New Beginnings

I’ve been thinking about our eighth graders a lot this week. They’re almost done at the Bartlett and in a few months they’ll be heading off to high school. 

High school is one of the most important experiences you will go through. You will change your ideas about a lot of things, you will begin to see things on a larger scale, you will meet new people and probably know those people for the rest of your life. 

A quote from Charles Dickens is approbate to describe the period you are entering:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

High school is a chance to explore and learn who you are and become who you want to be. 

It is a chance to start over - to find friends who will genuinely support and care for you. It is a chance to find your group or groups and fit in. 

High school is such a big experience - so many people, so many challenges, so many directions to go in - it can seem overwhelming -  but it’s not. You will rise to the occasion. You will find friends, you will move on from old relationships, you will move between groups and find the people who will help you become the best version of you that you can be - and you will help your friends do the same. 

It will all work out in the end. There will be scary days, disappointing days and days you wish would just end, but there will also be days of passion and glory and achievement, days you will remember for the rest of your life. 

High school is a big step, but you’re ready (even if you, maybe, don’t really feel ready). 

In a few weeks you will leave the warm and comfortable environs of The Bartlett. Your elementary and middle school experience is done and now it’s time for the next step. 

Take a deep breath and keep moving forward. You’re ready.

Confession Time

I have a confession to make. 

It’s not something I’m especially proud of, but I have to get it off my chest.

At this point, it’s become kind of a habit. 

People are depending on me and I don’t want to let them down.

I take pens. 

Yes, I take pens to use in my classroom. Not for me, for the students. 

The school-supplied pens are terrible, they’re as likely to tear the paper as they are to leave any writing on it, so I’m always on the hunt for free pens.

You know how certain businesses have pens available for their customers? Promotional pens - it's about the lowest form of advertising. Yes, those. I take those pens. 

I have identified a number of businesses in my town that make pens available as a courtesy and I regularly take a couple every time I go there. I have actually chosen which businesses and offices to use, based on their supply of free pens.

Banks, insurance agents, my dog’s vet and more. Businesses all over town.

Last summer, on vacation, we stayed in several hotels and I scooped up about twenty-five pens along the way. I bought two new cars last summer - yup, I every time I saw a pen at the dealerships, I picked it up. When we went to the Invitation 2 Innovation event at the Tsongas Center, I saw a table with free pens - I took as many as I could get my hands on. 

If you’re borrowing a pen in my room it might have almost anything written on it.

It’s just one of those things you do as a teacher - take pens for your students to use. 

Shoes You Can't Wear Outside

A couple of weeks ago, I took the 7th grade outside for an activity about speed and acceleration. The activity involved walking/running around measured tracks in a specific length of time. 

Since it was a nice spring morning, it was not surprising there was dew on the grass. 

As I prepped my budding scientists about the activity, I noticed one student holding his shoes. My gaze traveled down and stopped at his stockinged feet in the wet grass. 

Interesting.

“Why are you holding your sneakers?” I asked with a smirk on my face.

“I don’t want them to get ruined,” he deadpanned back to me. 

Now I was off track (something I frequently warn my scholars about), but I plunged in with both feet. 

“You have shoes you can’t wear outside?” I asked with an incredulous tone in my voice.

“They’ll get ruined,” he repeated.

“So, you have shoes you <pause> can’t <pause> wear <pause> outside? You have shoes you can’t wear outside, do I have that right?” I inquired.

“They were expensive and if they get wet, they’ll get ruined,” he insisted.

“You know your socks are all wet, right? What happens when we go back inside and you put your wet socks inside your shoes?” I asked.

He silently stared back at me with a confused look on his face.