So Long, Farewell!

Today was the last half day of school!

It's fair to say that the seventh grade teachers were probably more excited than the kids.  I'm not sure why we even have a half day as the day, truly, serves no purpose.  We managed to get the report cards printed and issued yesterday (in the hopes that the little darlings would stay home), but they came anyway.  Pretty much the day is spent showing a movie, letting them run around in the gym for a while (the weather has been awful), and hoping they don't annoy the daylights out of us on this last day.

Fortunately for me, all the kids in my home room (with one glaring exception) that gave me hives were gone today - either in alternative school, suspended (for fighting the day before), in school suspension or they didn't come.  That made for a pleasant day - one of the most pleasant we've ever had.  I put on a movie, but most of the kids chose to go through the game club games and spent the morning playing Apples to Apples and Monopoly.  Nicely.  Without causing a fuss.

It was actually quite pleasant.  Which goes to show that when they want to be, they can be well mannered and a lot of fun.

So, we sent them on their way, most to 8th grade, others to other states (we have quite a few of our military kids moving out of the area now that their military parent is back from Afghanistan), and some to who knows where.  But we waved the buses goodbye (my favorite tradition), and wished them all a wonderful summer.

The bittersweet moment for Mrs. Social Studies and I was saying goodbye to two of our boys from last year. These two young men are kids that I would not hesitate to give a home to should they need one.  They are polite, well-mannered, and just delightful.  (They also happen to be best friends practically joined at the hip.)  Neither one was a star student in 7th grade (one is a sped kid) but they flourished in 8th grade.  And they never let a day go by that they didn't stop and give each of us a hug.  I kid you not - they'd be walking down the hall with all their basketball buddies and they'd stop, come visit us (making their friends wait) and off they'd go.  Their friends quickly figured out that this was something they were going to do regardless of how much they teased them, and the teasing ceased and pretty soon these kids were coming by to say hi even though we never had them as students.

I love these two.  And I know they'll be okay.  We had a talk with them a bit today about high school, and what they hoped to accomplish - they have managed to stay clear of the gangs and drugs that so many of our kids fall prey to, and that's a blessing.  (They ascribe this to good role models and the fact that "it's not something Jesus would approve of or do.")  They know they'll be fine because they have people that love and support them, both at home and in school.

I'm looking forward to their graduation in four years.

So to T and T, I love you both, God bless, and I'll miss my daily hug from the two of you.  I'd be glad to call either one of you my son.

When Bouncing a Ball is Too Much Work

A few weeks ago I had a chance to catch up with Coach Math who is now teaching P.E. and coaching full time, having achieved his dream of Finally Getting Out of the Math Classroom when some of our teachers moved on up to the Local High School, creating an opening. His morning hall duty station is nearby so I strolled on over to see how the basketball season was going to shape up.

"Oh man, it's not looking good," he said. "Very few of my kids from last year had the grades to play, so I'm having to go with younger kids with no experience but with better grades."

This was a surprise. Basketball is usually a Very Big Deal around here and there's usually no shortage of kids wanting a chance to play on the team.

"It's weird," he continued. "It's like they don't want to put forth the effort to be on the team and do the work it takes to practice and learn the game."

What? Not wanting to work? Lack of effort? These are the words those of us in the academic courses, not P.E....however, it appears that the perpetual laziness that we've seen in our classrooms have now permeated sports.

Many of us have used sports as the carrot to bribe some of our low-achievers into performing so they could play. However, from what Coach said, this isn't working anymore. These kids aren't motivated enough to keep up the grades to play, and they aren't motivated to run and sweat and actually work at developing their basketball skills. Apparently the only thing they want to do is go home, play on their video games or text their friends, and do as little physical exertion and thinking as possible.

Jeez, I know it's bad when kids down and out refuse to do academic work, but what's the world coming to when they're so damn lazy they won't even bounce a ball down a basketball court?

Is this just a weird little blip on the radar or are we raising a generation of committed slugs?

It's All in the Fundamentals

Last night was the home opener for Middle School Basketball Season.

We played one of our cross town rivals. The school with the 8th grader who's 6'5" tall, an AB student, and an overall nice kid. He's supposedly better at baseball. Hard to believe. Of course, all he had to do all night was stand there and tip balls into the net, but still. He's the total package. Nice kid, good student, good athlete. He probably helps little old ladies with their groceries.

Coach Math, the new math teacher on The Team, is our new boys basketball coach this year. This is an added bonus. We were tickled to death to get a really good, highly thought of math teacher, but the fact that he coaches, well, that was just icing on the cake. Finding a good coach, one who can motivate the kids (and stand dealing with them for a lot more hours than most of us do), is not easy to do. The pay isn't all that great, and it makes for some really long days.

The rest of us on the team decided to make sure we all attended the game so we could support Coach Math. We also got him a card, wishing him luck with the season. He's had a bit of an adjustment coming to The School. He used to teach across town, at a school where most kids had both parents, both parents had jobs, and kids did their homework and excelled. He's used to a school where an F on a progress report means a parent phone call or email. Now he's with us, and he's figuring out that the parents of our students are, for the most part, missing in action. We sent home progress reports last week and not one of us on the team got so much as a phone call or an email. Nothing. It's a big adjustment when you're used to a lot more parental support and some higher achievers.

But if anyone can make it work, it's Coach Math.

We asked him this week at lunch what he thought of his team. "Well," he said, "they really need work on fundamentals. They play too much street ball. We may win some, we may lose some, but they'll know the real game when we're done."

It was a different team than we've ever seen play before. We're used to the kids playing street ball, with a collection of hotshots and a couple of kids who make the hotshots look even better. The hotshot kids always bothered me. For the most part they tended to be punks who only did well academically during the season, and let their true colors shine once the season was over when they did stupid stuff to get suspended and who knows what else. They had what I call the "PacMan Jones Disease" - people made excuses for their bad behavior because they were good athletes and the kids believed the were God's gift to basketball.

Coach Math put a stop to that. A kid couldn't even try out for the team if the first nine week report card wasn't satisfactory. That eliminated a bunch of the kids who thought they were superstars but weren't cutting it academically. It also eliminated a bunch of the troublemakers who caused problems for coaches in the past. Coach Math wasn't putting up with thuggish behavior. Two days after the team was announced, one of his players got a write up and was sent to ISS. Coach kicked him off the team. That really sent a message.

So what he ended up with was a team with no hot shot superstars, but some nice kids and some decent kids when it came to the grades. Nothing to write home about, but the raw talent was there.

The raw talent produced. They played team ball. They passed, they dribbled, they took their time, they listened to directions from the coach, they worked as a team. And, even with the Six Foot Wunderkid on the opposing team, they hung in there and the game was a close one all the way until the final buzzer.

When it was tied and went into overtime.

And for the first time in my six years at The School, the students who were there attending the game (who usually spend the games gossiping, socializing, and ingesting copious quantities of junk food and soda) were on their feet cheering and screaming and going crazy. All of the teachers in attendance looked at each other in awe. "Do you see that?" we all asked. "They've never done that before!" It was a sight to see.

And the overtime seemed to stretch forever with one team scoring and then the other, and back down the court, and another basket, and then we got fouled, and the toss was nothing but net and we, amazingly, astoundingly, won the game!

We cheered. We screamed. The boys looked stunned. Then they all jumped on each other and screamed and yelled and Coach was giving them high-fives and it was like Christmas and the Fourth of July all rolled into one.

Coach Math made those kids believe in themselves and worked some magic.

And it was just the first game.

So close, yet so very far

The annual county middle school basketball tournament began tonight. Since the only official sport we have for the middle schools happens to be basketball, this is a pretty big deal and it's the final send off for the year.

So, after treating ourselves to supper at Ruby Tuesday's, Mrs. Eagle and I headed over to the tournament which was held at the newly opened middle school here in town (right down the road from my subdivision). It was neat getting a chance to see what a new school looks like, as opposed to our 41 year old building. Plus, the boys were playing at 6:00 and we figured we could catch the game and still be home at a decent time, to say, record the Sarah Connor Chronicles for Hubby. (No, we don't have TIVO or any of that.)

Anyhow.

We haven't had the greatest year this year in terms of basketball. We have, truth be told, a really little team. I remember the first game that we went to this year, and the boys thundered onto the court, and Mrs. Eagle and I both looked at each other and shook our heads. Our team looks like they came from an elementary school. I stand a whopping 5'3" and I know for a fact (because I'm teaching most of these kids) that I'm as tall as they are...or taller. And believe me, being taller than someone takes some doing for me. These kids are little. (They are, however, smart....of the three players I currently teach, all are A/B students and were before basketball started and most likely will continue to be good with the academics.)

So, we begin the game and amazingly enough, they do okay. It's not a major blow out like we've seen in the past, and by the half time we're only down about 8 points. That's pretty good. I was impressed. They were playing their hearts out, and although they didn't always make the shots, they kept at it and were being really scrappy and tough.

And then as we got to the final minutes they started to get closer and closer and closer to the other team. The other team had players who all stood at about six feet tall. They had two kids who were so tall and skinny that I thought they'd disappear if they'd turn sideways. (And these two could also hit three pointers like nobody's business.)

At the last possible second, they tie the game.

We go into a three minute over time. The parents and fans are screaming their lungs out.

It goes down to the very last second.

We lost by two points.

But man, they played their hearts out and acted like gentlemen. And that makes them winners in my book.