Missing the Field

Upon receiving my placement at Red Lion Jr. High School, I was admittedly hesitant. I've always seen myself in a high school setting; middle schoolers held little to no appeal to me, for whatever particular reason. Middle school is such a difficult time in a student's life, not to say high school doesn't have its challenges either, but I think we can all agree middle is by far the worse of two evils. Perhaps this is what led me to think avoiding this particular stage of life was the best idea.

Whatever the reason, I found myself cautious when I walked into Red Lion on my first day of field. I met my cooperating teacher, who seemed to be a lot of fun and, after 32 years, still seemed to really enjoy teaching.

Foursight testing was in action on my first morning of observation. But it amazed me how much I could learn about the students from merely watching their actions as soon as they completed the test. Some chose to read while others merely plopped their heads down on the desks.

As the days passed, I grew to learn their names, thanks to my cooperating teacher insisting upon their use of name tags on their desks. And, after following one student and, therefore, one solid class along for an entire day due to an assignment for Dr. McDowell, I found myself growing attached to the students. I knew not only their names, but their personalities, the questions they were likely to ask. I began to actively participate in class: teaching lessons, helping them with projects and questions they have, and chastising them when they chose to chase each other around the room over a crown of all things.

And, now that it's over, I miss them. I miss their craziness. I miss their energy. I miss the way they choose to randomly dance during the 70s elevator music that accompanies the video in science class. I actually miss that they were willing to chase each other over a paper crown, despite the far easier solution of simply making a second crown.

In short, this field experience has helped me see the benefits of middle school. My previous insistency that middle school was not for me is now being brought into question. I find myself thinking that their may be far worse places to be than middle school.