Compassion in Their Chaos: April 15, 2018
I come home everyday to an inspiring husband, lately I’ve thought, what am I doing that stretches my boundaries? Some would say teaching seventh grade, your boundaries are already stretched. What would make you want to do that? Aren’t they crazy? Isn’t 7th grade the hardest year of middle school? With 120 students a day that come in and out of my classroom, I would say they are onto something.
Is 7th grade really the worst? Well that's a loaded question. You first have to see or at least imagine what 7th grade is like for those unpredictable 12-13 year olds. Obviously, 7th grade is sandwiched between two grades which are sandwiched between two huge school transitions. Elementary and high school. With that in mind, the students are simply stuck in the middle. Many people compare it to the middle-child syndrome. Not being the oldest and not being the youngest, they do what they do to get attention. Whether that attention be negative or positive, it sometimes simply doesn't matter to them. Additionally, 7th graders are going through extreme emotional, physical, and cognitive changes which completely uncover what huge walking contradictions they are. They want to be the most popular, they want to be the strongest, the smartest: they want to show what they are made of. Proving to be older than they are, stronger than they are, smarter than they will be. One day they have 20 new best friends and the next they are all enemies, including the teacher. To unwrap the 7th grade brain, is like unwrapping those gifts wrapped in Saran wrap 200 times around.
With 120 students that pass through my door a day, each one brings in a chance to pull back that wrapping a little bit. They also come in with a different set of baggage. It may be that they didn't eat breakfast because of some crazy circumstance, it my be that they are tired, it may be that they got bullied the night on social media (thoughts to come on that beast), maybe their home life is in shambles. Whatever the baggage is, one thing those 120 students have in common is me, their science teacher. The thing about teaching these students is that regardless if you are the friend or enemy (depending on the day), you may be the one thing that is always constant for them. The one thing that is not going to change. When they act a certain way, you will always react a certain way. When they come to class at 10:02 you are the face that will greet them at the door. The one that acknowledges them as they are walking by, there to at least be the one smile that they see directed toward them. When they tell you a snippet of their life, they are opening their world to you. That snippet may be so random like "My grandma collects calendars, you can have one." (pulls out 35 calendars from her backpack and continues to go through all the pictures with you). Did I have 50 other things I could have been doing rather than looking at landscape pictures on calendars? Yes. Will that student likely feel safe, and respected when they see me next? No doubt. How many of those moments do we pass up a day? How many times could we have stopped and learned about another human being? 120 students, 120 human beings, 120 kids. That is a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of moments. But when they are worried, scared, or confused, it is you they come to because you were the one who gave them time in the first place. That's a lot of power. Power to maybe change their lives, give them strength, to arm them with wisdom. To save them, at least for 45 minutes from the scary world outside. You are it.
No seventh grade isn't the worst, it's a challenge ready to be taken on by those who see the beauty in it. To those who see each of the students, as humans, who are just trying to figure out how to get along in this world. Through all their frustrations, anger, and confusion, there is always compassion in their chaos.
Is 7th grade really the worst? Well that's a loaded question. You first have to see or at least imagine what 7th grade is like for those unpredictable 12-13 year olds. Obviously, 7th grade is sandwiched between two grades which are sandwiched between two huge school transitions. Elementary and high school. With that in mind, the students are simply stuck in the middle. Many people compare it to the middle-child syndrome. Not being the oldest and not being the youngest, they do what they do to get attention. Whether that attention be negative or positive, it sometimes simply doesn't matter to them. Additionally, 7th graders are going through extreme emotional, physical, and cognitive changes which completely uncover what huge walking contradictions they are. They want to be the most popular, they want to be the strongest, the smartest: they want to show what they are made of. Proving to be older than they are, stronger than they are, smarter than they will be. One day they have 20 new best friends and the next they are all enemies, including the teacher. To unwrap the 7th grade brain, is like unwrapping those gifts wrapped in Saran wrap 200 times around.
With 120 students that pass through my door a day, each one brings in a chance to pull back that wrapping a little bit. They also come in with a different set of baggage. It may be that they didn't eat breakfast because of some crazy circumstance, it my be that they are tired, it may be that they got bullied the night on social media (thoughts to come on that beast), maybe their home life is in shambles. Whatever the baggage is, one thing those 120 students have in common is me, their science teacher. The thing about teaching these students is that regardless if you are the friend or enemy (depending on the day), you may be the one thing that is always constant for them. The one thing that is not going to change. When they act a certain way, you will always react a certain way. When they come to class at 10:02 you are the face that will greet them at the door. The one that acknowledges them as they are walking by, there to at least be the one smile that they see directed toward them. When they tell you a snippet of their life, they are opening their world to you. That snippet may be so random like "My grandma collects calendars, you can have one." (pulls out 35 calendars from her backpack and continues to go through all the pictures with you). Did I have 50 other things I could have been doing rather than looking at landscape pictures on calendars? Yes. Will that student likely feel safe, and respected when they see me next? No doubt. How many of those moments do we pass up a day? How many times could we have stopped and learned about another human being? 120 students, 120 human beings, 120 kids. That is a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of moments. But when they are worried, scared, or confused, it is you they come to because you were the one who gave them time in the first place. That's a lot of power. Power to maybe change their lives, give them strength, to arm them with wisdom. To save them, at least for 45 minutes from the scary world outside. You are it.
No seventh grade isn't the worst, it's a challenge ready to be taken on by those who see the beauty in it. To those who see each of the students, as humans, who are just trying to figure out how to get along in this world. Through all their frustrations, anger, and confusion, there is always compassion in their chaos.