Mannequin Challenge

Just a little fun in Advisory this week...

When I Was In Middle School

When I was in middle school, things were different - a lot different.

First of all, we didn’t call it middle school - it was called junior high. Most junior highs housed grades 6, 7 and 8 but some did 7, 8 and 9. Mine was the former.

Technology wasn’t a word that we used. 

We didn’t have cell phones - not even flip phones; they hadn’t been invented yet. All our phones had wires and most hung on the wall.

We didn’t have computers - personal computers hadn’t been invented yet and the computers that did exist were so expensive only a large city or business could afford one - yes, just one. Oh, and they were about the size of a car.

We didn’t have iPads, tablets, Youtube, Facebook, Snapchat, or Pokemon Go.

We didn’t have video games - no Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo. 

We didn’t have iPods, MP3s, or CDs.

Here’s what we did have - we had Legos and Erector Sets and Hot Wheels and board games, and our imaginations.

We had wood and tools and jack knives.  We whittled. (Do you even know what that word means?)

We had yo-yos, jax, squirt guns, bikes, sling shots, frisbees, slinkys, silly putty, jump ropes and balls of all sorts.

We played outside: hide ’n seek, red rover, mother may I, hop scotch, four square, marco polo, tag, football, baseball, basketball, kickball, badminton, volleyball, tetherball, croquet, keep away, pickle, kick the can, and stick ball.

In school, we had film strips, records and movies - real movies that came on big, heavy reels of film. And we had books. We had books for every class and books to read for fun.

We had comic books, chapter books, coffee-table books and reference books.

We had a huge set of books called encyclopedias in every classroom. Encyclopedias contained all the world’s most important knowledge. It was like someone printed out the internet (which had not been invented yet either).

Think about how much the world has changed since I was in junior high and think about the world you are growing up in now.  

How much is it going to change by the time your children are in middle school? Probably a lot and it probably won’t even be called middle school then.

Do You Do Homework?

Most students do, but some simply don’t. It’s like some students have made it a personal policy not to do homework.

It’s about achievement.

I was recently updating my grade book and noticed several students who were in the very high B range but are missing homework assignments.  In my class, homework counts as 10% of the total grade. I have some students who are settling for a B when, if they just did the homework, they’d have a solid A. Why would you settle for a lower grade when a higher grade is so close?

It’s about respect.

You are expected to do your homework. Your parents, teachers and school leaders expect you to do your homework. Show them the respect they deserve by doing your part. I don’t even give much homework. In the whole of the first quarter, I have assigned exactly six pieces of homework that I collected for a grade. Six. That’s about one piece of homework per week. Is that too heavy a burden?  

It’s about ownership.

So many kids talk about how they want really good grades. They seem to be motivated by grades, and yet, some of them don’t do homework. I don’t assign work outside of school just because I want to torture you. There’s too much to teach in five 50-minute classes per week. You need to do some at home. Take ownership of your education. Take charge and give it one-hundred-percent.

It’s about responsibility.

We talk about our ROARs  - Respect, Ownership, Achievement, and Responsibility. Yet, I feel like a lot of students just say the things they know they are supposed to say. They are not taking the idea of Ownership or Achievement to heart. Take responsibility for your life - do what you’re expected to do. Part of growing up is making yourself do things you don’t want to do - like homework. Push yourself to achieve at your highest level. Be the best version of you, you can be. 

Trust me, if you can incorporate these ideas into your daily actions you will go far and be far happier going there.