I read a quote recently that inspired compassion for the children we work with by @TechNinjaTodd  “When you work with kids, you have to reach the understanding that no matter what their age is, you’re still dealing with little people who are trying to figure out how the world works.”

When I first started teaching, I could easily remember what it felt like to be a kid. At 22, those memories were so close to me: feeling out of control, feeling both hopeful and hopeless in one day,  being scared and excited about a very unknown future. And then, I would sit in a class and be asked to…conjugate verbs! There is a song I hear from time to time that was popular around prom season. It brings me right back to high school and those youthful feelings, but the memories are starting to fade.

It’s been well over a decade (ok, decade and a half) since I was in my students’ shoes. I hear teachers my age complaining about kids today…we have all heard it. “The disrespect”, the “youth culture”, “What will become of our future?”.

Last weekend I cleaned up the attic. I found my Felix Festa Junior High year book from 1995, complete with notes my friends and I wrote, and graffiti on the pictures of people of whom I have no bad memories. I was mortified. How could a 13 year old write this stuff? About her friends? I walked into school the next day with a new found appreciation for the developmental phases our kids are going through. They don’t always do the right thing, but that’s why we are here to guide them and support them.

Kids today are not bad. I see examples every day of how wonderful they are. They are just facing challenges that we can no longer remember so vividly as to be empathetic. Kids haven’t changed, we just got older. 

I find it helpful when I am trying to reach a tough kid, to remember what it was like to struggle the way they might be struggling, or in some cases, hurting. This is not synonymous with being a pushover, this is trying to create an environment in which #kidstoday can be successful, engaged learners.

Try, whenever you can, to catch kids doing awesome things. Hashtag it #kidstoday. I like to add “…are awesome”. Because they are, and I am fortunate to spend my days working with them.

Rebel Without a Cause was filmed in 1955, about teenage angst

Special thanks to #kidsdeserveit Todd Nelsonly and @MaeWard2311 for writing the book STORIES FROM THE WEBB , and sharing, never underestimate the impact of a ReTweet