summed up the whole situation quite succinctly the other day:

Student: "Ms H, can I use a cell phone in my skit?"

Me: "No, I'm not really into that. It sends the wrong message if an administrator walks in and you're using a phone."

Student: "Oh, I don't think there will be any administrators in classrooms today. They seemed...busy."

Thank all that is green is this world that we only have two days of school next week. In the meantime, I am praying for rain.

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