Below is a collection of quotes from student reflections in my eighth grade social studies classes. There’s no real rhyme or reason to them; some are deep, others funny, others absurd. I added line breaks and corrected a few typos.

That’s what makes history so interesting,
the emotions that intertwine with the facts.

I am naturally good at
understanding stuff.

I love it when in group conversations there is a debate but the person with the best facts can show the other person how they are right, even if I was the one that was wrong.

Just like in science,
you can’t say something
without data.

I absolutely hate margin noting
more than I hate Activision
for making the same game
every year and brainwashing
people to buy that game.

In class, we learn about the history of our country, but notice, the class itself is not called “history,” but instead called social studies. This is because we are also learning about current and relevant events that affect us today. I can take the things we learn and connect them with things I see every day.

I have lots of opinions
and they are all
grounded in evidence.

I really want to work on speaking up more in class, and not being afraid of judgement when stating my opinion. I chose this skill because being able to talk in front of peers/people is very important, and one day I want to be a really good speaker. This class is the perfect opportunity to practice.

I know all the historical facts.

I am proud of how immersed
I am in the materials we study.

I have always been a crazy reader.

Remember that time where I corrected you on the start date of the revolutionary war? (No offense.) When I saw the incorrect date I thought back to my times in Assassin’s Creed III and remembered the date of the attack on Lexington and Concord (4/19/1775, my birthday) and my ego light bulb went off and I thought “Aha!!! My video games have brought me a point of extra credit!!!

Sometimes I am not the most thorough person.

I memorize facts by trying to use them
in outside-of-class situations instead
of just memorizing them for a test.

I am pretty good with speaking up in class,
though sometimes I do ask pretty dumb questions.

I think the trimester went pretty well,
though in the middle I kind of got lazy.

Sometimes I have trouble
paying attention to what
others are saying.

It is still a developing skill for me to take other perspectives, since I usually stay grounded in my own strong opinion and it is hard to get out.

It was really fun,
because when you know the facts,
you can ask a lot more questions,
and you are able to debate the truth.

I think it’s hard to have an opinion without evidence, and that’s why I have a lot of screenshots of conversations in my phone.

One last thing.
I recently realized
how amazing my
NASA poster is.
I mean
just look at it.

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Every November, as our first trimester draws to a close, I ask my students to write reflections on how the trimester went for them. I have some broad prompts like, “Describe your strengths in social studies,” and “Describe at least one specific skill you want to work on next trimester,” followed by a section where students rate themselves on various skills (reading, discussion, writing, using evidence, etc.). Finally, they give themselves a letter grade and explain why they think they’ve earned it. It’s the culminating assignment of the trimester, and I depend heavily on it while writing narrative reports and making decisions about borderline grades.

I love reading these reflections because most students take them very seriously and I learn a lot about them, their goals, and their perceptions of their strengths and weaknesses. This, in turn, provides me with a lens to consider how well I have communicated the goals and skills required for the class. I am most successful when my students’ self-evaluations are congruent with my own perceptions.

On February 7, 2014, the 8th grade at my school completed their first two week “Winterupt” experience. We pushed hard for the opportunity to do this—basically taking two weeks off from regular classes to do school differently (and better!). It has been a ton of work over the last year, but thanks to my incredible colleagues, we pulled it off successfully. (Despite school closures throwing all our plans into disarray.)

During the first week students were immersed in their foreign language. (I don’t have any media here to illustrate that week yet because while they were doing that, I was with the design thinking team madly working out our plans for the second week. I’m hoping to dig something up from the language team.) During the second week, students engaged in a design thinking challenge where they re-imagined the playground space outside the middle school. The short movie below was thrown together by a colleague from some photos during the first few days of the project. The slide show includes a picture of each model (built from start to finish in two days!) along with the team’s mission statement.

The design process:

The final models/prototypes:

Overheard a snippet from a student passing in the hall yesterday, said with gusto:

That was like the BEST flow of words ever!

I often work late at school and my desk is somewhat out of sight so I sometimes overhear students talking about things Not Meant for Teacher Ears. Usually this merely piques my anthropological interest. Occasionally, however, I overhear something that requires intervention. Or not. Consider a recent incident:

My grading trance is interrupted by an unknown boy saying sarcastically to another, “Your hair looks like Ethiopia!” Sigh… I’m not sure what this means, but it can’t be good — somewhere on the spectrum from ignorantly inappropriate to overtly racist. The student repeats it, louder, “Seriously, your hair looks like ETHIOPIA!” The other student makes an unintelligible, but baffled-sounding response, while I get up and head to the commons with my stern face. As I round the bend, he repeats it a third time, “Your hair really looks like Ethiopia…” I’m surprised to see a seventh grader who didn’t strike me as the type to say this sort of thing — he’s a sophisticated, culturally sensitive boy. I open my mouth, preparing to Summon him to a Conversation, when he continues, “…see, it’s kinda round here and has a thing sticking out on the right, just like we learned in geography!” I close my mouth and they walk onward, discussing the shape of Ethiopia and other nearby countries.

It has been a great first week so far!  As I walk to and from school every day, I have time to really think about what I appreciate.  Here’s a partial list in no particular order:

• Walking to work every day (it’s about a mile, so not too far, but it lets me get my head on straight)
• Seven days of paid orientation, department meetings, and planning time before the first day of classes
• A week-long professional development conference for all new faculty about classroom management and how to run a fabulous advisory program
• Block schedule (fewer, longer classes)
• Recess and snack every day for all middle-schoolers!
• First day middle-school assembly was filled with laughter
• Canoeing down the Mississippi with the eighth grade on the third day of school!
• Conferences with advisees and their families on the fourth day of school
• I have only received two things in my physical mailbox since I started… everything else is handled via e-mail and various on-line tools.
• Delicious, healthy food at the cafeteria every day (for students and faculty)
• First faculty meeting had only one item on the agenda: discussing specific, individualized strategies for helping students who struggled last year get off to a good start
• Twice-monthly meetings with my principal already scheduled from now until May
• Did I mention recess and snack??!?!