They'll Surprise You

In middle school teaching one runs across a plethora of different personalities - some delightful, some shy, some complete pains in the portions of one's body often reserved for sitting.

Then one of these knuckleheads will blindside you.

One talented but troubled - and troublesome - young man has "issues" with his male teachers. He loves to draw them into his little game, tick them off, then play the victim. The textbooks call this "passive-aggressive behavior." (I have worked with many administrators, some very good and some very bad. If you look up "passive-aggressive" in the psych texts you'll find my photo.)

But, I digress.

This young man has a girlfriend for whom he appears to care for a great deal. (I'll avoid the whole age-appropriate issue for now.) Upon learning that this young man had "issues" the choir teacher (a female) offered to give him the vocal lessons he desired if he could clean up his act. He asked her if, in exchange for his improved behavior, she could give his girlfriend the lessons in his stead. The choir teacher wasted no time in reporting this selfless behavior to me.

I still get a bit misty thinking about the conversation I had with this young man, being able to tell him how impressed I was at his selflessness (and chuckling to myself a bit having to explain "selfless" to him.) Certainly, some of this behavior must have been prompted by his desire to impress the girlfriend but it runs deeper. It had to have come from a place no one (certainly his other teachers nor I) had seen.

This posterior paining student gave me hope for him and a few others.

Yep, they'll surprise you.