Wednesday finished up my 21st year in teaching, 19th in public schools, 17th in my district, and 1st year in middle school. To say I love the middle school students would be a colossal understatement. I love their humor, their honesty, their vulnerability. These kids are real, and you better be too or they will have no time for you.
As I have in the past at fifth grade, I asked my students to make a poster of how many books they read this year in middle school. We talked about how many of them knew the amount they read was higher, but hadn't kept up on their running list. We talked about how there is no comparison of their numbers with their peers because some kids count picture books, some don't. Some students read exclusively loooooooong novels, others fly through graphic novels. The one thing I wanted them to reflect on was their life as a reader for this year in seventh grade. All three classes, and every student, felt they had grown a lot in the past year and their reflections they turned in would support that.
So, here they are, my beautiful seventh grade group, now eighth graders. These seventy-two kids read 2925 books this year. I'm on day two of summer and I already miss them. I love that I will get to see them next year in the building. I can't wait to see what they accomplish next.
