One of those days today. I keep thinking about a classroom in which we have constantly struggled to arrange seating to keep certain kids away from other kids only to find that the new mix has its own latent toxicity. About a group whose favorite pastime during gym class is to yell taunts at each other, preferably as loudly as possible. About the kids that are striving, and who end up getting short shrift for the attention seekers, who will get it by any means necessary. About the likelihood that they are much smarter than we are, and are just running us all around in circles.
We spend a lot of time on discipline, and it seems to just plain dominate some days. Our village is actually one with a pretty good reputation for calm and civility, and that is a pretty good thing. I think that a lot of people here try very hard to build a good life for their kids, and it shows. But it isn't universally true, and that shows, too. Thank God that it doesn't predominate.
I think that a big part of the mix is kids going through that junior high time of life, when they are trying on an ill-fitting suit of adult clothes, not sure what to think of what they look like in the mirror. They are not sure at all what to make of themselves, and I may be in the same boat. There are so many advice-givers crowded into my head, some of whom contradict one another with great consistency. Maybe that is part of the problem. Maybe I spend too much time trying to structure, and not enough relaxing and enjoying the unexpected moments. Maybe I need to get my sense of humor back, and remember that these are still children, despite the changing voices and physiques. Maybe that would all give us a few more laughs out of the day.
Nine weeks. Time enough to figure it out, maybe. Time to get the 8th graders on to high school. Time to make room for a new batch of 6th graders, some of whom were already speculating about the experience in line today.
An aside: we had a crew from National Geographic channel shooting video here today. I am not sure what it will all amount to ultimately, but it is apparently footage for the Alaska State Troopers program. They are apparently also going to come back and do some explanation about how the whole filming and editing process works. We will see what footage actually makes it to the television screen.
Today is the end of the third quarter of the school year, which will make for a busy weekend of catching up grades and entering them into various places. It is all due by Monday morning. We also have fundraisers for both juniors and seniors this weekend, which means that we are both on duty. It will be a grind, but it will be just fine. It is worth it.
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