Why I Love Teaching Seventh Grade

Many  Most 7th graders don't have a filter, and some of them just quite haven't figured out some social norms. This makes every day entertaining and I can never predict what they will say or do. With the change I recently made to full time, I have acquired several more students. Having over 200 students greatly increases the chances that one or more of them will do something a little quirky, totally out of the blue, or just plain funny. Just this week, I have witnessed or heard the following:

- Lime green velvet pants. Oh, and they were zebra striped.

- A sweet boy dancing around the hall ballerina style while waiting for me to unlock my door. As far as he was concerned, he was the only person in that hallway.

- One girl brought her old school type writer with her to class today. Not because we were going to be writing any thing. Not because she was using it as a prop for something. Just because she wanted to bring it. I think it weighs as much as she does. It was quite the sight to see her lugging it around. And then she stored it in my room. And forgot to come back for it.

- A boy came running into class and said, "Miss Koster! I had the worst dream ever last night!" When asked what it was about, he responded, "I had a dream that Mrs. J really did retire and that you really are my new teacher." Me: Pause. "Um, I'm sorry, but your dream is true. She did retire and I am your new teacher." Him: "Oh. Really? Like you mean she's never coming back?" Me: "Yeah. She's not coming back. I'm sorry." (Thank you, good sir. It's a good thing I have enough confidence in myself and don't need the approval of a 12 year old.)

- Two girls were done with their essays and were playing an online horse trading game. They "purchase" and create pet horses for their collection. Apparently it's quite a big deal to those involved. I heard lines like, "Unicorns are very rare.", "Oh! Pax is a uni-reject!" (NO clue what that means), and "So how is Striking Beauty doing?" I still have no idea what this horse thing is about, but they were rather excited about it.

- Three very easily distracted boys, as they were supposed to be working on their essays, stopped me and said, "Hey, Miss Koster, do you have a boyfriend?" Me: "Maybe." Boys: "Come on! Just tell us!" Me: "Why does it matter if I do?" Boys: "Oh! That means you do!" Me: "What are you going to do about it if I tell you I do have one?" Boys: "We're going to go find him!" Me: "Haha, good luck with that. We're not even in the same country right now." Boys: "Oooooooh!" followed by giggles.

- One of my classes entered a writing contest which required them to make multiple copies of their essays. I asked the class who needed to make the additional copies. Five or six raised their hands. Feeling like I couldn't send them down to the lab by themselves (and the rest of the class needing to get some energy out), the entire class took a field trip to the lab. As I was walking around, I noticed that two of the boys who had initially raised their hands were playing games. I asked them if they finished printing. Their response, "Oh. Well, we never even had to print anything. We just raised our hands so we would have a better chance of coming down here." Really, boys? Really? Sneaky 7th graders: 1, Miss Koster: 0.


Don't you wish you had a job as entertaining as mine?

*Note: These stories are not posted to mock or in any way make fun of my students. I just thought they were funny and wanted to document them! :)