What I Learned In Middle School

I once put a small pillow on top of an open toilet seat and thought I could stand on it to get a drink. As it turns out, I couldn't. My feet plungered the delicately embroidered couch pillow straight to the bottom of the bowl and I fell backwards pawing and grasping at the air in a vain attempt to stop my fall. Despite my best efforts, no amount of awkward arm cartwheeling could slow the descent of my head toward the counter. I flailed my arms like an inflatable lawn character in a hurricane, but it was to no avail. I hit my head on the counter, had a concussion and spent the night throwing up on myself in the hospital. I never did get that drink. What's the point here? It's amazing what we can convince ourselves of if we put our mind to it.

I spent the past week observing classes in a local middle school. I learned many very valuable lessons in this time. For example, before I even started I learned that we aren't allowed to take any pictures of the children (for obvious privacy law reasons); and on the first morning I learned that cheap cologne can not even begin to cover the smell of cigarette smoke (again, amazing what we can convince ourselves of). Overall the experience was fantastic and I learned that I have a special place in my heart for that stilted and awkward stage of life known as ''middle school." People in the past have speculated that those who go into professions working in schools do so because they never wanted to leave school themselves. Sounds about right.

I will write more about what we did and what I learned in the classroom but for now allow me to leave you with some pictures of the great students and teachers I met at Eckstein Middle School.

(Aren't they a good looking bunch?)