A Day in a Middle School

Yesterday I had the delight of finding an afternoon job at Cherokee. Substituting at Cherokee is truly a pleasure; the students are so well behaved. Although they were seventh graders and it is the week before Christmas break, they were still much easier than some other places I have been. The very worst was a boy who tossed a dictionary playfully at a friend. Quickly the kids around him told me goodnaturedly, he should have to fill out a clipboard. I don't have a clue what the clipboard is, so I just left a note for his teacher. Our class assignment in language arts was the oral reading of a play of The Christmas Carol. And for the most part, it went very well. One class was a little chatty and all the classes just hooted when Fezziwig had to say the name Dick several times. Even I had to giggle a little at the pleasure seventh graders get from such things. When I thought about going into education, I thought about the poor students, the struggling, the ones who were in danger of not seeing what they were capable of. But I must say, there is a real pleasure to be with students who follow the rules, students who enjoy learning (or at least don't question it), and students who are eager to even read aloud. I was so happy that when we followed up reading  a play of Oliver Twist in the last period reading class, I briefly related the book to the plight of the orphan, Jane Eyre, and several girls nodded and smiled. They had read the book, too. What a joy!