I. Am. So. Sick. Of. The. Girl. Drama.
To the point where if one more whiny seventh grade girl comes up to me and says she needs to have a schedule change because so and so is talking mean about her, I'm going to completely lose it and it won't be pretty. I am not alone. The whole team is fed up with the drama and the whining and the fussing and the "she said, she said, she said," crap. Even Coach Math has had enough. We're about ready to pull a team Come to Jesus meeting and basically slap them upside with reality.
As someone who came to education after 15 years in the corporate world - 15 years spent working, at times, with complete idiots that I didn't particularly like or enjoy working with but I sucked it up because it was my JOB - it drives me nuts when a kid comes up and asks for a seat change or a schedule change because "I don't get along with so and so."
Suck it up and deal with it kiddo. You're going to go through life having to deal with people you don't like so get used to it now.
(Disclaimer: When it's a real case of bullying, we take care of it and take care of it fast. What we have here is just a simple case of a bunch of kids sniping and whining and being snotty to each other. I will not write a kid up for bullying who simply tells another girl that she doesn't like her outfit.)
They hate my answer by the way. The expect their teachers to simply rearrange the seating chart to accommodate their wishes. It kills them when they realize that my world doesn't revolve around them.
So, this past week, we've had the Girl Drama thing going on, which includes a formerly sweet girl who's now become the Mean Girl, who talked trash about Hyperventilating Girl who, apparently broke up with her boyfriend (good riddance I say) and when Mean Girl started being a bitch to her at lunch, hyperventilated and almost fainted at lunch. So of course, now Hyperventilating Girl doesn't want to come to fifth period even though Mean Girl is All The Way Across The Freaking Classroom from her. (I got an email from Guidance Mom asking to move Mean Girl away from Hyperventilating Girl. I responded that if I moved them any further away, one of them would be in her office and the other outside. Apparently the two girls made it sound like they were lab partners - NOT!)
And then Quiet Girl's Mother came down and requested a class change because - Guess Who?!?!? - was being mean to her and she didn't want to come to school because she was sick of dealing with it all. The fact that we've never even seen these two talk, they don't sit near each other, and Quiet Girl never said boo to us was par for the course. Hell, we didn't even know they even really knew who each other was. The class change happened and now the floodgates have opened. Every whiner on the team is now wanting to rush to guidance to get their schedule changed because after all, Quiet Girl did.
Mean Girl, in the meantime, is batting her eyelashes, proclaiming her innocence, and then running up to Ms. Language and Miss Reading (she knows better than to suck up to Mrs. Social Studies and me) tattling about Hyperventilating Girl and everyone else she can think of. I might add that Mean Girl, like most students, think of teachers as furniture so she doesn't realize how often I, and her other teachers, actually hear her snotty comments. I circulate through the room all the time (which is why my chair looks new - I rarely sit in it) and they'll all just carry on like I'm not there at times. Amazing what gossip you can pick up.
And then there's the whole lunchroom drama about someone taking a Capri Sun drink and squeezing it, and getting a few other someones wet with it and Now We All Want Class Changes Because We Don't Want To Be With Those People.
Oh dear Lord, if I don't go postal on these kids before the week is out, it will be a miracle.
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11 comments:
I know what you mean. I teach fifth grade and I get the same girl drama. Sometimes I even get parents telling me their kids can't sit by so and so because she is saying this and that. There really is no telling them to suck it up though...
Your 7th graders sound like my 8th graders. There is SO. MUCH. DRAMA.
How do you deal with it? I've become queen of the stinkeye, but that only squishes so much.
On the plus side, my 7th graders this year are awesomeness incarnate. They give me hope for the future - even though I just got my RIF notice last week. (My 7th graders USUALLY have 100% homework completion! Without nagging!)
Ugh, I hate that mess! They start it early too - I'm so sick of the tattling! I tell mine if they're not bleeding, I don't want to hear about it. They have to work it out themselves. Doesn't seem to stop them though!
I hear you! We have the same problems with many of our girls on a daily basis. The boys are easier to deal with- they just thump each other then forget about it and move on.
I like your comment about working with idiots and having to put up with it. I tell the kids the same thing that life is not going to get any better and they need figure out how to deal with the idiots. I find writing to be a good outlet.
This must be universal!! I've also come to know it as The Curse of Third Quarter, in these parts. There is soooo much drama and some of it is pretty serious around here. There were 4, count 'em, 4 fights yesterday!! 4!! And there are so many tears and girls in clusters whispering about so and so and and she said and they said and blah blah blah that I'm about to put them all together and make them hold hands and sing "Kumbaya!!"
I live this every day, too. Middle schoolers are, indeed, special! (and special isn't always a good thing!)
BTW: I shared your blog with my staff- I think they'll enjoy, and identify with, it.
I started to glaze over about halfway through this post. That's what middle school girl drama does to me! After a few sentences, I can't keep up. Or I don't care. Or something. I suppose that's why I never know the juicy stuff about my students.
At least you don't have kids that hate each other that you teach for half the day.
If I have to hear 'boy/girl shut your mouth' one more time, you'll be reading about me as the teacher that is in jail after strangling a couple dozen middle schoolers...
Lots of parents seem to think that changing their child's seat will fix everything. It goes along with the "it couldn't be my child's fault so it must be that other evil kid who is a bad influence" syndrome. Also, I am supposed to put every kid in the front row, according to the parents. Unfortunately not every seat in my room is IN the front row.
Unfortunately not enough Parents support the "deal with it" philosophy. Those kids will never "deal with it". By the same token, some parents wish they had more support from their school system when they are the ones telling their own children to "deal with it".
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