"I had fun with you guys. I totally loved listening to the reading of The Three Little Pigs." - a student from our middle school class


Week Twelve.

Reflection on the reality of teaching middle school students.


Our lesson plan was, in (very) brief: read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs sitting around like a children’s classroom, have students brainstorm popular stories that can be told from a different perspective, play with “retelling” some of the stories, then have students write their own pieces from new perspectives. Andie (see his thoughts on this particular adventure here) and I have both taught before and we knew to plan for things not to go quite as planned. We had made a lesson plan with significant flexibility and with the specific class in mind. Consequently, we didn’t encounter anything too wild. However, I do think that my tone should have been a little more serious (maybe even a teeny bit stern, or at least more focused on classroom expectations) so that we would have better kept the class moving and on task for the group portions. Even with this momentary chaos, it was super exciting to see that the large majority of the class was very focused and engaged once it came time for them to write their own activity.

Two of the students I’ve worked with frequently, Z and J, both in the special education portion of the class, were again the highlight of my experience. J said she couldn’t write because she didn’t know what to write about. I kneeled to be at her height, looked at the book on her desk- Percy Jackson- and formulated a plan. Using some of the characters from Percy Jackson (and often mangling their names, to both of their amusement, J giggling as Z quizzed me into correction), we found a story that J felt was worth telling. She immediately set to working on it, her hesitation conquered. I understand that this isn’t quite feedback- that will mostly be written today and tomorrow for them to read, unlike when the lesson was already taught and the writing was already there to be conversed with- but it’s what we had… and also valuable. Like feedback, moments like these encourage students to give themselves the opportunity to try and experiment with their writing because that they do, in fact, have something to say and the means to say it. Additionally, after the class, Andie and I also took the time to give each student actual written feedback. Extensive feedback is, without a doubt, a labor of love.

While giving feedback is still a little new, I’ve had the great opportunity to teach more than a few times before this. Nonetheless, my sense of humor is not as adapted to this particular classroom as I thought it was, but there’s also comedy in telling the kids in a stage whisper, “That was a joke, you’re supposed to laugh,” and watching their disbelief fall into uncomfortable laughter and then into real and shared laughter.


These kiddos have a place in my heart and some of them realize that. Below are some of the letters I received from them today, two days after the above was written. Their names are cropped out for privacy.

 This is from J, the artist of the picture in a previous post. My heart at that last line...
("Honey Lemon," as in the heroine Honey Lemon from Big Hero Six, refers to me- I'm bad at giving out my name, so I guess she decided to give me one as she saw fit!) 



This is from Z.



Another sweet girl.



And last but not least, this kid.



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