Lunch should classify as a class. Or, anyway, my lunch. I am lucky enough to be part of a lunch table at which, I learn at least as much as in any of my other classes.

Reasons Why My Lunch Table is AWESOME

-It is THE most diverse table in the cafeteria

-It is a strange group of people

-The people there are obsessed with manga and anime

-They are obsessed with food

-And many other reasons

The People at My Table

(named by the Hettalia (anime series) Character that we have taken on (I'm Canada!))

England- A slightly awkward girl obsessed with Wisconsin who is constantly filling notebooks with fan fiction and other writing. We have become very good friends this year.

America- Ironic since she is the only one who is NOT an American citizen. She moved from Pakistan in 3rd grade and talks about how her parents moved here for her and how she wants to make them feel that it was worth it. But she struggles to relate her life to her parents since it is such a different world. She is totally out there and ridiculous and hilarious and more than that, a very interesting person.

France-Born in Haiti, she shares much of 'America's' immigrant anxieties but is much more closed than 'America'

Japan- A hispanic girl who sketches incredible anime characters. Always a light and funny presence. She has invited 'America' to travel with her family to El Salvador this summer.

Spain- Another hispanic girl who is gearing up for her Quinceañera even though it is still a year and a half away. She has told us all that she is inviting us and selected 'America' as one of her special guests. 

Germany- She was born in Germany and lived there for a few years but no one seems to know that. She stays at our table because it is the place she feels she fits in best. 

At our lunch table, we constantly joke about why we ended up there: that we don't fit in with any of the OTHER groups. I wouldn't have it any other way. Every day I learn something about a different culture or different life and have wonderful friends to discuss all this new knowledge with. I don't know why I felt like blogging this. I suppose I just wanted to give three cheers to my table. So: hip-hip hooray for the type of diversity schools constantly lecture about!

I know, it's been FOREVER! What can I say, I've been busy.
Not with school, but other things. Anyway, a lot has been going on. Last week, a private security company in gray suits and shiny, bald, heads showed up at our school without a word. Apparently, our superintendent has hired an entire Private Security company to make sure that students aren't hurting themselves or getting pregnant on the THIRD FLOOR. This is the floor that they evacuated when they split the school in half two years ago. There are some offices and some used classrooms up there and ow some really tall guys with bald heads, but besides from that...

Last year I wrote a story about how one of my classes defeated zombies on the third floor. Somehow, the fact that I had written it and the basic story line circulated throughout a quarter of the 8th of grade. Now it's an inside joke. I am planning on writing a sequel. "The Real Story: How the Zombies became Private Security Guards and Why." 

Wow! It's already almost the end of the quarter! We get report cards this week. We are reading The Wave in Language Arts right now. It is based on the true story of a school in California. There was a teacher who decided to create a social experiment to show his skeptical students how people can fall easily into a movement like the Nazi Party. However, things end up getting carried away. It's interesting. I mean, the way it relates to our school and how my peers think it relates to our school. Most are uninterested and probably won't read the book. Some will read the book, but think of it as some other world. Isn't that ironic, seeing as the book is about kids who don't see connections between past and present. Of course, there are some that will see those connections. They are the ones that keep me sane. It drives me nuts how closed off middle-schoolers are and how hard it is to get us to focus and take anything seriously. It isn't that middle-schoolers can't. Find an excited, engaging teacher to talk to kids about their lives and other's and people will pay attention. Maybe not all the time, but at least for a while. And that's better than letting kids live in their own little bubble of middle-school drama.

On the cover of my friend's binder is a family tree. This is no ordinary family tree. She is at the top of the tree and five branches come down from her. One of her daughters, according to the family tree, has five wives. Yes, wives. And she's not the only one. Polygamy, gay marriage, missing fathers, adopted kids, and transgenders are all on are tree. 'The Family' as members call it, is constantly growing. It is interesting that, in a setting that is one of the most unforgiving places in our society, this imaginary family is so incredibly creative. As for me, I'm the family elf.

One Month Into the School Year

Interims are already about to come out. However, in other ways, the school barely seems to be in session. We still haven't had our first PACE class; an International Baccalaureate Program introduction/remediation time period that we were supposed to have beginning with the first week of school. For the most part, I like my classes and my teachers. But I'm a whole lot more forgiving than most of my classmates.

Science

My teacher is a soft-spoken woman from the Dominican Republic. This year we are studying introductory chemistry and introductory physics. Part of science class every year is the science fair. For over a year, many of the science teachers have been vying for virtual science boards and this year they have finally succeeded. 

P.E.

This is the only class that I know I'm going to have a field trip for. In fact, we will have at least three field trips. I know, kind of strange, right? Field trips for P.E.? Hey! I'll take it.

Geometry

I am in the a class known to my peers as 'Super-TAG'. This means I am taking math two years above my grade level. As you can imagine, there is a relatively small group of people who take this class. In 6th grade, we were all in the same math class and became good friends. Last year, with the splitting of the schools, no one saw each other. This year, we are all back together again because they decided it didn't make sense to have two geometry classes. So, it's a little awkward, catching up on everything that went on in the past year, but almost everyone is very happy. It's kind of like a family reunion.

Language Arts

This curriculum was completely redone over the summer, apparently. Currently, we are reading Lord of the Flies, which every eighth grader has read for, probably, ever. Now, instead of having 'over-arcing themes', we have 'essential questions' and 'learning communities'.

Social Studies

My social studies teacher has a voice that drones like the buzzing of a fly, and lures you to sleep. He is a former cop who is easily distracted into telling 'cop stories' and having long discussions about things completely unrelated to civics. As for the actual curriculum, he shies away from anything even touching on controversy. I think I scare him. I brought up Sharia Law on the first day of class.

Engineering Technology/Woodworking/Nobody Even Knows

I signed up for Engineering Technonogy. Not Woodworking. But one of the engineering technology/woodworking was either fired or 'asked to leave' last year, so now we have one part-time teacher who is supposedly creating the curriculum for my combined class engineering technology/woodworking. (How those were thought of as the same thing, I have no clue.) But he isn't even teh one teaching us. We have a substitute who will be here for the first quarter only. Then, we will get another substitute. I really like the substitute but I spent the first two weeks learning how to measure an inch. However, maybe that was needed because it was truly impressive how many of the kids couldn't name the 1/2 inch marker and started measuring on the 1''.

German

Deutschklasse ist echt toll!!! German is really fun. This is my third combined class; the two 8th grade German classes have been condensed into one, so I get to see a lot of my friends. I also really like my teacher.

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Tomorrow is officially the last day of school before summer vacation. There is no real point in going. They actually made an announcement at the end of the day telling students that they were not to bring their backpacks to school. But it's still worth it. Tomorrow there will be finality in the air, the last hugs before summer, the year-book signings. You miss that if you don't show up.

On Friday, all of the 7th graders at my school unloaded out front waiting for three charter buses to come and take us to The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The first two buses came fifteen minutes late, the third bus came an hour and a half late. The driver was a short guy with wild white hair and a classic hat. We wondered how he managed to become a driver after he ran over several curves and kept crossing the highway lines.

We watched Avatar on the little screens above our heads. Or should I say half-watched. We also talked, texted, listened to i-pods and photographed everything on tiny cell phone cameras.

Almost three hours later we all piled out in front of the museum. It is an incredibly well thought out and fun place. We walked through a giant diorama of a heart and looked at the sun through a telescope as tall as myself. We managed to make our way through all four floors by the time the buses pulled up outside. We discovered, as we got on the bus, that the toilet had backed up. The smell stuck all the way home. We arrived back an hour and a half later than expected. In middle school, nothing runs on time. Come to think of it; what ever runs on time? Overall, however, it was quite a fun experience. Even if we hadn't made it to the museum, the bus rides with the rough-housing, prank texts (we got my friend good) and running over curves would be just as memorable.

I might as well have not gone to school on Thursday. I had a doctor's appointment, so I missed the first hour-and-a-half of the school day, so I missed drama; the only class I would've done anything in all day. After first period, we were supposed to go to 8th period (the schedule has been completely messed with because of SOL testing). So, I went to 8th period. I had forgotten 8th period was the testing period for Math 7 and pre-algebra. But not for algebra.

There are nine 7th graders in Algebra. We were told to go to our math class. There was a substitute teacher there, but no lesson plans, nothing. We talked, played cards, made snow-cones, talked some more... Finally, we moved to our next class. Gym. There weren't enough kids finished testing to dress out, so we sat in the bleachers and talked some more. We had lunch. Then we went to PACE, a forty-five minute period where we are technically supposed to be reading, but no one does. We talked some more.

Finally, we got to the last period of the day. Math. We thought we would do a practice SOL or math review. It turns out, the 8th graders had an SOL. Our class is comprised of nine 7th graders (including me) and sixteen 8th graders. Technically, our teacher is an 8th grade teacher, so she had to take the 8th graders up to the third floor to be their test monitor. That left us 7th graders for another two-and-a-half hours to kill off. Only, this time, we didn't have a substitute teacher so a hall monitor stood just outside our classroom all period. How did we kill off the time? We talked, played cards, drew on the whiteboard, talked some more...

What I Learned on Thursday

-The latest gossip

-How to work a snow-cone machine

-As much as administrators like to lecture about time; 

It's not about the amount of time you have, but how you use it.

SOL

Standards of Learning

The tests that decide what kind of a learning experience we receive the next year. If we do well, the school is allowed to have fun, the teachers are allowed to make their own lesson plans. If we don't, then the reformers come. The think of more 'creative' ways to get kids to pass their SOL's.

Student's Definition of 'Creative Learning'

Games, going outdoors, field trips, labs, meaningful creative projects, edible projects, songs...

Reformer's Definition of 'Creative Learning'

Worksheets, reading practice, slogans, campaigns with cheesy titles, encouraging posters, flashcards, cutting and pasting little definitions next to pictures, outlines...

Today, to get us pumped for SOL's, we had our annual SOL pep rally. It began with face-painted, flag bedecked students spilling into the gym to our jazz band (really good jazz band) playing 

'tonight's going to be a good night, tonight's gonna be a good, good, night..." Everyone sand along.

Then, one of our drama teacher's took the microphone. Our choir sang the national anthem, but the mics weren't working, so we watched them instead of hearing them. Then the two cheer-leading teams came out. They were obviously not very well thought out as a public image; one was entirely made up of whites, and the other entirely made up of blacks. It's not like nobody noticed, either. 

There was a competition with an obstacle course and SOL questions, and a tug-o-war championship. Overall, the entire thing was a bit lame. Oh, and, of course the two SOL teams ended up tying. Of course. 

The SOL's aren't a big deal for students like me. We don't even really study. But for some students, the SOL's are a big deal. These students sometimes know the exact same amount as I do. The difference is: I naturally process information; for some people it's much harder. 

My language arts teacher has devoted her class periods to test-taking skills instead of language arts review. Many kids have found it useful, though they would never fully admit it. 

So, what do you do as a teacher? You have a student who doesn't process information very well. Do you try to use creative teaching techniques to teach this student the key information, or do you teach this student from the text book in hope that they will do well on the SOL's? 

Or say you have a student who knows a lot about history. That student knows every leader of the suffragette movement, and every battle of World War II. Are you supposed to narrow that student's knowledge? Just for the SOL's? And who is to say that Susan B. Anthony is more important than Elizabeth Cady Stanton? 

"Don't think outside the box," my language arts teacher tells us. "Think inside the lines when you take the SOL's."

The bible-guy was out side of our school yesterday. He stands just outside the school boundaries and hands out pocket-size orange vinyl bibles. He only visits once or twice a year. My family has accumulated quite a collection through my brother's middle school years and mine.

A Profile

Tall girl, small voice. 

Middle-eastern, dark eyes, a tangle of black hair.

Never wears gym shorts, only sweatpants.

She used to down-cast her eyes 

and press her lips together

when they teased her.

Now she flails out her hand

and smiles confusedly,

uncertain.

For the past few days, my social studies class has procrastinated doing worksheets by sucking our teacher into conversations. And I am sure I am learning more from these conversations than any worksheet in the world.

We are learning about the civil rights movement right now. Our teacher began by asking us, a predominantly white honors class, how we would feel during this time period as a black...and as a white. Everyone cringed. We'd feel awkward, we said, guilty, uncomfortable. She asked us; what if we were raised that way? No one could answer.

She showed us a black-and-white picture of two schools. One was small with a group of black school children out front. The other was large and had well-kept lawns. We looked at the first one. Tell me what this is, she said. It's an old black school, someone yelled out. We talked about it awhile. We looked at the other one. And that's an old white school, someone else yelled. "How do you know?" Our teacher said, "There's no sign, no white children..."

"Well, we assumed..."We all started. We assumed.

For these past two days, that has been the basis for our conversations. We assume. But usually the assumptions we named were ones that we assumed others assumed about us.

Things That We Think Others Assume About Us

-That whites are rich, in all honors, and kind of snotty

-That blacks are rude

-That if your in an honors class (especially if you're black), you're a nerd

-That only blacks have problems at home

-All blacks are 'ghetto'

"Ghetto?" Our teacher asked, "Define 'ghetto'". No one said it was coming from a certain place or a background. Everything that was said was about appearance and actions. So different from the original use of the word.

"Wearing your pants on the ground." Someone said. 

"I wear my pants on the ground," a boy pointed out, "and I'm white."

"Drinking Kool-Aid," someone else yelled. 

"White kids can't drink Kool-Aid?" Our teacher laughed. We all laughed at the absurdity of it. There wasn't really a difference. And yet, if one of the white boys went up to someone and said "Yo, wasup homie", they'd automatically be told, "You're way too white." 

Even the vocabulary, though, is not all that different. Beast, cool, legit, sweet, 'sup...everyone uses them; blacks, whites, and hispanics.

As for whites being rich and snotty; yes, most of the whites at our school are from families with larger incomes, but it isn't as if anyone is proud of it. At one point the student who was talking about that very stereotype named a street with very large houses on it. Another kid, who lives on that street hid under the table. Money is not flaunted at our school.

And here's the other interesting thing. We all assume others assume things about us, but no one said they actually assume something about other people. 

So, do we assume and just aren't telling, or are we assuming without even realizing it? Or are we stuck in a tangle of imaginary assumptions of other people's assumptions? 

But isn't incredible we can all talk about it?

A Highly Interesting Event

A boy wore a skirt to the cafeteria this morning.

In fact, it was one of my friend's skirts. He wore it purely for the attention. And he got it. Almost everyone in the cafeteria has a picture of him on their cell phone, camera, video camera...

Unfortunately, they made him change. I can't see why. The skirt was past his fingertips.

A Middle School Hallway

Full of shouting.

Arms and legs, books and pens, strewn around, bouncing off walls.

Lockers slamming.

Gaggles of tweens.

"Get to your class! Get to your class!"

We just finished Leonardo DiCaprio's version of Romeo and Juliet in drama. Perhaps, however, the more interesting show was the response of the viewers. There is a dread of Shakespeare at school. I think that if that dread was not present, students would even learn to enjoy Shakespeare. If taught well, of course.

Back to Romeo and Juliet; it took a while for it's audience to get over the long lines and odd composition of the movie, in general. It is hard to follow, at first. They were appalled at how quickly everyone drew their guns, and one student asked confusedly "Why are all the words weird?" It took her a while to understand the meaning of a modern adaptation. And then there was the question of "why do they keep talking to themselves? Can't they hear each other?" Welcome to Shakespeare, middle-schoolers.

Most of all though, they laughed.

How They Laughed

At tears, at laughter, at romance, and cruelty.

With anxiety, with embarrassment, with pure joy.

And though they laughed, as Romeo uncapped his poison and brought it to his lips, the entire room broke out with shocked and breathless 'oh my god's, and "No! Don't do it!" Even though we all knew he was.

 

The "popular" group in middle schools are often portrayed as being a gaggle of rich/snotty girls and football jocks. At my school, that isn't the case at all.

There are only a few girls who are full of themselves and exclusive, but it is common knowledge that that is just the way they are. They wander around the cafeteria at lunch, spreading news and lamenting lost boyfriends (it seems as if there are always lost boyfriends), social studies homework...there is always something to complain about. Some at your table will look up and say "Oh, boy. Here comes___." Then ___will slide onto one of the plastic seats and, eyes shining and cheeks flushed, start relaying.

The boys, on the other hand, are anything but football jocks. The boys tend to be athletic, easy-going, and very adept at sexual innuendos. 

And yet, here I get to the phenomenon; there are so many people who are in the inner circles of middle school society who don't fit the norm. Some are extremely immature, others have a strange sense of humor, and others, still, are just quirky.

So, why are these kids in the inner circles? It has to do with the way the school system is set up. There are several elementary schools that feed into my middle school. Depending on where the school is, it's going to have different demographic percentages. In each middle school, groups are already distinguished, and kids are determined as insiders or outsiders. When these groups transfer to middle school, the groups stay fairly intact. They may grow larger, shrink, or merge with other groups, but the kids who are determined as insiders stay in, and those who are outsiders stay out.

I come from an elementary school with only a few kids who are in honors classes- the students in my classes. The few of us who are spent most of 6th grade floating from group to group. Some of my friends have found anchors in one group or another. I'm still looking. My closest friends at school are all in different friend groups, and don't necessarily hang out with each other.

You Would be an Insider if...

• You have a sense of humor that is open-minded and an easy-going laugh

Humor is the largest determinant of insiderdom vs. outsiderdom. Even if you are bossy, you're sense of humor could save you. Middle-schoolers love to laugh. At everyone, everything, every detail. Jokes are half of a middle-schooler's conversation.

The Most Often Remembered Part of Middle School

Health

We are back to the health room for diagrams of reproductive organs and lectures on the importance of self-esteem. My teacher talks as little as possible. Mostly, we watch videos. All of the videos are from a series called Degrassi Junior High. Actually, there quite good. And they're Canadian, so they're even better. And they're twenty years old. 

 

For some reason, many people envision health rooms as being full of shy kids who are afraid to speak up from embarrassment. They have obviously not stepped foot in my health classroom. Several kids are so talkative they have to be suppressed. Also, the Internet has not made teaching any easier. It is so overloaded with information, most of health is correcting information, not teaching it.  

 

Health doesn't stay in the health room. If you walked the halls with a tape recorder, you would pick up many conversations about health subjects. Maybe not with terms like 'self-esteem' or 'abstinence', but the general ideas. Students talk very openly with one another, which is important. However, health class information is also used to insult, make others uncomfortable, or to shout out about in the middle of a test. 

It seems, though, that at least the class makes an impact on it's students, which about as good as it can get, right?

"What if they came in here?"

"Well, we could blockade the door with the desks..."

"Or we could just bust through the window."

"If it happens, of course."

It didn't happen. Despite the rumors and the jokes, yesterday was just another day. Besides from the fact that nine hundred and thirty four students didn't show up to T.C. Williams. Or the fact that yesterday was the anniversary of Columbine.

It all began when a few high school students began spreading rumors that they were going to recreate Columbine at T.C. This led to searches, suspensions, and even more rumors. As you can imagine, students reacted differently. Some students laughed at it, like a joke. Some took it very seriously. So seriously, they didn't come to school.

Of course, what happens at T.C. trickles down into the middle schools. Rumors flew there, too. Kids began discussing what would happen if a shooter really did come into the school (completely forgetting that, even if there was an actual plot, T.C. was the only target). They joked about it and added gory details and then stopped abruptly with an expression of "What if this really did happen? In fact, it has happened. What if?"

The school sent out talking points to all of the teachers so that they could talk to their students. That meant that anyone who hadn't known before, now knew.

Nine hundred and thirty four students stayed home from T.C. Williams yesterday.

It was just another day.