Baby-Gay-Writing

This week was busy. There was a lot of getting used to our own space again, but there were also special circumstances.

Our special education teacher had a baby on Monday (!), and I've been covering one of her classes. It's an easy classes, more a test of patience than a management challenge. There are only three students, and it's math. Two of the kids are pretty good; I set them in the right direction and they work through the 90-minute block. The third is an adorable, sweet girl who is very, very slow. I have to constantly monitor her to see whether she is thinking slowly, or lost. I'm happy to get to teach her math, and I'm a little excited for her assessment on Wednesday. Fortunately for my schedule and stress level, we are (most likely) hiring a temporary special ed teacher starting after Thanksgiving, so I'll get my morning back.

Tuesday morning's seventh grade circle was exceptionally heart-warming. I was a little nervous when the principal brought up the concept of a state referendum, but she rallied the students' utmost professionalism and led a grade-wide discussion on same-sex marriage. She introduced the idea in a clever way: Think about the person you care about most, whether it is your mother or sister or cousin or uncle. Then think about what would happen if that person were sick, and you couldn't see them in the hospital.

In 90 seconds, the principal had gotten a room full of 12-year olds invested in the concept of marriage and civil rights. The next 10-15 minutes were serious and motivating, and ended with a great comment with a student who said something along the lines of: Just like in Virginia vs. Loving, these referendums created great opportunities for civil rights, because Americans have voted to support something that may make them a little uncomfortable, but represents freedom and equality.

That is a pretty special seventh-grader.

This year, I "introduced" my kids to persuasive essays. As it turns out, they've been writing them for years. Not only that, I was similarly impressed to discover that they were not new to writing workshops and excellent at giving and receiving criticism. They spent about 10 minutes in deep discussion of each others' writing, in a rigorous and respectful way. I loved every minute of it.

Now it's the weekend. I have to take a test tomorrow, as part of the Great Certification Saga, but I can relax after that.