Goodbye 8th Grade!

Last week my school's eighth graders graduated. I wasn't their homeroom teacher, but they were the first eighth grade class I had taught from the first day of school to the last - English/Language Arts and Social Studies. I got a mention in the graduation speech, performed by the outgoing Commissioner General. He jumped up and down while talking about how I jumped up and down during class to make a point and told the audience, "Don't worry, Mrs. Conrow. I will remember the Internet is forever."

I think that is ultimately what is so fulfilling about teaching middle schoolers - they are ready to hear life lessons. Not necessarily from their parents, but from an interested outside party. Someone they have formed a relationship with and know cares about them, but also someone who does not represent a lifelong authority figure. They respect my life experience and by the end of the school year this class was actively asking for more stories. After one such personal story with a moral in the middle of the school year, some of the students told me I am a good motivational speaker and give good life lessons. I wish I could remember which story or life lesson prompted that remark. I do remember I ended by standing on a chair with my hand raised high in the air, just as the bell rang.

One of my favorites life lesson stories this year was my prom story, which I told within a week of eighth grade graduation. I was teaching a lesson on persuasive writing, which I always like to begin by showing commercials my prom date, who is still a good friend of mine, has appeared in commercials as an adult. I texted him to send me links to his ads, which he was happy to do. Then he asked if I was going to show my students our prom picture. At his suggestion, I decided that it was a good idea to incorporate the picture into my lesson presentation. The day after they had seen the prom picture and ads starring my date, the students were still asking all kinds of questions about my prom. When we had a little time left at the end of class. I decided to tell them the story of how I went to prom. I first asked someone else, who refused to plan the specifics of the event. Eventually I asked him if he really wanted to go with me. He said no, so I told him he didn't have to go if he didn't want to. That same evening I was recounting the events that led to my lack of a date at rehearsal for our school's play, Damn Yankees (I was "student director"). One of the actresses suggested I ask the boy who was playing Mr. Applegate, which I did. He ended up being my date and we became closer friends, lasting through college into adulthood. 

The eighth grade class literally sat silent after the bell rang, as I finished the story, and then cheered as I reminded them of what I had previously told them about my shyness in high school.  I concluded by saying, "I asked two boys to prom. They both said yes. If I could do that, you will be fine in high school."

I hope they come back to visit me or that I at least get a whisper here and there of how they are doing as their lives progress. But I know that I will become a distant memory for many of them as they figure out who they want to be in life and how to get there.