It's that time of year when teachers start wearing down, just like the kids we share our classrooms with every day. This year, more than any other year, I feel blessed to be a teacher in the FC school district. I have seen some of the struggles that teachers in our neighboring districts are going through but instead I am feeling supported by administration and parents in our district. HOWEVER, I think there is one aspect of being final quarter teacher tired that is shared by teachers.... well...everywhere.
I'm sick of trying to be a part time detective. Maybe teachers of younger students don't face this. Younger students are not nearly as good at lying, cheating and manipulating as middle school students. I have never taught students younger than 4th grade, so I'm only guessing here. I'm guessing that you don't have students in elementary grades figuring out ways around the technology filter at school, cloning their desktop to avoid the teacher spyware or trying to figure out who is writing "F- U- Bich" in the girls bathroom. Besides the fun phonetic spelling of the swear word, this student also uses a dry erase marker. Not exactly a high crime, but still...
I'm constantly having to check students for plagiarism. (No little Johnny - I don't believe you know the meaning of the phrase 'posthumously honored'.) I can tell when your student doesn't do their own work. (Wow! Great job with your professionally done map that you hadn't even started when you left school yesterday.) I can tell when your student actually needs to use the bathroom or when they are just trying to avoid work time in the classroom. (It's a super power I have.)
However, as any middle school teacher can tell you, it is exhausting. It is exhausting trying to keep up with who has figured out what new way of using technology to cheat the system. It is exhausting having to police students on their devices using every technique to go back through search histories on computers or view their screens using teacher tools. It is exhausting trying to make sure they are not on their phones, watches, or other personal devices. It is exhausting trying to make sure that the work they do is their own and not some publisher on a website. I'm exhausted.
Like I said, I have been blessed. I have great students. I haven't even had to "get to the bottom" of any middle school playground/social media drama this year. It has been a giant relief. If you have never tried to sort through 11-12 year old hormonal pre teen girl drama, consider yourself blessed. I feel there are trained detectives on CSI who can't hold a candle to our principal and staff here at FC. I also am sitting here wondering if I just put a major jinx on myself and tomorrow Sally will be tearfully telling me that Betty called her a name at recess while Betty claims that Sally told Rachel that she was a bad word on Snapchat because Robbie likes Rachel but Rachel told Beth that she actually likes Billy even though Billy told Robbie that Sally was Betty's friend but not invited to Rachel or Elaine's birthday party. Yeah. Fun times.
Middle schoolers lie like rugs. It's a fact. This is coming from a former middle school parent who distinctly remembers adding books to my Amazon cart like "How to Tell if My Child is Lying" and "Why Is My Teenager a Liar". I'm so over trying to figure out who is lying, who is telling the truth and who I can trust.
Not sure if I missed it, but I don't remember learning these skills in college. I remember learning about teaching math, reading, language, students with disabilities, social studies, science and even PE and music. But I don't remember How to Tell if Your Student is Lying 101. Or maybe that's what that psych class was supposed to be for?
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