Learning is reciprocal

Middle School Mindset 3: We actually learn from them.  When I asked advocates to capture ‘the spirit of middle school educators,” what I found is that we learn much from them. It is this passion for working with this age group that allows us to expand our own world view, our own compassion for equity and inclusion, and our own craft as teachers. There is no doubt that working with young adolescents is challenging. When I asked advocates to share their thoughts about middle school children, their teachers and staff… the magic of it. … why it matters, I found many comments related to how much we, as teachers, learn from our students. It is this magical gift that by working with this age group, those of us who see them as growing and developing, are committed to helping them “become.” Perhaps we too are becoming?

I watched unconditional kindness from a student who helped another student when her books were inadvertently flying across the floor as a result of a different random act. The kind spirits of our students who deliver compassion to a new student provides us with a reminder that insecurities, loneliness, and caring for one another is one act away.