Zits and Old Spice

Remember when you were in middle school?  Or junior high? Or whatever your school was called when you were 11-14?  Anyway, do you remember being a “tweener”?  Did you have any awkward moments?  Yep, bad question.  Of course you had awkward moments.  Unless, of course, you were the kid with perfect skin, perfect clothes, perfect eyesight, perfect teeth, and perfect parents.  For me, junior high school was a time of Old Spice and zits.  The Old Spice was “borrowed” from my Dad’s dresser in hopes of luring girls with the same luck that the sailor had in the commercials.  Didn’t work.  The zits?  Let me tell you, my acne was so bad that one time I fell asleep in the library and was awakened by a blind guy trying to read my face. Our kids have many of the same issues that all of us had when we were their age.  They struggle with identity and their self-image and may wonder just where they fit in.  They struggle with competition in and out of the classroom and may want to keep up with the Joneses…or Smiths…or anyone who is conceived as popular.  They worry about their looks. Boys and girls no longer have coodies. Throw in the constant battle with “The Big P” and you have the perfect storm.  I have this observational theory that all 6^th grade girls receive a make-up kit from Santa because they return in January and I cannot recognize many due to the new paint and powder.  They have anxiety over just about anything.  There is sometimes drama.  Sometimes?  There is peer pressure, worries about making the team, and the fear of social rejection.  Oh by the way, we also want you to grow academically and be in that 95% group that Mr. Vassar talks about and to rock the state test even though you’re momentarily more concerned with holding hands with Miss Wonderful between classes or popping that snowcap of a zit on your forehead…

Does any of this ring a bell?  Take a look back in time.  Pull out your middle school pictures. If you have the nerve, show them to your students.  Recall your middle school thoughts.  For a moment, grab what really worried you when you were 11, 12, 13, or 14.  Do you remember how your voice went from Lou Rawls to Mickey Mouse within the same sentence?   Did you lie awake at night wondering if that dreamy guy in your Math class would ever notice you?  Remember the “dances” with the girls on one side and the boys on the other while everyone pretended to like the music?  This is an awkward time for kids!  One of the best character traits that we can employ at this time is empathy. We have to be empathetic to be truly effective.  Kids make mistakes; probably the same ones that we made at their age. We have to be able to put ourselves in the shoes of our students and look at things from a perspective much different than we have as adults while at the same time preparing them for what we know lies ahead.  That is no easy task, but one that is essential.  Talk with our students. Get to know them. Build a relationship with them.  They need someone to count on and perhaps you are the one.  Assign tasks with relevance to their lives- you will get more out of them.  Greet your students daily.  Call them by their first names. Smile at them.  Be a role model that they aspire to.  Remember your tweener years and then work that history into the issues your kids face today.  In the meantime, I have a few dozen tubes of Clearasil and a 55 gallon drum of Old Spice to share.

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The Browns are preparing next week for game 1 vs the Miami Dolphins on the shores of Lake Erie.  Of course, they play Da Bears tonight in the last exhibition game in that stadium that looks like a spaceship landed in a toilet bowl…just saying.