"random..." I think. It's the very end of the day; homebase was over 6 long hours ago. But I'm accustomed to random, especially from my 6th graders. "No, I can't have a homebase because I'm not here all year," I reply in my cheery talking-to-a-kid voice.
"Oh so you're only here for this trimester and then you go to somewhere else..."
"Right! Then I go to my other schools!" I've had this conversation a million times with both kids and adults. Who can blame them? My job isn't exactly normal.
"WOW!" Those sweet blue eyes grow big with more empathy than I expected from an twelve-year-old. "So you have to take down your WHOLE room?!" Now the blue eyes are scanning my poster/photo/realia-plastered walls.
"Yep! It's a lot of really hard work!" I grin at her and start to walk away to check on some other groups. As I go, she almost falls across the table in her excitement to recap our conversation to her tablemates. "She has to take ALL of this room down and take it to another school... wouldn't that be SO hard?!" Appreciative glances around the room and nods from the others.
It just felt really nice to be understood by a kid, especially when I've been feeling completely exhausted and run down every afternoon after school lately. I think when kids realize how hard we work, they develop a new respect and appreciation for us.
6th graders are the best!
They are great, those sixth graders. They haven't gone into the adolescent zone yet, at least not all the way. What a good story, and experience for you. Sorry that you do have to take it all away; what a job! I hope you get a bonus for the extra work!
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