Happy Friday, my blogging friends and readers.We are in-route to a fitness center about a hour from our school. Swimming, basketball, volleyball, weight room and a walking track are ours for the day! But, it’s long bus ride, and that leads to some interesting conversations overheard and some observations.- I’m sitting next to two student who have talked the WHOLE time about Pokémon everything! It’s so much fun to see out animated they are about this topic! The question is, who connects with these two next year as they walk into high school?- Our Math Counts team returned from the regional competition with the first place overall player and the first place overall team. Who celebrates this non-sporting success?- We have a large population of our students who simply don’t do homework. They know it’s not graded, and even if it is, there’s no consequence for it being late. If they have too many late assignments they might be ineligible, but usually, they get just enough done to keep them off that list. Are we doing our students a disservice by not assigning a consequence to this behavior, even if it’s a small one? – Our district as been in the news for social media problems. When do we say to our children, “No, you don’t ‘need’ the newest piece of technology, and if I choose to allow you one, there are rules. Break those rules and there are consequences”? When do we say “there’s a problem here” when middle school students are sending inappropriate pictures to each other? Next year, I lose my in to the goings on in high school, but I know these types of attitudes are all over our schools.- I’ve written numerous times about swimming, cross country, and girls basketball. All three are sports I love dearly. All three are held in low regard in most places. When do those sports, and music and art and choir and speech and those things that are life time activities celebrated rather than viewed with disdain? – I learned today that a friend had a cancerous mass removed from his kidney. When do we start asking questions of those who are filling our foods full of chemicals. When do we as citizens say “enough” to the human chemicals experiments that are going on, disguised as “feeding the world”?So, while this bus ride there (and now back), is a long one, it’s provided time to think and reflect about school and life. Plus, it’s always fun to listen to those crazy 8th graders. I’ll miss them next year!