Frequent Flyers

This is the time of the year the hallways are ripe with students, especially 8th graders. As Spring approaches, but Spring Break remains weeks away, our eldest middle schoolers become our most restless souls. They are done with childish ways, and ready to move on to a bigger building that allows more free agency.

In an 8th Grade Level teacher meeting two weeks ago the conversation turned to these students.

“Where are they all going?” an administrator asked.

“… to the clinic for a bandaid and ice… to see a counselor or Mr. Siegel…they’ve left their iPad here, or their hoodie there,” we all chimed in. It never ends: this maneuvering and manipulation of the escape artist in our charge.

“What shall we do to keep them in class?” asked one frustrated Pre-Algebra teacher. “We can’t deny them the bathroom!”

“Let’s make a list of students who most often ask to leave class,” suggested a colleague. “Then we’ll limit how long they can be gone from class, or how often they can ask to leave each day.”

“That sounds like a lot of record keeping,” another team member pointed out.

At least they are on our radar now, and we are doing what we can to keep them in class longer. We are trying to keep them engaged, if not belted in, as teenaged turbulence sets in.