The Great 7th Grade Myth

The Great 7th Grade Myth
Current mood: optimistic

Whenever anyone finds out what I do for a living, they look at me with a sideways glance and reply, "really?", or "I'm sorry" (like I was forced into my job instead of choosing it), and my favorite, "wow...you must be brave".

I never know quite what to say, because I really do like my job, and I'm not lying.

Yes, teaching comes with a stigma, and teaching 7th grade adds to that. Teaching inner city 7th grade in a school where white people are the minority causes alarm.

However, I beg to differ:

Yesterday, I led out my entire class in the "plot chart cheer", and my "baggy-pants-serious-faced-macho boys" where standing up in the front of the room with me, clapping their hands and giving their best cheerleader inpersonation as we chanted about the elements of a plot chart (with a highkick included). If I didn't set a time limit, they could have done that exercise throughout our entire class period.

However I did encourter one disipline issue: I did have to ask one boy to put away his cell phone because he wanted to film our lesson and put it on utube.
This is normal for a day at school.

I can assure you this isn't because of me. I am not a super teacher that merits having a movie made about my life. Aside from fun plot chart cheers and activities, I am known for being strict. I am a gum nazi, (I can spot it a mile away) and there will be consequences if it shows up in my class. My students are also required to sit in "student posture--hands on desk, back straight, feet square on the floor--and if you get an F in my class, there are mandatory study sessions that you have to attend after school with me to catch up. Learning isn't optional; it's mandatory.

What I am willing to propose is that my students--while being inner city 7th graders--are still students. In reality, I find my job easier than most would think, because all 7th graders want to do is follow a leader.

If there is any trick, its being a leader that they are willing to follow.

I do have stiff competition: their favorite music artists, their older crush, their siblings, TV shows, the internet, their beloved X boxes and my biggest rival: their friends.

However, what most of them won't tell you is that they would take a healthy relationship with an adult anyday over those things, because usually that is the one thing that they need more of.

When I look at my classes, I don't look for gangstas, grafetti artists, future abusers and drug users, potential teen parents, intended welfare recipients or criminals. Call me crazy, but I see boys and girls excited about doing a plot chart cheer, who score well on state tests, who sit up straight in my class, and who are happy to be in school away from those realities that do exist in their homes.

The social and psychological pressures of 7th grade are bad enough without having those negative labels thrust on students at such a young age.

Whenever people tell me that they feel bad for me because of what I do, I wish that I could take them into my classroom to experience the positive things that occur at my school and in the lives of these students.

I know if I had to choose between their 9-5 office job (with the luxury of a longer lunch) and my classroom filled with harmonal 7th graders, I would choose my class everyday. Bring on the plot chart cheer! Nothing beats seeing a 7th grade guy do a high kick in the name of characterization.