students can be mean

this year i have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with students from 6th grade up to 9th grade. i have been able to learn a lot about what kind of activities and lessons work for some ages and which others don't. i've also learned that i love working with the sixth grade. they are young enough to still be interested in school and learning games, but old enough to be able to have conversations and discussions with and i love that.

and then comes seventh grade. i had a seventh grade class last year that gave me some trouble in the beginning of the year. by the end of last year we had formed a great bond and we were all a little nervous that i might not be assigned to their class again this year. now that i do have them again they are amazing and so much fun to work with. 

but the seventh graders this year. oh how these seventh graders try my patience. with only three months left of school i still feel like a brand new teacher every time i walk into their classroom. and to make matters worse, they treat each other with just as little respect as they do the teachers. unfortunately one such situation has gotten so out of control that my favorite student in that class has been pulled out of school by her mother because of a bullying problem. bullying like this girl finding a dead bird in her locker one morning. in my almost two years at this school i have never seen any true bullying, other than john telling suzie she wasn't invited to his birthday party.

unfortunately i never got to say my goodbyes to this student because she just didn't come to school one day and i was told she wouldn't be coming back. i didn't get to tell her good luck in her new school and i didn't get to tell her that i know she will succeed and do great things. i didn't get to tell her to continue working as hard as she did and that her dream of studying at stanford would surely come true. i didn't get to tell her that bullies are just that, bullies. and that one day they will get what is coming to them.  

i know kids can be cruel sometimes and i know these things happen. 

but i just wish they didn't.