Although I’m in high school now, I’ll still be catching up on a couple of middle school posts.
It felt appropriate to close my time in middle school on Halloween. I always loved celebrating holidays in school, because everyone spent the day sugared up and in a good mood, and we didn’t get any work done in class. This week, on top of that, parent-teacher conferences had shortened Friday’s classes to 30 minutes each.
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November 3, 2008 Middle School, Remember This? 0 Read more >
I’ve completed middle school and begin high school tomorrow. Yes, I’m flying through!
This weekend I seem to have set a new record for posting. Of course, there are still a bunch of posts I’d like to write, including ones about the following:
– Seeing kids react to being graded, and remembering how much it affected me
– Trick-or-Treating on Halloween for the first time in 14 years
– How little of the material I remember from a lot of the middle school classes, and how little most adults would remember
I’ll do my best to write about these sometime this week.
November 3, 2008 About the Project, High School 2 Read more >
Here are some middle school memories you may not have thought about in a while. Do you remember….
1) Being asked out by the friends of a kid in your class?
During lunch last week, a 7th grade boy approached me on the blacktop.
Boy: Ben wants to know if you’ll go out with him.
Me: Does Ben know that I’m 16 years older than he is?
Boy: Yeah. So will you go out with him?
Me: Well, since I don’t know him, I guess I can’t go out with him.
November 3, 2008 Middle School, School Memories 0 Read more >
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November 3, 2008 Middle School, Remember This? 0 Read more >
The use of technology at Altimira is one of the biggest changes I noticed upon return. In math class, I couldn’t get over the digital overhead projectors, which display 3-D color images. I’m not sure how they work, I kept staring in wonder at the image of the teacher’s hands in full color, instead of shadow. In music class, instead of using LPs, cassette tapes, or even CDs, today’s teachers have thousands of songs at their fingertips with iTunes.
November 3, 2008 Middle School, School Memories 0 Read more >
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November 2, 2008 Middle School, Remember This? 0 Read more >
A weekly pilgrimage to the library with my mom and sister was one of the staples of my childhood. I’d sit on the yellow carpet and pull books off the shelf one by one, putting into my book bag the ones that piqued my interest. The novelty of nearly unlimited, free books never wore off, and it hasn’t to this day. My mom always said that she “felt rich” coming home with a bag full of library books.
Sixth-grade outdoor education stands as one of my all-time best school experiences. Visiting Mendocino Woodlands, which is located about three hours north of Sonoma, was my first meaningful connection with nature, and with my peers. Singing around a campfire and nervously hiking in dark woods together bonded us in a way that no activity on campus could. We went in October 1991 — 17 years ago exactly — shortly after starting middle school, and the trip set a positive tone for the rest of the year. I recorded in my journal that my classmates and I had named our small group “The Poisonous Flying Raccoons” (see reference below) and they had nicknamed me “Bob.” Don’t ask me why, but I liked it. I penciled in my slanting cursive about Outdoor Ed, “I wish it would never end.” As a senior in high school, I still remembered the week vividly and wrote the following poem about it.
October 30, 2008 Middle School, School Memories 3 Read more >
I set out in the beginning of the project to sort through the stacks of keepsakes. I’ve tended to romanticize the past and get very attached to people and experiences, and I’ve kept almost every piece of memorabilia possible: movie tickets, school projects, and letters. They fill whole boxes and drawers. I’ve kept a journal on and off since I was about ten, so collectively they take up half a bookshelf.
I’ve finally decided that having hung on to everything has held me back from moving forward, and it’s time to let go of “the good old days.” I’ve been so busy gathering new experiences at school that I haven’t devoted time to processing the past, but I’m realizing how important and urgent this is. I keep meeting resistance from myself as I strive to move forward, and my instincts say that I’ll be able to bring fresh experiences into my life more easily once I clear out the old. Over the next few days, I’ll post snippets of writing, some old photos and other keepsakes, and reflections on what I’m remembering.
October 30, 2008 About the Project, Personal Development 1 Read more >