Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Adventures in Teaching Middle School
I got called b!tch for the first time!
Two days ago I was walking down the hallway during a passing period to grab my lunch. As I walked, it was becoming clear that a relatively epic girl fight had recently occurred. I rounded the corner just as a girl walked through the hallway doors waving around a piece of weave that one girl had ripped off of the other girl, yelling about the fight. (This was not one of the girls in the fight, but apparently she had won the spoils of war.)
I was impressed by the size of the weave that was pulled out - maybe a large squirrel? I digress.
I told her to give me the weave to throw away, and she refused to hand it over. At some point I tried to just grab it, but she was holding onto the thing for dear life, so it turned into a tug of war.
Me: Let go so I can throw this away
13 year old: NO. I'M FIXIN TO THROW THIS AWAY NEXT PERIOD
Me: I don't care what you're FIXIN to do, let go and go to class
::more stupid wrestling...OVER A WEAVE::
13 YO's friends convince her this is a losing battle
13 Y.O: B!1TCH
Me: Okay, what is your name?
13 Y.O: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS
Other teacher: {students name}
13 Y.O to other teacher: Why are you such a snitch?
I couldn't find a trash can anywhere, so I had to carry the weave/squirrel to the dean's office with me to write the referral.
Re: Adventures in Teaching Middle School
I really love the kids I teach/know, but yeah...random middle schoolers are the devil
It is moments like those that make me understand why people usually have facial expressions resembling noisy's in the breaking dawn post when I tell them I teach middle school.
When I took a cell phone my first year, the girl ripped stuff off my walls (pictures she had drawn and given me) on her way out. Ouch
6th and 7th. The girl who ripped down my stuff was a 7th grader who was a year behind, so she was 14. Weave girl was also in 7th grade.
What grade do/ (did?) you teach?
Ripping out a weave is a serious offense though.
I used to work in a group home for delinquent/abused/neglected/ANGRY teens aged 12-18. I wouldn't want to get near a weave pull-out. That can turn into all out war. That shiit is expensive.
Little anecdote: My first day in the group home, I'm in the directors office and one of the residents came in to chat. She kept open handed slapping the side of her head every few minutes. I assumed she had some kind of condition that caused this.. When she left, the director just kept talking to me like nothing happened.
Finally, I said- "Was she okay? Does she always do that?".
Director: "Do what?"
Me: Hit herself!
Director: ::Laughing hysterically::
Me: What? ::totally puzzled::
Director: Tara, she has a weave. When you have a weave, you don't wash your hair every day. Her head is ITCHY! But we don't just dig our fingers through it and wreck the weave. That shiit is expensive! So we pat it instead of scratch!!
I felt like a complete schmuck. I didn't know anything about weave at that point.
I know! This is exactly why I wanted to stop the girl from waving it around. I was really concerned it would incite another fight.
hahahahahha
If she would have watched the second season of RHONJ she would have known this.
I also teach 7th grade.
Ha! I remember when it dawned on me that's why the girls in class kept patting their heads.
Also, thank you all for making me not miss teaching middle school and the attitudes that came with it. It probably wasn't a good year if I wasn't called one. I think teaching 2nd grade has only gotten me called biitch once in 3 years. The worst they got is "You're not my friend."
Sometimes I think about this, but honestly the neediness of my 6th graders sometimes makes me want to HULKSMASH something. I think I would emotionally scar 2nd graders.
This is all very interesting as a parent of a 7th grader. Bug might be borderline tolerable at home, but she seems to be pretty awesome at school. And I've been pretty happy that all her friends and crushes seem pretty normal too. I'm sure she keeps the crazy stories to herself though.
Total bragging, but one of Bug's teachers called home a few weeks ago to say what an awesome job she does in class. Maybe she does it for all the kids, but it really sounded like Bug brightens her day. She's been honor roll all year too.
"The meek shall inherit the earth" isn't about children. It's about deer. We're all going to get messed the fuckup by a bunch of cloned super-deer.- samfish2bcrab
Sometimes I wonder if scientists have never seen a sci-fi movie before. "Oh yes, let's create a super species of deer. NOTHING COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG." I wonder if State Farm offers a Zombie Deer Attack policy. -CaliopeSpidrman
I'm always surprised and sorry but maybe slightly amused when the good kids who are a joy to have in class, drive their parents crazy just like the rest of the class. I've had more than one parent ask "They don't give you attitude? They help clean up the classroom? I wish I could get them to do that at home!"
Bug sounds like a great kid. Just keep reminding yourself of that throughout the heavy sighs, eye rolling and teeth sucking.
Go Bug! ((What is her real name btw? I have no idea). That's awesome about the teacher calling. And I'm sure they don't do that for everyone.
"Once I got a bath bomb that, once exploded, filled the tub with confetti. Little sharp metallic pieces of confetti. The product description said nothing about confetti. Oh look, there's a tiny, sharp metallic blue star stabbing me in the labia. HOW RELAXING. " - NoisyPenguin
That's awesome! I'd venture to guess at this point in the year, the teacher is not calling for every kid. Too much going on. In the beginning of the year, I try to start off with a nice phone call home to have a positive interaction with parents from the beginning. At this point in the year, of my positive phone calls home are for kids who have behavior issues and are improving.
I got called the B word earlier this school year. By a 4 year old. Screaming it at the top of her lungs.
I commend you for working with middle schoolers all day every day, I don't think I could handle the hormones and the attitudes