One of the best things about being an AVID teacher ( at least the way we do it at Ferguson) is that I teach both 7th and 8th graders. I sometimes listen to my peers who teach only one grade level and talk about the perils of the "squirrelly" 7th graders and the "hormonal" 8th graders and I smile. In the course of a day I have huge swings between both groups and that alone is interesting.
Today, though, I am thinking about how special it is to watch students who arrive in August of their seventh grade year exit on their way to high school by June of their 8th grade year. The change is dramatic and exciting to watch. When they arrive at Ferguson in 7th grade, they are barely able to function in some ways in the new, more demanding environment of junior high school. Locker combinations? Fuhgiddaboutit!
As they enter the second semester of their 8th grade year and move toward June, they are starting to feel the high school mentality settle in. Just yesterday, one of my 8th graders said to another, "We're just about high school now, baby." She is right. The change is more than dramatic. Independent work is much more easily accomplished, pride in their workmanship is beginning to emerge, motivations for learning are becoming more extrinsic and behavior issues change into the kind that any parent of a teenager experiences as they climb the developmental tree toward adulthood.
It's just interesting to watch the change that happens with those "tweens" who become "teens" while in my class.
Harrison McCoy
AVID Coordinator
Today, though, I am thinking about how special it is to watch students who arrive in August of their seventh grade year exit on their way to high school by June of their 8th grade year. The change is dramatic and exciting to watch. When they arrive at Ferguson in 7th grade, they are barely able to function in some ways in the new, more demanding environment of junior high school. Locker combinations? Fuhgiddaboutit!
As they enter the second semester of their 8th grade year and move toward June, they are starting to feel the high school mentality settle in. Just yesterday, one of my 8th graders said to another, "We're just about high school now, baby." She is right. The change is more than dramatic. Independent work is much more easily accomplished, pride in their workmanship is beginning to emerge, motivations for learning are becoming more extrinsic and behavior issues change into the kind that any parent of a teenager experiences as they climb the developmental tree toward adulthood.
It's just interesting to watch the change that happens with those "tweens" who become "teens" while in my class.
Harrison McCoy
AVID Coordinator