Home to the Eighth Grade

After four years of enjoying teaching seventh grade, I had the opportunity to return to eighth grade, but I would have to switch from C track to A track. I was very happy teaching seventh grade, but I couldn't resist going back to eighth grade for two reasons.

The first and most important reason, was that Cindy taught at a school that was also on a year-round calendar and she was switching to the A track also. This meant we would have five week breaks in December and June. I couldn't resist.

The other reason was that I would get to teach on the same team as my friend Dave, whom I had coached with for several years. I was really looking forward to it. His rapport with students and his sense of humor held lots of appeal.

Three of my students from seventh grade also switched tracks, partly because they knew I would be there, too. We would also be team-teaching social studies, which meant I would get to teach American History, always one of my favorite subjects as a student. I was really looking forward to teaching it.

I soon discovered that my personality and humor were better suited to the eighth grade than they had been in seventh grade. Occasionally, my attempts at humor in the seventh grade were met by tears instead of laughter. Eighth graders had a little more maturity and didn't take everything so literally. They could be kidded and still be productive without always having to worry if their feelings were being hurt. I never hurt students feelings intentionally, but with eighth graders I didn't feel like I was walking on eggshells all the time. I remained an eighth grade teacher for the last eleven years of my career.

Eighth graders taught me that my true educational home was with them. We were all better suited for each other. It was good to be home again.