The life of a sixth grader

Everyone remembers being in sixth grade, middle school, the beginning of the most awkward, hormonal years of your life; the tweens. Now, I get to live it again, everyday. Although this time, I'm teaching these kids. Over the past 7 months I have witnessed many tears over boys, girl drama, dramatic break downs in class, a student being in a perfectly good mood before lunch and when he gets back its like a flipped switch, and the constant wearing of perfume, cologne, and way too much lipstick. There is one thing I have realized throughout all of this: this stage? It's completely universal. Here are just a couple examples of what I mean...


1) There was about a week in December where I had about 7 of my students cry over the course of a week due to the opposite sex. 4 girls were upset because a boy in class was teasing her about a crush she had and was embarrassed the whole class knew about it. 3 boys were upset because their alleged girl crush found out he liked her and did not return his feelings. Oh boy.
      "Ms...I can't go back in class and see him...I just can't"
      "Ms...why doesn't she like me?

2) Cologne and perfume can go a long way, but in the eyes of a sixth grader? It goes way...too... far. I cannot even begin to count the number of days I have walked into class or stood right next to a student without my eyes tearing up or throat closing because of the smell of wayyyy too much cologne/perfume. I will occasionally catch on of my sixth grade girls holding a mirror in the middle of a lesson and applying makeup/lipstick. As I am rolling my eyes in my mind, I walk over to her, hold my hand out and as they place said mirror/makeup/lipstick in my hand I whisper to them "you're beautiful just the way you are". And yes, I really do say that to them. Now they forget this very quickly because immediately after the lesson they come up to my desk and beg me to give them back their materials. I don't..until the end of the day when they're going home. HA.

3) There was a day when a group of best friends (3 to be exact) were all the sudden super mad at each other during my math lesson. I'm teaching how to multiply decimals and I see the three girls hunched over their desks, crying. I have no idea what's going on so I keep on teaching, knowing I'll talk to them after class. A student precedes to raise his hand and tells me "Ms. they got in a fight and now they're crying". Oh okay, here we go. I finish my explanation then give the class some problems to work on while I took the girls outside. They tell me they were fighting about how one girl didn't let her use another girls newly colored pen and the other girl wasn't on her side. You've got to be kidding me? All that over a colored pen!? Seriously, tween girl drama is no joke. Goodness.

4) I tried to take a picture of my class during Fiesta Tipica (a Honduran festival, which I will blog about later) in their costumes. I get out my camera and half the girls are "Ms. NOO I look so bad, Ms. nooooo please." I tell them they all look great, but no, that wasn't enough. They are "too cool for school" to take a picture all together in their typical Honduran outfits. Sigh.


If one thing is for sure after a year of teaching tweens....no two days are the same. I never know what I am walking into. Teaching middle school is a whole new level of teaching.

Halfway there

 It's hard to believe I have only been here six months and I only have five more months to go. There is something that comes with living in a different country for a year that is very hard to explain unless you do it yourself. Today was the first day in about two weeks where it was sunny and warm and not rainy and cold. Let me tell you, it felt so incredibly good to feel the sun. My friend Shelby and I decided to go on a spontaneous hike/walk around the town and we eventually made it up to the La Union tower, where I took this picture. Nothing beats it. Just look at that view. The fact I only have about five months of this is crazy. Up here-looking out over La Union-I can do nothing else but thank God He as brought me here for my first year after graduating college. He knew how this experience would change me--and I will be forever grateful.