Getting Philosophical

I have some great kids. In advisory with the little seventh graders we talked on day two and three about the funny screw ups they were experiencing, so they would realize they weren't alone. It was fun to laugh with them. You could see the relief on their faces when about half of them raised their hand when I asked who had gone to the wrong class at least once. The scared girl from the first day laughed with us as she talked about tripping on the stairs, luckily she is ok. Now if they would start bringing their own books for self-sustained daily reading time we would be set. They can borrow my extra books for now.

To be honest I love my ninth graders more than my sevies. I love speaking to teens like they are actually human, and not "eeewww, teenagers". It totally throws them off their game, they are not used to it. The first days I try to avoid boring them to death with rules, just the basics. I don't really have a lot of "rules" I like to call them philosophies that direct how things should go. I have three main philosophies that I have posted in large vinyl lettering around my room.

"Never Just Another" - They are not "just another student" nothing is ever "just another assignment" It is about owning the day and their work, that we all are always making choices, and we don't have to fly on auto pilot.

"Only accept equality" - This controls the way we talk to each other, teacher to student, student to student etc etc. They are encouraged to have their own opinions, they just need to respect the opinions of everyone. I have to respect their experiences, I can't know what it is like to be them. If they can solve an assignment by putting a little different spin on it, that is fine. The way my brain works doesn't mean it is the way theirs functions best.

"Be listenable" - Has nothing to do with listening. It is about not giving someone an excuse to ignore what you want to communicate. It is about communicating in a way that makes one able to be listened to... if that makes any sense. It is sad how programmed they are, how accustomed they are to being told to sit down and be quiet. The idea of being "heard" makes them very quiet and really hits home. It is sad how normal it is for them to feel ignored.

There are also disclosures and procedures that we gloss over. Those are also all posted on the class website and I made sure to get all of the classes talking on the class blog. I let the few "this is boring" comments come through to prove I was willing to listen to opinions. But my ego survived since the positive comments were more numerous... I think the music I was playing got me a few positive comments also.