Thread: Yay . . . . GIRLS!!!!

They are just a squirrelly -- the squirrelliness is just different 8O

I'm interested in hearing your observations after a few weeks, lol.

It's been about 6 years since I had a gender-balanced class. For 4 years, I had a class that was 2/3 boys and 1/3 girls. Wow. If I could only bottle the energy! The boys' issues were straightforward and simple. If they were mad, they said so, and settled it right there. If they couldn't sit still, I made sure I kept them physically busy. If they'd decided on "nonperformance" as their mode of rebellion, I called their parents daily until they started performing. Looking back, I MISS the boys' "squirrellyness."

For the last 2 years, I've had 1/3 boys and 2/3 girls. OMG! 8O
The drama! The giggling, the gossip, the backbiting. The strange cases of permanent periods, requiring daily trips to locker/bathroom during class. Group A, who won't have anything to do with Group B. The friend wars. The fashion faux pas. The perpetual cycle of insult, hurt feelings, and resolution. The ever fragile social ladder. The co-dependency of it all.

The same girls who want to spend their lunches with me instead of outside. They hover around me in small groups, bringing out all of their insecurities for me to apply bandaids to. They are offended on the days I decide I need my lunch break to myself and lock the door.

It really takes a unique person to spend day after day managing larger groups of adolescents, doesn't it?