As I've posted before, my true passion is teaching middle school students because there is so much more to the job than just teaching content. If your students do not feel that you actually care about them as individuals, they may still be compliant but there will be no interest on their part to actually learn what you are trying to teach. But whereas you need to build a connection to your students, it is equally important not to cross the line and try to be their "friend" (probably one of the biggest rookie mistakes I see made by new and ineffective middle school teachers).

Well in an attempt to bridge this divide, I tried something new this year that I have found is priceless and will now be a yearly tradition in my class.

In week two of school, after I have a general sense of the students and they of me, I handed out a piece a paper at the beginning of class and told them it is "sharing time". On the top half of the paper I told them to write down one thing about themselves that they want me to know about them and on the bottom part they need to wirite one question about something they want to know about me. I emphasized that this was nothing to stress over and the information and/or question could be as simple as a favorite color.

As I read through all of their information, I would write a word or two on the seating chart so that I could "remember" it and I have to say the kids totally light up whenever I make a random reference to them about their interests, hobbies, or even their favorite color. But the real value is in the fact that I went through and answered all of their questions about me and then returned their papers. Now with 145 eighth graders this took some time but the fact that I took this time to answer their questions really meant a lot to them. I was really surprised in just how many students were shocked that I would be so open with my life and that I also wanted to know them on a personal level.

I do want to say that I did lay some ground rules before they started writing. First, I let them know that as a state employee I was required by law to pass along any information they told me that dealt with them being harmed or abused in anyway so they needed to know that before they wrote anything too personal. And as for the questions to me, I told them that the two categories that were off limits were religion and politics [and obviously I would not answer anything that was inappropriate or too personal]. I have always believed that as an "authority figure" I never want to influence things they believed which is why I handle the topics of bioethics and evolution as neutrally as possible.

Without a doubt I have already noticed a different level of respect in class that I was never able to achieve so early in the year. By being willing to answer really simple questions like my age, if I had kids, what are my hobbies, and why wanted to be a science teacher (by far the most common questions) I have formed a pretty unique bond with my students and all it took was a little bit of time and a willingness to really want to know about my students.

I get asked quite a bit why in the world I choose to teach middle school or if it was because I am being punished for something. I really have to laugh at this. I honestly could not imagine teaching anything else but these wonderfully "hormonally challenged" teenagers. One of the main reasons I give to this inquiry is that I get to spend so much of my time dealing with teaching other things beyond just what my content is. On paper it says that I teach 8th grade science, but my day is filled with soooo many more lessons than just that. I teach accountability, conflict resolution, tollerance, compasion, time management, fairness, and how to be able to laugh at yourself.

Recently I found an incredible book that really captures the heart and mind of what it means to be a middle school student - "Fires in the Middle School Bathroom" by Kathleen Cushman & Laura Rogers [The New Press, 2008] - and it pegged exactly why I specifically like teaching this age group and it is probably the very reason why the majority of academia avoids it like the plague. They describe the constant mental dicotomy of a middle school student as :

• They want us to see them as more mature, but many of them still look like children.
• They want to be treated as more independent, serious young people, and they still want recess.
• They want to learn really intesting, "hard" things, but they want to learn them through games and activities.
• They want to be treated fairly - "just like everybody else" - and they also want us to make exceptions for them when they make mistakes.
• They want our recognition for what they do right, but they don't want anyone else to see us give it.
• They want to experiment with the rules - sneaking to the bathroom to snack or play with fire - but they do so wihtout guile, and so they get caught. 

[I would do a proper citation here but since I'm reading this book on my iPad, I cannot cite the exact page number]

This really is a perfect picture that they have painted in what every day looks like in my class. I absolutely love the fact that I do not know what any given student will be like from one day to the next because it will depend on what is happening at home, what their "BFF" did behind their back, what somebody said about them that morning on Facebook, just how late they stayed up without their parents knowing so they can play Halo, or even because of what they percieved was "a look" given to them in the hall way.

Oh yea, before they leave my class they will know all of Newton's Laws of Motion and how to read a Periodic Table of Elements but how that gets done from one period to the next is the true adventure.