Several of my girls are going through what I call "seventh grade initiation." This process begins with a small fight, escalates to tears, and ends with a complete reworking of social hierarchies. Unfortunately, we seem stuck in the "tears" section without an end in sight. I have had three separate incidents with girls either rushing in to the room in tears (from something said during break) or rushing out in tears (from a "look" given during class). All in all, it's almost as painful to watch as it was for me to experience myself in middle school. The worst part of it all is how little I can really prevent what goes on: It's as if middle school is the stomping ground for the characters of young women--survive and thrive or collapse in a puddle of tears. Recently, I've started sharing more of my middle school experience during our writer's workshop in hopes that, if they realize that I went through it as well, seventh grade won't seem so bad. Of course, one of my favorite parts of today was the girl who sighed through her tears and said "It's alright Miss S; I still like A____ ; she just needs to grow up a little." It's the moments of maturity that start coming through that make surviving these trials (and any others) worth the angst.
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