sol #3: not *our* seventh graders

There I was, sitting at the score table at a volleyball game. Varsity was playing so my assistant coaches and I were on the record keeping and score boards. We were just killing time, casually chatting while we waited when one of them looked over to the bleachers and commented, "I don't like the seventh graders."

I looked over to see typical shenanigans in the bleachers, nothing bad, just a bunch of kids he didn't know personally because they are in another grade.

Unlike the seventh graders in our combo ELA class. Our ELA class is composed of half seventh and half eighth graders. I love this setup for a few reasons. Number one, one of my literacy idols, Nancie Atwell, runs her classes this way. Number two, when half the class loops, you get not two teachers, but 16 teachers on year two. Number three (which I'm coming to find more and more this year, as it's our first year building a few classes this way), kids become unlikely friends. What I mean is that is most eighth graders are not friends with seventh graders. Setting up a class in this fashion gives them the opportunity to be friends with someone they probably wouldn't have been.

So back to my story, my kiddo tells me, "I don't like seventh graders," as he looks onward to the bleachers. Then, he turns towards me, places his hands on my shoulder, looks right into my eyes and adds, "Not our seventh graders."