My Day As An 8th Grade Boy

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22ND

So today I was an 8th grade boy.

OK, not really.  But today I shadowed my ELL student from class to class.  And it turns out that although HE is very proficient at being an 8th grade boy, I apparently am not.

There were three highlights to this day:

1.  Going to Industrial Arts class.  Yes, apparently that is what they call Shop these days.  And my student did fine but the kid next to me almost took me out with a belt sander.

2.  I pretty much almost totally fell asleep in Algebra.  And it was TOTALLY in the same classroom that *I* had Algebra in oh so many years ago.  My teacher at the time spent most of her day in the "Smoking Lounge" (and yes, dearies, there was a time that teachers had a smoking lounge in school).  She reeked.

3.  I had no problem going off campus for lunch.  I didn't get a demerit or anything.


D-Gang messaged me and asked if I had gotten a wedgie or been shoved into a locker and to be honest I think that I came close to both, if it weren't for the fact that the student that I was shadowing kept a sharp eye out for me.

By the way - passing periods are really, really short.  One cannot saunter.  One cannot even mosey. 


I sincerely appreciate the fact that my school is having me do this case study and I also sincerely appreciate that my student and his family agreed to let me do this.

But the smell of a middle school hallway - didn't appreciate that so much.