During exams, I put my yearbook on the whiteboard marker tray and tell the kids they can sign it if they wish. Of course, I get some goofy stuff like HAGS (That's "have a great summer" for those of you who are not in the know). However, I also get some of the things they would never say out loud. Here are a few examples (I've blurred all names).
There are two things I love about this. He thinks I made science interesting (how is it not interesting to everyone?), and he hopes to have me again in high school. Because of the school in which I teach, that is a real possibility. Some of the kids I teach in 8th-grade return to me in physics. I happen to know something he doesn't. All of his teachers here will make science interesting for him. All I did was prepare him for them.
When kids walk into my class, I have a few that say, "I don't like science." My response has always been, "We'll see." Most kids think that if they aren't particularly good at memorizing scientific vocabulary that they are not good at science. Of course, the ability to memorize vocabulary isn't science. Continuously questioning how something happens is science. As Richard Feynman said, "I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something." If this girl can come to my class and love asking questions, I have done my job.
This one is my favorite of the three. I don't know if you can see the second sentence, but it made me do a spit take while I was reading it even though I know she meant it as a compliment. It says, "I admire the fact that you don't care what people think of you." Here's the thing. I really do care. If my close friends suddenly stopped liking me tomorrow, I would be devastated. When I got a mean email from someone who found a mistake in their yearbook and called me "careless," I cried while I was replying to her (a little awkward in the middle of a physics exam). It's just that caring what other people think of you looks very different at 42 than it does at 13. When you are 13, you think there are "certain people" that you need to impress so they will think you are cool and want to be your friend. As an adult, I know that what I genuinely am will be cool to someone and that person will be my friend. When you are in the 8th-grade, you think you have change who you are because you might get laughed at. As an adult, I know that getting laughed at isn't the worst thing that could happen today (the mean email was worse). When I tell corny jokes, make strange noises, and dance around in class, there are students who laugh at that. If were in the 8th-grade, I might decide not to enjoy myself, but because I am an adult, I stand closer to the kids who are laughing and exaggerate the dance moves to let them know they are not the standard by which I live.
I didn't include the most profound things that were written in my yearbook because those are more personal. Even though they are in the yearbook where other people can see them, it should remain limited to me and my kids and other staff members. If you are a teacher, get a yearbook and let your kids sign it. You will be amazed by some of their thoughts.
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