Classroom Connections

I spent the day in an 8th grade classroom speaking to world geography students about Latin America. They are just getting started on their unit study of the region.

It was fun to be back in a middle school classroom and it made me miss my own days as an 8th grade teacher. But I'd forgotten what havoc five straight hours of talking can wreak on my voice. I'm sooooooooo hoarse.

Since coming home from my big trip around the world, I've been speaking to different groups about my journey. I've spent a lot of time with elementary students and adults, but not so much time with 13 and 14 year-olds.

I wish I had more engagements with this age group. It wasn't all that long ago that I was interacting with them every day.

It's because of my years as a middle school teacher that the word "dude" permeates my speech. It's a bad habit, I know, but it's also one I just can't break.