School Is Out!

School ended on Wednesday, 6/16/2010, at 11:55am. I have learned a lot from working with seventh graders for the past seven years. I learned math that I didn’t learn in high school, and more about grammar than I ever thought I wanted to know. Seventh grade seems to be a year for many of my “Late Bloomers” to finally bloom.

Next year I will move to sixth grade. This has many advantages. The sixth graders tend to be more willing to listen. They aren’t the hardened veterans of middle school that the seventh graders are. They haven’t figured out how the system works in middle school, and they are willing to try. Another advantage of sixth grade is the location of the classroom. I will be very close to the office, teachers’ lounge, copier, restroom, and parking lot. I need to become familiar with the sixth grade curriculum, but I figure if I can do seventh grade, I should be able to do sixth grade. Some of my summer reading will be spent reading sixth grade textbooks.

The saying, “Change is as good as a rest,” has me hoping that next year will be invigorating. In that sense it will be refreshing. I am now looking forward to a new and exciting year.