Sixers

Dave (my husband of nineteen years) has, for the first time in his twenty-five year science teaching career, a period of 6th graders.  He has always, up until this year, taught eighth graders, with the exception of one errant class of seventh graders many years ago.  Not his favorite year.

While seventh graders can be immature and annoying a lot of the time, put 'em next to a bunch of sixers and all the sudden the sevvies look like bastions of common sense and self-disclipline.  Sixth graders are an entirely different species.  I'm not really sure they even belong in middle school, to be honest.  They are much better suited to being king of the hill in elementary school than they are to being the babies at middle school. They're sort of deer-in-the-headlights as middle-schoolers.

But here they are, and Dave has been tasked with teaching them a class of Earth Science.  He is a bit anxious about the situation, but as always is ready to make the best of it.

I don't think he has anything to worry about, and here's why:

First off, he starts his day with the sixth graders.  He has them first period, which is the best way to begin the day for him.  I think it'll be great because it'll make the rest of his day seem like a walk in the park.  Yes, sixers need to be told things three times.  They forget their materials.  They cry.  A lot.  For seemingly no reason.  But beginning your day with the most "challenging" set of kids seems much more preferable than ending your day with the most "challenging" set of kids.  Doesn't it?  I think that given a big enough cup of coffee each morning (or two or five), and possibly several ibuprofen (or more), this will end up being a nice change of pace for Dave.  He's a "rise to the occasion" kind of guy.

Plus, the rest of Dave's day is filled with  (relatively mature) eighth graders.  And sixth graders will make even your most exasperating eighth graders seem like they've got their act together. So by my logic, the rest of his day will fly by!

I also theorize that beginning the morning with Dave will be to the benefit of the sixth graders.  Dave is organized.  He is prepared.  He is smart.  He has a sense of humor.  He's interesting.  He cares about kids learning every single day, and he tries to make sure that kids look forward to learning every single day.  He has the best class control of any teacher I know, for all of the aforementioned reasons.  Any kid would be lucky to have him as a teacher, but to get to start each school day off with a teacher who demonstrates by his words and actions how important your education is to him, who knocks you out with his enthusiasm, who creates lessons designed not just to teach you but to involve you and make you want to come back the next day to see what you're doing next--that's one lucky group of kids!  Hell, I'd like to start my day off in his science class if I could, and I did terribly in science .

I think that both Dave and the kids are going to reap massive amounts of benefits from this new situation (massive is a comparative term, and since you don't know what I'm comparing this to in my head, you just have to nod your head and go along with me).

Frankly, the only person I wouldn't want to be in this whole scenario is one of the sixth grade teachers who gets Dave's students after he's done with them each day.  These kids will be coming from a classroom where the teacher brings his "A" game to work every single day.  EVERY SINGLE DAY!    These kids will be coming from a room where they are being engaged, challenged, stretched and inspired.  EVERY SINGLE DAY!  And these kids will be hoping for a second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth period filled with more of the same--EVERY SINGLE DAY!  It's a tall order.

Dave will have these kids excited about science for sure, but he is not a miracle worker.  Sixth graders are sixth graders.

They will still need to be told things three times.  They will probably still forget their materials.  They will most likely cry.  A lot.  For completely inexplicable reasons.

But they will look forward to first period.  EVERY SINGLE DAY!