The Order of Things (Blog 17)

The Order of Things

There are some things that surprise Miss Q about elementary.

The turtles seem to have a self-awareness of themselves in the social pecking order of things. The same awareness that Miss Q now remembers she had herself in fourth grade.

There are several groups in the class.
The "boy band" The Atomic Ponies, with Zefron, Dubby, Co-Pilot, Boo, and Solomon.

Their sophisticated female counterparts the Chippettes: Mariska, Nancy Drew, and Princesstard.

The two bright best friends, somewhat considered sissies: Dexter and The Brit.

The Trio: Freakazoid, Mook, and The Gage.

The Girls (popular?): Uniqua/Miwok, Miss Beiber, Skinny Jeanz and ... Beancurd. Have to explain that one sometime.

And the rest are somewhat misfits. Fate gets along consistently with few classmates. Rickster is just the opposite. He's the tallest of the class, talks slowly, has a largish frame. He just wants to chill, man. Fruitbat sometimes hangs out with the Girls but sees herself as the weird, quirky chick. She can't stand Fate. Memphis often shows off in misbehavior in front of the girls. The boy band and the rest of the boys think he's pretty bad to the bone and all that, but find him unapproachable. Nala sometimes doesn't seem as accepted, but it doesn't appear to bother her.

This is what the class is like, I think to a 4th grader experiencing it. There's good pressure and bad pressure. The boy band to me has the most positive, drama free, and fun connections. However I worry about the Girls (along with Beancurd). They're nice to me, but not nearly as nice to everyone else. Uniqua is a prime example. I feel like because of her charm, grades, or all-star quality she gets away with a lot of harsh words. Especially towards Fate.

Of all the groups, Miss Q has yet to have one-on-one interaction with any of The Girls. They're always together, acting up as a unit. And the clique-ish quality makes a Cadet uneasy. Miss Q hopes that now that she realizes this, she can influence them to want to think for themselves and have a better influence on each other.

Miss Q has made sure to let Fate know she's allowed to switch to other table if she gets too angry. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This is normal, right?

I don't want my turtles to be normal.

The new goal (coming to me as I write) is to change the status quo amongst the turtles. We lack chemistry, it's been said. We don't mesh. Oddballs. What needs to be done now is to make sure that values that are really lasting are at the top of the pecking order, and things like the phantom elementary "popularity" are at the bottom.

The cool thing about elementary school, or specifically Awkward Admiral Elementary, is rather than just pushing them through test scores, the teachers really care about what the students are like. This just isn't the same in a high school. It goes along with the character education bit in the curriculum and is necessary and practical to run a classroom but values are sincere and genuine. In elementary school, one of the most important things is learning how to be in a classroom. That's what's so great about it.

For Fate sometimes being in a classroom means stess and rejection. For Memphis on some days it means showing out to get attention, to keep a tough devil-may-care attitude. TheBut there are countless moments when being part of a classroom means being part of a classroom.

The silence that falls when the teacher demands silence and means it. The cheer when the class earns Footballs in P.E. Reminding each other (gently or not) which of their assignments is missing. Answering questions earnestly. I hope I never take for granted being apart of that.