What do you wish I knew?

I read the following blog and wondered if you feel this way, too. After you read it, let me know in the comments or in an email. -Ms. Davis

Top 10 Things Middle-School Students Wish You Knew (Click on the title to go to the "WeAreTeachers" blog)

by WeAreTeachers Staff

This week, we'd like to welcome guest blogger Rachel Vail, YA author of over 30 books, including, most recently, Unfriended. Rachel recently wrote an essay for the Huffington Post on what middle schoolers wish parents knew. Here's her version for teachers:

1. I was not trying to get attention by falling off the chair. I am approximately infinity inches bigger than I was yesterday and I just lost track of how to balance. I felt like an idiot so I made falling into a joke. Crying was the other choice. And I’d rather cut off my arm than cry in school.

2. I did that homework. I am almost positive I did it. Getting it from done to folder to backpack to school to you is like seven extra homeworks. That is too many. It’s also possible I forgot to do the homework. I honestly have no idea where my planner is. Or maybe the homework was completely confusing and if I asked for help people might think I am stupid now when that used to be my best subject.

3. That time I called you Mom was the most humiliating moment of my life. It’s one thing in second grade but middle school? Ugh. How does this stuff still happen to me?

4. When you force us to get up—do stuff, act it out, test our ideas—it wakes us up and makes the lesson so much more fun and easy to remember.

5. Sometimes I just can’t focus. I’m buzzy, jumpy, pumped with electricity. Somebody suddenly looks distractingly attractive, across the room, which is fully that other person’s fault, not mine. Or I don’t get what we’re discussing and the pain of not understanding is so excruciating I just have to take a break from paying attention.

6. It feels awesome when you notice something special about me. When you value a skill or interest of mine, you give me a route in to subjects I didn’t think I’d like—and make me feel like I have something worth sharing.

7. What you tell me about myself matters way more than I hope you know. When you tell me I am something—smart, brave, kind, stupid, a trouble-maker, creative, a writer, a mathematician, funny, hard-working—I believe you.

8. I like it when you’re sarcastic but not when you’re harsh. When you say something ironically and I get it, I feel smart and mature. But when you’re mocking in a sharper way, it feels mean and a little scary.

9. Respect me. There are lots of things I already know about myself. Some I want to talk about, A LOT, and it means so much to me when you find time to include me (and it) in class. But lots of other things about me, I'm not ready to discuss, and especially not in class.

10. If you call on me and I am flat-out wrong, please don’t humiliate me. I’m already praying for a hole to open up in the floor and swallow me. It’s hard for me to believe that not knowing isn’t shameful but is instead a good starting point for learning. Help me.

What do you think? Does this represent you? 

How about "most" middle schoolers? 

What do YOU wish I knew?

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GUEST BLOGGERS

Famous Person

My famous person was born May 16, 1991 in Marlborough, Massachusetts. He is now 24 years old. He has 2 siblings, Nicole and Jett, and his parents are Debbie and Joe. He has 2 dogs, Storm and Wolf, both are huskies. He is a major star on youtube. He is a producer, writer, singer, and American actor. Some of the movies he was in are Ethereal, Zombie, and Hunting Ian. He did some covers and he has his own song called “Don’t Wait.” Can you guess who he is?

-Olivia S.S.


Question of the Week

I asked 6 people if they think Barack Obama should be president ever again. Hayley and Easton said yes because he has done a good job this year. When I asked Asher he said no, and he also hopes that Donald Trump becomes president or he will move out of state. Honestly I think Barack Obama should not be president and that we should give Trump a chance. Zach says Obama should be president because he is super cool, and he does not like Donald Trump. My last person that I asked is Ms Davis. She said that if Barack could serve a third term that she would vote for him and not Donald Trump because he has ideas that go against many Americans. So let's find out who wins the spot as president.

-Beniamino

2 Truths and a Lie

1. I have a dog name, Jamie. We adopted her on a Sunday, March 27th. She’s still a puppy and she’s really hyper almost all the time. Jamie likes playing in our backyard, and she likes to chew on things. We gave her a purple rubber ball and she bit on it so hard, Jamie made a hole in it. I’m not sure if she likes meeting new people because when a stranger is nearby, she’ll always bark at them until they leave. She even did that to my neighbor’s dog.
2. When I was 5 years old I had to get surgery on my eye. There was a tiny worm stuck inside my iris and I don’t know how it got in my eye in the first place. At first, I was watching T.V. until I started going blind for a couple of hours. My dad didn’t know what to do until my mom came home at 7:00 at night. My mom stared at my eyes for a moment then she noticed the tiny worm in my iris. We went to the doctor to see what’s going on and then he told us I needed surgery because the worm has been growing in my eye for a long time, like a couple of days. After I took the surgery, I needed to wear glasses because my eye just got cut open, you know? I got to stay home for a whole month missing out school so I didn’t really understand how to add or subtract in kindergarten until I caught up with the rest of my classmates. My eye started to get better after a month later so I stopped wearing glasses.
3. I like to watch a lot of T.V. shows that you may not watch at all. It’s called anime. Anime is a style of a Japanese film and television animation. They all have different genres like, comedy, gore, romance, etc… The “humans” I draw are called manga which is a Japanese art style of comic books and graphic novels.

-Meranda