27 kids in the 5th and 6th grade class tonight at church. Amazing. And we had our class change. So the old 4th graders moved up and the old 6th graders were out of there. Half the class was a new set of kids. David kept control of the class. The topic: Proverbs.
When I’m not teaching, it is rare that I make comments in class. Mostly I’m scrounging up Bibles for those without, and this time, extra chairs since the class was extremely full. Most of the time I don’t feel as studious about the topic in order to make a intelligent comment on it. So I stay silent. Better to stay silent than to look stupid.
The good part about going to camp is that you tend to get to know the kids better. For example I actually had a conversation with a certain kid after church tonight. Whereas before camp, he hardly said a word to me. Now he must think I’m cool or something. So that’s good.
I like to tell the kids who are at West Wilson Middle School (formerly Mt. Juliet Junior High) that I was in the first class with mini-schools. Way back in 1988. After I wait for the initial shock to wear off, I shock them again with the ability to name off the minischools which were around when I was at the Junior High. Minischools make it where the student body is divided up into separate groups and have the same set of teachers throughout the day. It helps kids not to feel so lost in what otherwise would be a huge school. Teachers get to know the students better and vice versa. Then again if your best friend is in a different mini-school, you might never get to see them at all throughout the day. My consolidation was that most of my friends were in band and therefore we all had band at the same time and were in the same minischool together. So no worries.
I think the minischool concept worked well. I went through in 7th grade without minischools. Felt lost in the gigantic world of the junior high. Then in 8th grade minischools were instituted, mainly because the junior high’s bad reputation….People were calling it “the zoo.” Minischools improved things. I’m not sure if it was a teacher or administrator’s idea to institute it…or it was due to some parents’ complaints. I think the latter. For some reason I feel as though things have become softer throughout the years. Parents aren’t going to stand for the slightest bit of inconvenience anymore. I remember parents complaining at the elementary school because their 2nd graders had to live in an outdoor portable classroom, yet at the same time I (being a 6th grader) was in a portable classroom myself. Yet no one was complaining that their 6th grader was in a portable. I guess they figured that we could take the chill of the January wind easier than their 2nd grader.
Now we get cafeteria pizza and plenty of more lunchroom choices because little Johnny won’t eat the school food. Here’s a hint: Kids aren’t eating the food anyways. Most of the time it was not unusual at all to see kids skipping lunch in high school.
Now you look at dress codes….which is sorta like spoon feeding parents into making sure their kid dresses appropriately for school. Don’t give them a choice. Make it to where everything is already decided for you. Solid colors for all shirts. So instead of actual learning that is taking place, you are disrupting learning by making a huge deal that Johnny doesn’t have a belt and has to call home or get in-school-suspension.
I’m done with this now.