Being a Kid is Tough...

I'm reading Wonder right now and throughout the book I am reminded what it was like to be a middle school student. It was tough.

As teachers I think we can help guide our students throughout their day by stepping back into our childhood memories and reminiscing what it was like to be a kid.

As was the case today with one of my "toughest" 5th grade students. His morning started off by him punching the desks in my room and yelling threats because of a crying student who didn't let him sleep on the bus. Which ended with us printing pictures of Tom Brady to post in his classroom, and agreeing that if Tom Brady can turn around the game and win, he can turn his day around too.  Flash forward to the middle of the day, the bus incident long past, with the same "tough" student walking into my room covering the front of his hair. He sheepishly asks if I  have a mirror and I open my cabinet to reveal one. He walks over explaining that he put too much gel in his hair this morning. After a quick release of his hand I see the globs of white, dried gel in his blonde hair. He is delicately picking at it, but the gel is stuck firmly to his hair. After failed attempts to pull out the gel, being unable to locate a comb, and a few jokes from my paraprofessional about styling his hair for him, we decide that the best solution is for him to go to the restroom and wash his hair in the sink. It must of worked because he went right back to class after the restroom. The gel crisis resolved.

Being a kid is tough...and I mean that with all sincerity.

Therefore, I challenge you to dig back into those often blotted out and tough middle school memories when you are helping your students navigate their day. Never forgetting the crankiness from lack of sleep on Monday mornings, our eagerness to fit in, or the embarrassment that a little bit of dried gel can cause.