Middle School in December

 In my school setting December dawns with the first change in grading periods. On a trimester system in a school that begins after Labor Day, the first Friday in December is the last day of the first term, making the first full week in December report card week. It also means the first two weeks of the new term are the last two weeks before a two-week break. That plus the schedule interruptions due to the time of year means content tied to a specific unit takes a back seat in December.

This year's first report card cycle was brutal. I'm 24 years into my teaching career, and every year before this, as I got into writing comments, I felt less and less overwhelmed by the process. This year was the opposite. Our new learning management system has a bit of information overload built in. I had seven fields per student per class to fill in, resulting in 838 comments to write, proof-read, and edit. The reports end up being about 30 pages long, so there's a solid chance families skimmed rather than actually read all of words I spent over ten hours composing.

On top of the report cards, high school application teacher evaluation forms were due to the front office on the same day report cards were locked. The middle school team entered the new grading term exhausted and cranky.

Planning for lessons needed to be simple in the midst of all of the above. So, I had my eighth graders chose a Revolutionary War figure (as we were between our "The Road to the Revolution" and "Fighting for Independence" units) and I tasked them with deciding whether Santa would place their chosen person on the "naughty" list or the "nice" list and to back up their claim with evidence researched from trustworthy sources. 

Then, for fun, I had them tell me what unique gift Santa might bring their historical figure. My favorite was the student who wanted to bring Benedict Arnold a time machine so he could go back and change his actions, since he expressed regret for his actions on his death bed.

After presenting their findings, students were tasked with using their research to create a meme to add to our United States history meme wall. There were many gems among them. Here are few.

The seventh graders were in transition between a unit I call "Civilizations Around the World" where we touch on empires in the Americas, Asia, and Africa and a look at the European Rennaissance. Since there was less continuity, I had them each do preliminary research on the Christmas/Advent traditions and customs of four different countries (not only can I get away with that at a Catholic school, it's encouraged) and choose one. They found a holiday recipe they thought sounded tasty and illustrated a scene showcasing at least three different holiday traditions from their chosen countries. Those who were able brought in their chosen dish to share with the class.

It was a low-key way for me to get in a Christmas celebration for them, and many of them tried new foods. Two unexpected hits were a Filipino shrimp wrap and a mash up of foods brought in from Greece and France turned into a sandwich. The kids tried new foods and conversed with their friends during our last class before the break.

In addition to all of the above, my room parents put together a Jeopardy Christmas trivia game for my students, 

we built gingerbread houses in our advisories, 

and ended the last half day before break with our annual school wide activities. The day begins with staff caroling to the students and families at drop off as they drank hot chocolate and munched on cookies. From there, we all head to the auditorium where we have our final Advent prayer service for the year before heading to our classrooms for attendance. I handed out my gift for my class, crocheted jellyfish with a poem about jellyfish and a couple of Hershey's kisses. The jellyfish became instant fidget toys (twirled around), sensory toys, (fingers shoved through the stiches), water bottle decorations, and even hats.

 

Then we separated into our school families, each with a couple of kids per grade level for one last practice before the big caroling competition. The day ends, with a grand indoor snowball fight by grade band. The middle schoolers watch and cheer on all the younger kids before getting their turn to pelt each other for fifteen minutes. 

I commented to my coworkers during the snowball fights that our students, especially those who grew up at our school and never attended anywhere else, have no idea how lucky they are. What other school comes together as one community for the entire day before Christmas break to celebrate, compete, show school spirit, and have so much fun?