Today we had our Holiday Party, which pays no homage to any belief system beyond “Screw Veggies, it’s Sugar Time!” Before we unleashed the fudge and cupcakes, we had some activities for the kids to do, because pounding junk food only takes up so much time (especially in middle school) before the sugar hits the fan and people get hurt.
The first activity was that the kids had to write a letter to someone in their family that meant a lot to them, to thank them for all they’ve done, yada yada yada. After that, we all got into a circle, and did a Nice Things activity. We all put our names at the top of the paper, and then handede them left and every person had towrite something nice about the person whose paper they had. When your paper gets back to you, everyone has written something nice about you, and it is Party Time!
Middle schoolers being as they are, they bitched the whole time we did the two activities. “We’re not even going to have a PARTY, this is so RETARDED, I mean STUPID, waaah waaaaahhh….” But as soon as their paper got back to them the room was absolutely quiet as people read what others had to say. WIth 38 of us, and two teachers, it did take a while, but it was worth it.
Mine came back with some interesting quotes:
“Your a cool teacher, but mildly wierd.”
“Your the best my fav teatcher I love you allot <3" "A good teacher with a lot to teach us." "Funny Funny Funny" "Your an AWESOME Teacher and you know everything ! =) you make class so fun + funny!" "love the way you make learning fun! glad to have you next year!" "Your one of the best teachers ever. Really good taste in music." * "your the best math teacher" "your 1 of the best teachers ever alot of fun" "your the best teacher I've had since the 2nd Grade!"
The last three were the killers.
The first is from an SED kid who is in “real math” for the first time ever, and doing pretty well with it. He’s so proud of being in my math class.
The second is from a kid who has had a harder life than almost anyone you know, guaranteed. And he’s grown so much in his time here. It means a lot to hear that from him.
And the third is from the student I like the least. She drives me nuts. She is one of the most unlikeable people, ever. I wrote about her before at diaryland, but really. Grating personality, or lack of that’s so grating. And I try really hard to keep it in check, but I know that I don’t interact with her with the warmth I do other kids. I know it. I try hard not to be that way, but it’s human nature. So, to think that I am her favorite teacher since then, and I’m not even that NICE, you know? How sad. That even mean, impatient, annoyed me is still nicer than six of her other teachers. That’s just so sad. It crushed me to read that.
It was a good activity, even for me. It was good to hear that, to find out that I really HAVE impacted kids, despite all the bureaucratic bullshit I am constantly slogging through.
This doesn’t mean I’m not really fucking ready for my vacation, though. 24 hours to freedom!
*Her mother is my age, and apparently we both had the same cassette collection. Most notably lame, “Gorky Park.”