Making It Up

"How do you spell magistical?" a student asked me this morning.

"I don't know that word," I said. "Do you mean magical or mystical?"

"Yes," she said.

Complimentary, My Dear Child

The Jolly Rancher Challenge today was one of the questions on the generic starter list that students used to prepare for their first interviews-- What is the best compliment you have ever received?

For such a simple question, the results were a bit of a disheartening social science experiment I did not intend.

"When my dad told me I was the sweetest child he ever knew," one of the smartest girls I ever knew reported.

"My friend said I'm a really good friend!" the next girl said.

"Someone told me I have good eyebrows," said the next girl.

I couldn't stay silent. "That's the best compliment you ever got? You're so smart and hard-working! You write every day!"

She shrugged and held out her hand for the candy.

A boy was in line behind her. "I like it when my friends say I'm good at basketball," he said.

"I was happy when someone said I was pretty!" the next girl told me.

"What about your personality?" I said. "What do people say about that?"

"That I'm nice?" she asked, waiting for her Jolly Rancher.

"I'm reliable," said the next boy.

"I'm smart," said his friend.

"I'm funny," said another guy.

"We have the same one," said the next girl, standing next to her friend.

"People always tell us we have beautiful eyes!"

"You do," I said, "but you didn't exactly earn those. What else do people say?"

They sighed. "Sometimes my friends tell me I should be a counselor, because I'm so understanding," suggested one.

"Great!" I said handing her the candy.

"People think I'm really good at soccer," said the other one.

"Yes!" I cheered and tossed her a piece of candy.

And as the day wore on, the trend continued. Most of the girls valued appearance compliments, and most of the boys selected behavior compliments. 

One Step Forward, One Step Backwards

With five and a half weeks of school left, that last period class is still one of the most dysfunctional groups I've ever worked with. As we do every. single. day. my co-teacher and I collapsed in chairs when the last student left the room.

"I had my evaluation meeting today," he told me.

"How'd that go?" I asked.

"Good. She just asks three questions to get you to reflect on the year," he said.

"What did you say?" I asked, thinking What will I say?

I laughed when he was finished. "You didn't mention this class?"

"No," he said, "but you feel free!" 

Overlap

It was still raw and rainy when we woke this morning-- yesterday's unseasonably cold, damp weather had hung around. Did I mind lacing up boots and pulling on a sweater over my jeans and t-shirt in the middle of May? I can't say that I did. Soon enough, days too warm for comfort will be here, and so I enjoyed the comfort of warm clothes one more day.

Reverse Shopping

We spent the day in an unusual way for us-- returning things that didn't work out the way we thought they would when we bought them. We hopscotched from mall to strip shopping center to box store to outdoor gear co-op to good old Target and returned home with more money in our accounts than when we left.

Weird!

Self-Care

Today was a ukulele playing, gym workout, haircut kind of a day.

Just what I needed.

Dime a Dozen

Heidi stopped by my room today after school today and found one of the regulars hanging out making a 2D model of the Hydro Flask she was hoping her dad would buy her this weekend out of modeling clay. "Are you going to come back and visit Ms. S. next year when you're in 7th grade?" she asked.

The student shook her head.

"Oh, I think you will," Heidi smiled. "You really seem to like it here."

"I'm going to another school next year," the student sighed, "boundary changes," she explained.

Heidi nodded sympathetically.

"It's okay, though," the student said. "I'm sure I'll find another cat-loving, ukulele-playing teacher over there."

I snorted and almost spit out my water.

"They're not as uncommon as you think," she told me.