What I have learned so far at school....

As a Substitute Teacher...
I have learned how difficult a job the teachers have when dealing with these kids...Especially the kids in Junior High...Each child comes from a different family and different set of circumstance..they are going through puberty and learning a whole new set of rules... trying to fit in and everything is changing all at once. We think of the kids and know how hard it is, because we remember, or at least we think we do...We don't really, because before we know it, that part of our life is a million miles away and we are trying to learn a whole new set of rules.
But the Teachers are there on the front lines everyday. They have to keep order for these kids when everything about their lives are anything but order.
And then for each child, there is another side of them depending on what set of kids they are with that day. They see the child in the same setting with the same players everyday.
As a Substitute, I see these kids with different groups and depending where they are and who they are with, they are different.
They are trying so hard just to fit in, to be what their parents want them to be, what their teachers want them to be....They just want to be...
Also the difference between the 7th grade and 8th grade is big...And I have watched them from the beginning of 7th grade until now the beginning of the 2nd semester....Some of these girls are growing up and I don't mean just in appearance, but their attitude and their confidence. You can see that some of them have went through the puberty stuff already and are on the other side...and you can see those that are trying. I see girls like myself, afraid to look up because we are afraid some people may be looking at us..And then there are those that can't get enough people to look at them..and then the ones in between.
Then you see the ones in 8th grade that look like they are already in the 12th...and you know what I mean. You can see the ones that have grown up way to fast or at least have more knowledge than they should have.
I wish I had discovered a long time ago that this is something I love to do. I think to myself that I can fit in here and teach and then I realize that I am not smart enough to do that. I do not have the book smarts for it...I didn't go to school and pay my dues. I have been through the school of life.
Well I need to go to bed and so off I go....